Why is the church a functionalism - Essay Example

Why is the Church a Functionalism? Why is the Church a Functionalism? Why is the Church a Functionalism? Living in this world seems complicated since you need to fulfill some obligations like going to church. It is interesting to note that such social organization do not exist for the sake of its existence alone but it enables man to meet his needs however in different manners. This contention is the reason why I chose functionalism to analyze the church as among the institution which plays a very crucial role in the society.

I believe that in employing functionalism, the function of the church would be fully understood beyond being a house of worship alone. Included is the contribution of functionalism to the understanding of human behavior. The church is considered a functionalism because it plays a function in the society which is the core essence of functionalism. Proponents of functionalism view society as a network cooperating to work together towards a common goal. As one of the essential structures of the society, the church has its own function to execute.

Functionalists compare society with human body with parts and functions to perform. In the event that one part becomes diseased or dysfunctional, other parts are affected and the person may suffer from illness. The same thing would happen with the society because parts are interdependent with each other (Encyclopedia, 2010). For instance, if the family cannot maintain its job to provide food and shelter, its members especially the children become sickly and would not contribute to the welfare of the society instead they become liabilities.

Thus, to maintain its stability, every institution has to be functional. Based on functionalism, the church has the function to preach the gospel, edification, and benevolence to people. However, with the many killings, illegal activities and immoralities today, it seems the church had lost its magic as a social control. This shows that functionalists ignored the fact that the society might be disrupted with conflicts at any given time as they are inherent part of the society. In addition, its conservative nature makes it difficult to adhere to thus at times it is disrupted.

Perhaps the best way to remedy this is to adapt to the changing needs of the society (Schaefer, 2006). The church has to adjust its function to the immediate needs to be addressed. Like for example, the church should do more in their campaign to bring back the lost morality of the society. Functionalism contributes to the understanding of behavior with its concept that behavior is not only a result of biological reactions to stimulus. Functionalists objected the idea of behaviorists where they focused on the biological aspect to reason out how the person behaves.

Functionalists propose that if the person acted the way he did, it is because of other factors and not the interplay of the parts of the nervous system only. For instance, when a person gets emoted while watching a movie from a computer, it does not mean that the biological system is the sole determinant of such emotion. Rather, other factors like the show itself caused the emotion to surface. This is supported with the causal theory of the mind where understanding of human behavior includes the consideration of the whole situation.

Furthermore, functionalism also explains that what makes up the person is not what defines the behavior of that person. Functionalist look at the behavior as what he does. A statue made up of marble should not be viewed as merely marble but it should be analyze with the function it serves. Along this line, functionalism pointed the purpose of changing behavior of man when subjected to different situation which is to adapt to his environment. Sources Cited Functionalism, in anthropology and sociology. ( 2010). Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th Edition.

Schaefer, R., (2006). Sociology. McGraw-hill. New York.