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Home/Anthropology/Mains PYQ/2017/Paper I/Anthropological Theories
UPSC MainsAnthropology Optional Paper I 2017 10 Marks Model Answer Available

Basic Tenets of Structural-Functionalism — 2017 Paper I

Question · 2017 · Paper I · 10 Marks

Basic tenets of structural-functionalism

Model Answer

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Approach

  • Demand of Question:State the core propositions of structural-functionalism and show how they guide anthropological analysis of social institutions.
  • Structuring the Response:Locate the school historically; explain structure, function, interdependence and social continuity; end with its major limitation.
  • Key Dimensions to Cover:Radcliffe-Brown; Fortes; Evans-Pritchard; social structure; function; synchronic analysis; equilibrium; criticism of ahistoricism.

Model Answer

Introduction Structural-functionalism, championed primarily by A.R. Radcliffe-Brown, shifted British anthropology away from 19th-century speculative evolutionary origins toward the empirical analysis of how institutions are interrelated and maintain social order in the present.

Body

Basic Tenets:

  1. Concept of Social Structure: Radcliffe-Brown defined social structure not as an abstraction, but as the observable network of "actually existing social relations" among persons occupying specific statuses and roles (e.g., kinship, political authority).
  2. Concept of Function: Influenced by Emile Durkheim, 'function' is defined as the contribution an institution makes to the maintenance and continuity of the wider social structure.
  3. The Organic Analogy: Society is compared to a living organism. Just as biological organs work together to keep the body alive, social institutions (religion, economy, family) are interdependent and function to maintain social equilibrium and solidarity.
  4. Synchronic Analysis: It prioritizes the "here and now" (synchronic) over historical reconstruction (diachronic). It studies how a society operates at a particular moment in time.

Application & Ethnographic Example: In African Political Systems (1940), Meyer Fortes and E.E. Evans-Pritchard applied these tenets to show how acephalous (stateless) societies like the Nuer of Sudan maintain order. Through the segmentary lineage system, balanced opposition between kinship groups functioned to prevent permanent warfare and maintain systemic equilibrium without a centralized government.

Limitations:

  • Ahistorical: It ignores colonial history and historical change.
  • Equilibrium Bias: By overly stressing integration and stability, it fails to adequately explain conflict, individual agency, and rapid social transformation (later critiqued by Edmund Leach and Max Gluckman).

Conclusion Structural-functionalism was a powerful methodological paradigm that professionalized anthropological fieldwork, revealing the deep institutional interdependence of societies, even if its equilibrium bias later required correction by processual and conflict theories.

 

2026 How is the theory of structuralism helpful in understanding the concepts of caste and gender? 2026 Critically discuss how culture determines human behaviour in the light of Leslie White's theory. 2026 Compare Edmund Leach's structuralism with interpretive anthropology of Clifford Geertz. 2026 Discuss, with appropriate examples, how basic personality types may lead towards building up of national character.

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