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Q-4 | Paper 2

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By A R Kushwaha

 Qn. 4. “Structural functional approach to political analysis focuses more on status-quoism, and less on change.” Elucidate. (2011/II/3a/20m)


Structural functionalism approach to political science sought to study the structures and functions of social systems. That it focused “more on status-quoism and less on change” is one of the major criticisms of Gabriel Almond’s conceptual framework of structural functionalism.

Structural functionalism originated in sociology and got influenced by anthropology. It emphasised the structural aspect of any social system. It concentrated on maintenance and stability of the social structure. Its early proponents were Radcliffe-Brown, Bronowski and Durkheim, and later Parsons. Its beginning can be traced to ancient Greece and Aristotle (Susser).

Structural functional approach was forwarded by Almond and Powell in the 1950s and 1960s. They attempted to comprehend institutions by elaborately describing and analysing structures and functions of the political system. They modelled it on systems approach and aimed to remove some of its defects. They attempted to increase the relevance of the model for the study of developing countries. Almond and Powell conceptualised

  1. ‘political socialisation’,
  2. ‘recruitment’
  3. ‘communication’ for the purpose of comprehension.

Almond’s methodology has been criticised for

  1. conservative ideology,
  2. conceptual confusion and
  3. operational limitations.

Almond was also influenced by Bentley, Truman and Dahl. however, Criticism about status-quoism include —One set of critics describe structural functionalism as deterministic, conservative and restrictive ideology. Critics include D. Martindale, Wright Mills, B. Moore, A. Dahrendorf, A Hacker, Spiro, Lijpkart, Sanford, C. Powell et al.

Don Martindale points out four defects in this regard:

  1. conservative ideological bias and preference for status quo;
  2. lack of methodological clarity;
  3. overemphasis on the role of closed systems in social life and
  4. failure to deal with social change. C. Wright Mills called structural functionalism a conservative grand theory that reached neither facts nor theory. Spiro calls Almond’s work ethnocentric and Lijphart considered its emphasis on stability as reflecting Anglo-American liberal, capitalist norms.

Other critics accuse capitalism of a liberal bias i.e. not supporting interference to free market. Charles Powell saw “American cultural mythology” in Almond’s mythology, and labelled it establishmentarian, non-operational, formally inadequate” rendering it “useless as a theory”.

Almond’s approach, despite being a significant advancement in structural functionalism, was severely criticised, predominantly for it status-quoism.

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