Compare and Contrast Structuralism and Functionalism

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Differences Between Functionalism and Structuralism By Karen Smith, eHow Contributor -last updated August 31, 2014  Share  Pin  Tweet  Stumble  Share Functionalism and structuralism are two different European schools of thought. They have both influenced thinkers in a variety of humanities and social science disciplines. Each offers a different approach to analyzing some chosen entity in the world. This entity could be a person, a society or a work of art or literature. Structuralism and functionalism are both well known to scholars today, although they are no longer dominant. Other People Are Reading Differences & Similarities in Functionalism & Marxism What Are the Major Schools of Thought in Psychology? Basic Premises Structuralism involves analyzing something, such as a person, society, or work of art, by breaking it down into its most basic elements and exploring how these elements are related to each other and to the whole. For example, a structuralist linguist might study language by concentrating on the basic physiological distinctions that contribute to the production of different sounds. Functionalism, in contrast, looks at how the different components of a person, society or work of art reflect and contribute to the entity's main purpose or function. For example, a functionalist sociologist might show how religion, as one component of society, contributes to the society's mission of perpetuating itself and flourishing as a whole. Historical Development Structuralism emerged in the late 19th century and continued well into the 20th. It was influenced by "elementalism" an intellectual interest in conceptualizing complex phenomenon based on their constituent parts that became possible because of scientific advances. Functionalism has antecedents in ancient philosophy,
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