In this perspective a society is seen as an organized network of cooperating groups operating in a fairly orderly manner according to a set of rules and values shared by most members. Society is seen as a stable system with a tendency toward-equilibrium, -that is, a tendency to maintain a balanced; harmoniously operating system. In the functionalist perspective, with Talcott Parsons [1937], Kingsley Davis [1937], and Robert Merton [1957] as the most prominent spokesmen, each group or institution fulfills certain functions and persists because it is functional. Thus, the school educates children, prepares workers, takes children off their parents' hands for part of the day, and provides spectator sports events for the community, among other things. Behavior patterns arise because they are ', functionally useful. On the American frontier, where there were few inns and fewer people with money for them, a hospitality pattern developed. The traveling family was welcome guests of the nearest settlers wherever night fell upon them. The travelers brought news and a break in monotony; the host provided food and shelter. As the frontier became settled, the hospitality pattern be-came unnecessary and it declined. Thus pat-terns arise to meet needs and pass when the needs change.

Social change disrupts the stable equilibrium of the society, before long a new equilibrium is regained. For example, large families were desired throughout most of history. Death rates were high, and large families helped to ensure some survivors and with never enough hands to do the work, large families were functionally useful. They provided workers, companionship, and old-age security and were good for both the individual and the society. Today, in a crowded world with a lower death rate, large families are no longer a blessing. In

other words, large families have become dysfunctional and threaten the welfare of the society. So a new equilibrium is approaching in which, instead of high death rates and high birth rates, we shall (hopefully) have low death rates and low birth rates. Thus, a value or practice which is functional at one time or place may become dysfunctional—interfering with the smooth operation of society—at another time or place. If a particular social change promotes a harmonious equilibrium, it is seen as functional; if it disrupts the equilibrium, it is dysfunction; if it has no effects, it is non-functional. In a democracy political parties are functional while bombings, assassinations, and political terrorism are dysfunctional, and changes in political vocabulary or party insignia are nonfunctional. Functionalists ask such questions as, "How does this value, practice, or institution help meet the needs of the society?" "How does it fit in with the other pra

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