How to use Functionalism to Build Fictional Cultures
Functionalism is a sociological paradigm. It’s main tenet is that every aspect of society is there for a reason; all things within a society (social roles, norms, and institutions) are required for a given culture to remain stable. We can put this to use in our worldbuilding to create well-integrated societies that feel real and provide ample story hooks and opportunities.
Within the school of functionalism there are two types of societal function: manifest functions and latent functions.
Manifest Functions - These are the functions of society that are expected based on the structure in questions. For example, policing and the reduction of crime are a manifest function of many modern societies. We expect policing to reduce our level of crime, and this largely works.
Latent Functions - These are the unknown functions of a given structure. These are often seen as side effects. Functionalism argues that even though many of these things are seen negatively, they are actually part of the function of the structure in question, but not realized as such. If it helps, think of these as subconscious reasons, but at the societal level. In the above example, the propensity for police officers to arrest black males more often than white males for similar crimes is a latent function of the policing system. Inherent biases in arrests serve a purpose, that of disempowering a group of people to maintain certain levels of inequality.
Another example - Money and poverty. A manifest function of the capitalist system is competition and reduced prices, which is largely the case. A latent function is poverty. which is theorized to be a way to keep the middle class in line. The impoverished provide a ready scapegoat for many problems as well as a warning for what happens to those that do not participate in the capitalist system.
It can easily be argued that the above examples are incorrect, that our society does not value racism and poverty. Functionalism says otherwise. The very fact that these things exist means they serve a function. Otherwise, we would not allow them to perpetuate. It is beyond the scope of this post to argue about the correctness of functionalism. Instead, we will look at how we can use this idea to form fictional societies that are both alien but also understandable.
Another aspect of functionalism to remember is the interconnectedness of all societal systems. Religion, government, family, and so on all work together to create a working society. This interconnectedness is key to understanding how latent functions crop up. If it helps, think of latent functions as side-effects that are not intended by the people that created the system, but that are necessary for its continuation.
To prove this point, imagine for a moment that poverty was abolished. How would this come to pass? All impoverished individuals would have to be cared for, employed, and/or exiled. All three solutions, no matter in what mix or measure, would fundamentally change our society. If we make the impoverished wards of the state, taxes increase, inflation erupts (due to the larger flow of cash) and the number of the impoverished increases until the system can no longer support them. If they are all employed, similar problems will occur. Exile will cause deflation (even the poor spend money) and a reduction in unskilled labor which would cause all sorts of problems.
How to use Functionalism - The above examples of societal collapse are exactly how we can use functionalism. First, determine what kind of society you’re building: rising, falling, or stable. Stable societies have stable internal systems that work harmoniously. Falling societies have something out of whack, like in the poverty example above. This inconsistency leads slowly but surely to the society’s downfall. Rising societies are likewise imbalanced, but in such a way that they are growing and expanding, at least until they become stable or crash and become falling societies.
For some works, you only need one culture, because the whole story takes place firmly within it. For others you’ll need to understand a little bit about the border societies and how they interact with your main society, and in still others you will need to fully flesh out multiple cultures. Always think about the needs of your story. No matter what type of society you’re building, it should serve your story in some way, otherwise it’s wasted effort.
Stable societies - So you want to build a stable society. The first thing to do is determine what is different about this society from our own. This could be things like nationalized religion, different gender roles, difference economic states and processes, alternative educational systems, unique governments, etc. The differences don’t need to be large-scale either. You could change a few small things, like which gender proposes marriage or how military service works (as in my WIP, The Song of Brone). Now that you know a few things that are different, you have to extrapolate. The assumption is that these differences are functional and work for the society at large. We’ll use marriage as an example.
Why do men propose in our culture? What purpose does this difference in genders cause? Are there other effects? One could argue that since women have veto power, all other romantic relationships will be similar. The man will pursue the woman, he will push for intimacy, etc. In all cases, it will be the responsibility of the woman to halt the man’s advance. This also creates certain power dynamics. This step involves a decent amount of research.
Once you have a working idea of the structure in question, imagine changing it. In this case, women now propose to men. Extrapolating from here is much more than just flip-flopping gender roles. Men are still more physically capable than women (on average, not universally), which means they are still more suited to war (at least in wars that rely on physical strength) and more suited to personal defense. So how might a culture adopt this practice but still maintain largely male armies? How you answer this question determines aspects of government, may involve religion, changes family dynamics, the whole thing. The key is to make sure that whatever answers you come up with don’t create problems of their own.
Problems in this case are imbalances in the system. Some of these imbalances will be good, as they will become latent functions that stabilize your society. For example, an unintended consequence of this reversal is that women inherently have more social power than men but not more physical power. So the government might be run by women, but the military might be a religious institution designed to reinforce certain aspects of masculinity and social duty to keep men in line. No one from this fictional society would believe you if you told them that the reason all the men worship war gods is because women are charge. Latent function.
Other imbalances could lead to the whole society falling apart. Those are the ones you have to come up with fixes for. However, you don’t want to go too deep into this rabbit-hole. Your readers will only think so much about your world and the consequences of your society. For example,. the Mortal Engines is a ridiculous concept for those that understand physics and mechanics, but it’s such a cool premise that it can be hand-waved away as long as the writer doesn’t highlight the inconsistencies of their ideas. There will always be those that are hyper-critical, and you can’t please them all.
My recommendation is to go three problems deep. Find a problem with the primary change, then fix it. If there is a problem with the fix, fix that. Then one more time. You can get away with only going two deep on things that are not plot-critical, and you can only approach the surface (top layer) for things that are only implied and never mentioned. These are rules of thumb. Rely on beta readers and critique partners to help you identify where more work needs to be done.
Falling Societies - These are arguably the easiest to make. Create a difference (like above) but instead of solving the problems, make them worse. In the above example, perhaps the power differential leads to oppression of men which in turn causes them to entertain revolution. After all, they are in the military. If they can shed or modify the religious norms that restrain them, they can engage in a violent takeover and reform the system. Enemies of the nation, sensing the internal strife, will find it an opportune time to attack, and the nation falls completely to internal and external conflict.
Rising Societies - Societies on the rise are difficult. You have to create a positive imbalance in the society. This will largely be used when the theme of your novel involves examining how current structures are good or bad, but be careful: it’s easy to get preachy with these. When you make your changes, always go three levels deep (utopias get extra scrutiny). In addition, find ways for the resulting latent functions to become manifest functions that further benefit the society. Negative imbalances can and should still exist, but they become the seedy underbelly, the grist that makes the whole machine function despite itself.
Depending on the timescale of your novel/series, it may not be important to know whether this society will eventually fall or become stable. If it is, you’ll need to imagine it in advance to make sure you set up the appropriate markers for your readers.
I’m done, now what - Once you have all the necessary societies built, you can start to explore character. You’ve spent a lot of time working on how all the different aspects of your society interact. You’ve interrogated the changes to religion, family, government, economy, everything. You’ve spent a lot of time figuring out how the whole thing works, so now it’s time to throw a wrench in the works. That wrench is one or more of your characters.
In our above example, a male character will have a stance on the national religion and his expected military service. His expectations and life experience will color his actions and mannerisms. He will see things in a militaristic light, likening strangeness such as another culture’s propensity for cleanliness to more familiar military drills and discipline. His views of his own culture and others will provide you with ample opportunities for conflict with other characters and/or the society itself. Perhaps he dislikes the militaristic nature of his culture, longing instead for a simple life. Meanwhile, a young girl might bemoan the need to learn politics, longing for the more physical arts and freedom of men. The two would form a natural friendship, opposed perhaps by a powerful representative of the church or state who wishes to quash their ideas, deeming them dangerous to the existing system.
This is not a deep-dive into functionalism or sociology. We’ve only scratched the surface of how this stuff works. In future installments we’ll dive deeper into how functionalism can be used and understood, as well as how other sociological paradigms work.
Hopefully you’ve gotten some good ideas from the little I’ve covered. If so, feel free to share them. I’d love to see what societies you all cook up. Meanwhile, it’s time to get back to writing.