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Manifest and latent functions are social scientific concepts created by anthropologist Bronisław Malinowski in 1922 while studying the Trobriand Islanders in the Western Pacific. It was later modified for sociology by Robert K. Merton.[1] Merton appeared interested in sharpening the conceptual tools to be employed in a functional analysis.
Each system in society has a specific function that relies on and is associated to other systems. When these systems function, it leads to social stability. Dysfunction in one or more systems leads to social instability. Both functions and dysfunctions can be latent or manifest. Manifest functions or dysfunctions are deliberate and known. While latent functions or dysfunctions are unintended and/or go unrecognized by many. Positive or negative values are not attached to functions or dysfunctions. In other words, things that are often viewed by people as wrong or harmful can lead to social stability as much as things that are commonly viewed as right or fair. [2]
Merton wrote:
the distinction between manifest and latent functions was devised to preclude ... confusion ... between conscious motivations for social behaviour and its objective consequences
— Robert K. Merton, Social Theory and Social Structure, 1957, page 61
Merton noted that he has "... adapted the terms "manifest" and "latent" from their use in another context by Freud...".[3]
- ^ Diligio, 2000
- ^ Chirico, JoAnn (11 October 2018). Global Problems, Global Solutions: Prospects for a Better World. SAGE Publications. ISBN 978-1-5063-4779-0.
- ^ Merton, Robert K. (15 September 1996). On Social Structure and Science. University of Chicago Press. p. 87. ISBN 978-0-226-52071-1.
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