What is Structural functionalist theory?

• The Structural- functionalist perspective seeks to explain social stratification in terms of its contribution to the maintenance of social order and stability in society.
• Talcott Parsons believed that order and stability depends upon the value consensus in the society. Individuals who conduct themselves in accordance with these values are ranked above others. A successful business executive would be ranked above others in a society which values individual achievement while individuals who fight battles and wars would be ranked above others in a society which values bravery and gallantry.

How it is interdependent?

• Functionalists uphold that relationship between social groups in society is one of cooperation and interdependence. Parsons explains that in a highly specialized industrial society, some people specialize in organization and planning while others follow their directives. Certain positions are functionally more important in society than others. These are often ranked higher in the social hierarchy and fetch greater rewards than others. This inevitability leads to inequality in distribution of power and prestige. So According to Parsons- ‘Every society is based upon consensus in terms of norms and values’.

Why it is necessary for the society?

Kingsley Davis and Wilbert Moor: They discussed the issues of functional necessity of stratification, determinants of positional rank, societal functions and stratification, and variation in stratified system at length. They explained that unequal distribution rights and perquisites making for social inequality provides the motivation to people to perform duties associated with a given position and to achieve position that affords more prestige and esteem.

Social inequality therefore ensures that “the most important positions are conscientiously filled by the most qualified persons. Hence every society, no matter how simple or complex, must differentiate persons in terms of both prestige and esteem, and must therefore possess a certain amount of institutionalized inequality” (Davis and Moore).

The positions that carry the best reward and highest rank are those that are excessively important for society, and require greatest training or talent. They clarify that in effect, a society needs to accord sufficient reward to position of high rank only to ensure that they are filled competently. It may also be understood that a position important in one society may not be equally important in another one.  Kingsley Davis and Wilbert Moore summarizes their central argument in the following words :

• “Certain positions in any society are functionally more important than others, and require special skills for their performance. Only a certain number of individuals in any society have the talents which can be trained into the skills appropriate to these positions.
• The conversion of talents into skills involves a training period during which sacrifices of one kind or another are made by those undergoing the training. In order to induce the talented persons to undergo these sacrifices and acquire the training, their future positions must carry an inducement value in the form of differential reward, i.e., privileged and disproportionate access to the scarce and desired rewards which the society has to offer.
• These scarce and desired goods consist of the rights and perquisites attached to, or built into, the positions, and can be classified into those things which contribute to (a) sustenance and comfort, (b) humor or diversion, (c) self-respect and expansion.
• This differential access to the basic rewards of the society has a consequence the differentiation of the prestige and esteem which the various strata acquire. Therefore, social inequality among different strata in the amounts of scarce and desired goods, and the amounts of prestige and esteem which they receive, is both positively functional and inevitable in any society”.