Functionalism in Sociology

Ovaj članak je skraćena verzija prvog dijela rasprave u kojoj se raspravlja o funkcionalizmu u sociologiji. Termin funkcionalizam se shvaća kao više manje sistematičan okvir za sociološku analizu. Autor nastoji pružiti pitanje na odgovor, zašto se ta orijentacija pojavila u drugoj polovini prošlog stoljeća. Emile Durkheim, Radcliff Brown i Bronislav Malinowski su najviše zaslužni teoretičari za pojavu funkcionalizma. Suvremeni funkcionalizam je pojava koja se, u prvom redu, javlja u okviru sociologije u Sjedinjenim Američkim Državama. On se razvio na liniji suprotstavljanja marksizmu. Njegova glavna baza je Harvardski univerzitet. Stavivši težište na probleme socijalne diferencijacije i socijalne integracije, funkcionalizam je stimulirao polemiku o »funkcionalnoj teoriji stratifikacije«, odbacujući ideju jednakosti kao primitivni obrazac koji se ne uklapa u moderno društvo.This article is an abridged version of the first part of paper treating functionalism in sociology. The term functionalism is conceived as a more or less systematic framework of sociological analysis. The author is trying to give the answer as to why this orientation appeared in the second half of the last century. Emile Dürkheim, Radcliff Brown and Bronislav Malinowski appeared to be the most influential theoreticians who have made the foundations for functionalism. Contemporary functionalism is seen as a phenomenon which belongs, in the first place, to American sociology. It has been developed along the line of opposition to Marxism. Its main base in Harvard University. Focusing on the problems of social differentiation and social integration, functionalism has stimulated the polemic about the »functional theory of stratification«, rejecting the idea of equality as a primitive pattern which does not fit into modern society