Manifest+and+Latent+Functions

It’s even harder to pick up latent functions when the overt purpose of an activity is //not// incapable of being achieved. By looking for latent functions, the sociologist is likely to head in precisely the directions more useful for developing social theory. A great example is the Hawthorne Western Electric Studies. In this (apparently famous) experiment, researchers tried to study the effects of changing the lighting on the efficiency of industrial workers. They found that workers’ productivity improved //both// when the lighting was changed //and// in the control group where it was not. (This is like studying whether the Hopi rain ritual produced rain.) “Only after continued investigation, did it occur to the research group to explore the consequences of the new ‘experimental situation’ for the self-images and self-conceptions of the workers taking part in the experiment, for the interpersonal relations among members of the group, for the coherence and unity of the group” (311). || However, one curious point in this piece is that most of the latent social functions mentioned by way of example have to do with social cohesion. Can we read Merton as a theorist of social identity and cohesion? Can we extrapolate from what he wrote here and say that he has a theory that social cohesion is maintained through the unintended benefits of a wide range of social actions? This is not what he says in this piece (and if Wikipedia is to be believed, some of his writings note that latent functions can be destructive and dysfunctional). Merton in this piece simply argued for an analytical distinction between latent and manifest functions. However, it seems possible to pick up this idea and run with it further. || = = = = = = = = = = = =
 * =Title= || ** “Manifest and Latent Functions” ** ||
 * =Author= || ** Robert Merton ** ||
 * =Date= || ** 1949 ** ||
 * =Summary By= || Suzanne Ghais ||
 * =Summary= || There can be a difference between the conscious motivation for behavior and its actual (unintended) consequences. When the expressed purpose of an activity—such as a ritual intended to bring on rainfall—is found not to be achievable through that activity, researchers too easily write off the practice as superstitious, primitive, or otherwise irrational. This leaves out the unplanned social functions of the practice, which may include “reinforcing the group identity by providing a periodic occasion on which the scattered members of a group assemble to engage in a common activity” (310). “
 * =Discussion points= || To the extent Merton is considered a “functionalist,” this sample of his writing seems far from the teleological view for which functionalists have been criticized. There is no grand design to carry out social functions; there is no ultimate purpose towards which all (or a subset of) social activities aim. Instead there are social practices which may, possibly by accident, serve some helpful social function—that is, have some positive effect. Such practices thus get perpetuated even if they fail in their manifest function.

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