Gender roles, according to the functionalist approach, exist to optimize social efficiency. According to the functionalist viewpoint, society is a complex system whose components work together to generate solidarity and stability. This method examines society from a macro-level perspective, focusing on the social institutions that shape society as a whole.
Gender disparities, according to this idea, are an effective way to produce a division of labor, or a social structure in which one segment of the population is obviously accountable for some work activities while another section is clearly responsible for other labor acts. The feminist movement contends that functionalism ignores women's oppression within the family structure.
The Functionalist Point of View
A comprehensive sociological theory that views society as a complex system in which the many components work together to achieve stability and solidarity.
Gender disparity from a functionalist perspective
Gender disparities, according to this idea, are an effective way to construct a division of labor, or a social structure in which one segment of the population is obviously accountable for some work activities and another segment of the population is clearly responsible for other labor acts. According to the functionalist viewpoint, society is a complex system whose components work together to generate solidarity and stability. This method examines society from a macro-level perspective, focusing on the social structures that form society as a whole. It considers both social structure and social functions.
The function of society's fundamental parts, notably norms, practices, traditions, and institutions, is addressed by functionalism. These aspects of society are viewed as "organs" that work together to ensure the correct functioning of the "body" as a whole, according to a famous analogy popularized by Herbert Spencer.
The functionalist position on gender disparity was most clearly expressed in the 1940s and 1950s, and Talcott Parsons' concept of the nuclear family was significantly responsible for its development. Gender disparities, according to this idea, exist as an effective means to produce a division of work, or as a social structure in which specific segments are clearly responsible for specific acts of labor. The division of labor aims to maximize efficiency and resources. The division of labor is used in a structural functionalist theory of gender inequality to regard predetermined gender roles as complementary: women take care of the home while men provide for the family. As a result, gender, like other social institutions, contributes to society's overall stability.
Functional requirements are the essential necessities (food, housing, clothes, and money) that an individual need to live above the poverty level, according to sociological studies. The characteristics that allow a society to preserve social order are often referred to as functional requirements. Gender, according to structural functionalists, helps to keep social order in place by supplying and assuring the stability of such functional conditions.
This viewpoint has been criticized for reifying gender roles rather than expressing them. While functionalists claim that gender roles are good in that they lead to stable social connections, many people think that gender roles are discriminatory and should be abolished. The feminist movement, which arose at the same time as functionalism began to fade, claims that functionalism ignores women's oppression within the family system.