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Sociology Optional PYQ Solutions · Model answer

What are the reactions of R. K. Merton to the functionalism of social anthropologists? Bring out the limitations of latent functions.

  • UPSC 2020, 2006
  • Sociological Thinkers

Robert K. Merton rescued functionalism from its anthropological origins without abandoning it. In "Manifest and Latent Functions", the key essay of Social Theory and Social Structure (1949; revised 1957), he argued that the analysis worked out by Bronisław Malinowski and A. R. Radcliffe-Brown for small, integrated tribal societies had hardened into dogma. He turned its…

You are reading the opening of the model answer. The full answer is part of Sociology Optional PYQ Solutions.

What the full answer covers

  • Three postulates and Merton's replies
  • What Merton added
  • Limitations of latent functions
  • Conclusion

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