Functionalism
as a sociological theory is prominent in the work of Auguste Comte (1798-1857). It also featured importantly
in the work of Herbert Spencer ( 1820- 1903 ), who with Comte are regarded as
the founding fathers of sociology. Emile Durkheim ( 1858-1917 ) developed the
theory and it became dominant social theory in American sociology.
Functionalism views society as a system, as a set of interconnected parts which
together form a whole.
Understanding of any part of society requires an
analysis of it’s relationship to other parts and most importantly, of it’s
contribution to the maintenance of society. Functionalism as a sociological
perspective from the work of Parsons (1937 ), in his work, ‘structure of social
action’ and Merton (1949 ); the ‘latent functions’ became a dominant
sociological theory for a very long time. But Chriss (1995 ) explained that it
has declined dramatically in importance. But the forces it created cannot be
ignored as Colomy (1990 ) reflected in
his work, showing that, it led to the emergence of neo-functionalism in the
1980s .
Abrahamson (1978 ) observed that structural
functionalism takes various forms, but societal functionalism is the dominant
approach among sociological structural functionalists. The primary concern of
societal functionalism is the large-scale social structures and institutions of
society, their interrelationships, and their constraining effects on actors.
This leads to the work of Davis and More ( 1945 ), where they made it clear that social
stratification is both universal and necessary because they argued that no
society is ever unstratified or totally classless. Stratification in their view
is, a functional necessity. All societies need such a system, and this need
brings into existence a system of stratification. They also viewed
stratification system as a structure referring not to the individuals in the
stratification system, but rather to a system of positions. They focused on how
certain positions come to carry with them different degrees of prestige, not on
how individuals come to occupy certain positions.
Functionalism has faced a lot of criticisms
more than any other sociological theory, which Abrahamson (1978: 37)
metaphorically analyzed; “ as being ambled along like a giant elephant,
ignoring the stings of gnats, even as the swam of attackers takes its toll”,
recognizing the very fact that the attacks had not erased the great impact it
had which had continued over time. And
one of those critics has been Miriam
Johnson, as functionalism fails to give a clear situation of gender. The major
proponent of a functionalist theory of
gender has been Johnson (1988, 1989; see also Giele and Hoist, 2004). Johnson
acknowledges the failure of functionalism to adequately explore women’ s disadvantage in society, of which she accepts
that there is an unintentional sexiest bias in Talcott Parsons theory of the
family, and that functionalism marginalizes issues of social inequality,
domination, and oppression. Johnson locates much of the origin of gender
inequality in the structure of the patriarchal family, in place in almost all
known societies.
Johnson’s work on
gender inequality from the structural arrangement in the family and societal
forms produces unequal opportunities for men and women. This forms part of the
reasons why women in most areas, especially the developing countries with
Ebonyi state as part of the developing states are presented with lesser
opportunities for women self- actualization and potential attainment, and are
found working in some of the informal/ unorganized sectors like in the small-
scale quarry mines. And one of the outstanding features of this unequal
opportunities is the poverty of women in the rural areas of most of the
developing nations, where Tseayo (2003) identified that poverty is a major
problem, particularly in developing nations like Nigeria, where three out of
every five persons experience it. Tseayo went further to state that poverty is
manifested in the standard of living of a particular set or group of people and
it poses a lot of problems to both the social and economic lives of these set
of people. United nations (1997, 2001 & 2006) identified that a life of
poverty means that basic needs like access to education, support services,
economic opportunities etc. are lacking. And this situation as already
identified form part of the reasons why women work in small-scale quarry mines
in most of the rural areas where they (quarry mines) are found.
With the introduction of women to the quarry
mines, especially the privately owned quarry mines, they are involved in
undesirable work and working conditions. The women are also faced with long
hours of work as there are no regulated or formalized working hours. These
women are equally paid very low wages and face other kinds of exploitations
like sexual advances by some of these quarry owners, where in most cases they
give in against their will (Moore, 1996).