Structural Functionalism | R.C. Brown | Anthropology | UPSC

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According To Radcliff brown anthropologists should focus on the pattern of behavior of the whole society, not an individual. He focuses on the structural basis of the society rather than the institutional basis as done by Malinowski.
R.C. Brown presented his theory In his book Andaman Islanders (1922) & structure and function in the primitive society.
Functional premises:-
- Social system monitors itself after significant intervals of time in a speedy state during which a high degree of cohesion and solidarity characterizes the relationship among its members.
- He gave an analogy of an organism to describe the social organization - where various parts interlink and run the functioning of an organism, various associations, institutions and groups combine in a specific manner and run social organization.
So, the social system has 3 aspects:-
- Social structure - formed by parts of society to maintain an orderly social life.
- Ecological system - the way society is adapted to the physical environment.
- Mechanism of eculturalization - the way by which an individual acquires cultural habits.
R.C. brown put the first part primarily to the other parts:-
Social structure: It is a continuous network of social relationships, the unit of which one person is the part and continuity of which is essential for social existence (structure and function of the primitive society).
These relationships are institutionally controlled at that point in time.
Structural forms: to describe the social relationships that form the core of the social structure, he proposed the concept of structural forms ie. Analyzing the general relationships involved between a particular set of individuals, disregarding slight variations.
Social functions: contributions made by every part of the social structure, contributing to the social life as a whole - maintaining structural continuity. So, he argues that continuity of the social functioning favors the continuity of the social structure and through the functioning of every part, the continuity of social structure is maintained eg. Gathering of social feast and role allocation for the feast in Andaman islanders helps in the maintenance of the social structure.
Social integration: it means that some degree of solidarity is necessary for the existence of the society so that the conflicts can be minimized. So there are many customs in the society to enforce the continuity of the society.
To see the degree of healthy social integration R.C. Brown uses the terms like Eunomia (euphoria) - healthy social integration and dysnomia(dysphonia) - running towards a disintegrated state.
Social laws: these are the fundamental laws in every society that serve the following functions:
- Incite common ways of thinking and feeling among its members.
- Enforce functional consistency among the parts of the social system and resist some degree of change in the social structure.
- Sustainability of network of social relations between individuals and groups of individuals.
Criticism:-
- Brown’s reliance upon the organic analogy is open to questions and not empirically established in society.
- Brown says that society functions in order to survive and at the same time society has to survive in order to function - thus he was not able to establish why society survives and functions.
- In his theory, he is not able to establish the reason - why a particular institution exists.
- Brown’s structural theory does not explain social change and how it affects the social fabrics of the society.
- It ignores various historical aspects that give numerous details on social change.
- In reality, the social variations are huge and cannot be maintained only by customs and laws.

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