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106 P. F. Lazarsfeld
there will then be a general review which distinguishes different kinds of func-
tionalism and condemns the poliferation of unnecessary terminology, usually
proposing some additional terms. The inverse choice, as far as I can tell, was
made only once. Kingsley Davis, who in his presidential address to the Ameri-
can Sociological Association, took the position that functional analysis is
identical with all possible sociological the0ry.~3 It is not quite clear whether this
was an imperialistic claim or an abdication speech by one of the most prominent
functionalists. Incidentally, his address is still the best guide to the literature in
the decade after Merton’s essay.
It should by now be clear that I neither wish to criticize nor to extol func-
tionalism, but try to bring out how it symbolizes the present state of sociological
theory. If one wanted to be facetious one might say that sociologists can neither
live with nor without functionalism. It comes nearest to their hopes without
really fulfilling them. This will become ever more clear if we now turn to some
specific topics. 64
I. Social systems. Stripped to its essentials, functional analysis until about 1960
could be described as follows. Here is a complex social object (S) which is of
interest because some of its traits endure over a period of time under changing
outer and inner conditions (the most often repeated analogue is the human body
which maintains its temperature within a narrow range); within this system
(S) the object of investigation is a specific social item or subsystem (i) which
makes a contribution to the ‘equilibrium’ of (S) - its homeostasis; small (i) and
(S) are connected by some ‘self-regulatory mechanism.’65
While the notion of system thus plays a central role it has never been clearly
defined, which in the nature of the enterprise, was not really necessary. The
ingenuity of the functionalist concentrates on pointing out connections between
(i) and (S). Thus Goode notices that professional organizations and unions tend
to protect their more inept members once they are admitted. This is useful for
society at large because it guarantees a broad floor of talent by providing a
reserve of marginal cases which are needed from time to time.66
Kingsley Davis stresses that jealousy is not just an individual instinct; in
various ways society gives its legitimation to protect broad property arrange-
ments which include property in Harry Johnson attributes to the
incest taboo three sociological functions : it prevents conflict within the family;
it binds together society as a whole by a network of marriages; it facilitates the
function of parents to socialize their children.68
In these examples social systems may be a great variety of things. Inasmuch
as classifications have been attempted, especially by Parsons and his closest
followers, the distinctions were either substantive (political, economic, reli-
gious systems) or based on level of aggregation (family, organization, nations,
states, etc.). But in recent years this has begun to change under the impact of
what is now called ‘general systems theory’. For my present purpose only one
aspect of their work is relevant. In this approach, systems are distinguished by
the complexity of the interrelations existing between their elements. Systems
are ordered along the dimension of complexity. Some authors distinguish up to