The Problems of Functionalism

Justin Schwartz jkschw at hotmail.com
Wed Mar 14 08:29:31 PST 2001


Well, this discussion just reached a dead end, since Leo is off not debating straw men, and objecting to views no one where had advocated on the classical Stalinist political grounds of why they might lead in someone's political trajectory rather than whether they are true or false. --jks


>
>I agree with Kelley that there are social scientists who would consider
>themselves both Marxist and functionalist, just as there are philosophers
>who
>consider themselves advocates of both Marxism and rational choice theory. I
>find the combinations syncretic, rather than synthetic, but in the normal
>course of things, I don't think there is much point in arguing about how
>people choose to identify themselves. . . . I wouldn't want to invest a lot
>of energy in trying
>to convince them of the bi-polar nature of their political or intellectual
>identity. That is not a discussion that will go very far, be very
>productive
>or even end on very friendly terms.
>
>What I do think is important, and is worthy of some energy, is pointing out
>how functionalism generally, and Marxist functionalism specifically, is
>inadequate social theory. It seems to me that the general critique of
>Parsonian structural functionalism offered in the sociology debates of the
>1960s, that it provides a description of the social system as an unified
>and
>integrated organism in harmony, if not complete stasis, and thus is unable
>to
>account for conflict and change, is fundamentally correct.. . . .
>
>Take a classic work of Marxian functionalism, Bowles and Gintis _Schooling
>in
>Capitalist America_ [SCA]. This is a text which has been on my mind a lot
>lately, because of its status as a 'classic' of radical analysis of
>American
>education and because of Gintis' subsequent conversion to the cause of
>school
>vouchers. . . . .

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