Functionalist Approach to Gender Roles in Society

Running head: FUNCTIONALIST APPROACH TO GENDER ROLES IN SOCIETY
Functionalist Approach to Gender Roles in Society
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FUNCTIONALIST APPROACH TO GENDER ROLES IN SOCIETY
1
Functionalism or functionalist perspective is a fundamental theoretical perspective in the
field of Sociology. T originated from the worldviews of Emile Durkheim, the notable social
thinker whose significant contribution constructed the most comprehensive account of social
order. In accordance to his theory, the concept of structural functionalism was introduced to the
disciplines of sociology and anthropology. Apart from Durkheim, Talcott Parsons, Herbert
Spencer and Robert K. Merton are some other notable social thinkers who developed the theories
of structural functionalism (Turner 2017).
Functionalism dictates that society is more than the summation of its entities, rather it is a
compact organism that operates through its parts, and the stability of the entire system depends
on the performance of its parts. Although each component plays a crucial role, they cannot
function on their own (Srivastava 2017). In accordance to this theory, Durkheim suggests that
society is composed of different social institutions, each designated with tasks to fulfill different
social needs. Government, economy, education, media, religion and family are some of the core
institutions of the society. They serve their respective purposes, and when their necessity
diminishes, they slowly fade away from the social scenario, allowing new institutions to emerge
to meet new social needs. To this end, gender roles, according to Durkheim, has a necessary role
to play in the context of social order. Durkheim was particularly interested in understanding how
social orders contribute to the stability and productivity of the society. He opines that order and
consensus present in the social structure help to maintain the said stability. Subsequently, any
perceived disorganization or deviant behaviour leads to disrupt the stability, as it affects the
functionalities of the other parts (Aron 2018 ).
In this regard, the functionalist perspective describes gender roles as necessary order to
maintain social order. As defined by theorists such as Parsons, Hofestede, Ellis etc. masculinity