The organism metaphor in sociology

Social Research, Summer, 1995 by Donald N. Levine

This aspect of Durkheim's use of the organism metaphor would deeply engage Radcliffe-Brown following his conversion to a Durkheimian perspective (Stocking, 1984). In a classic paper, "On the Concept of Function in Social Science," he refined Durkheim's definition of the concept which, Radcliffe-Brown observed, "is based on an analogy between social life and organic life" (Radcliffe-Brown, [1935] 1952, p. 178). For the term function in the first meaning Durkheim assigned it, Radcliffe-Brown substituted the term activity. Regarding Durkheim's second definition--that the function of a phenomenon lies in its relation "to the needs of an organism"--he substituted for the term needs the phrase "necessary conditions of existence." So redeemed, Radcliffe-Brown argued, the concept of function "involves the notion of a structure consisting of a set of relations amongst unit entities, the continuity of the structure being maintained by a life-process made up of the activities of the constituent units" (p. 180). Pursuing further the analogy between organisms and societies, Radcliffe-Brown outlined a research agenda generated by this conception of function: "First, the problems of social morphology--what kinds of social structures are there, what are their similarities and differences, how are they to be classified? Second, the problems of social physiology--how do social structures function? Third, the problems of development--how do new types of social structure come into existence?" (p. 180). Within this conceptual framework Radcliffe-Brown completed a number of classic analyses. Thus, he explained the widely-distributed, puzzling phenomenon of joking relationships--where role partners are expected to treat each other in ways that combine pretended hostility and actual friendliness--as serving the function of maintaining an alliance between two collectivities which, nevertheless, have divergent interests.

Methodological Maxims

For most of the sociologists we have considered, the organism metaphor not only supplied a conceptual framework for the study of social organization and change, it also provided maxims to be followed when undertaking the scientific study of society. Foremost among these was the injunction to examine societal phenomena in a detached and value-neutral manner. If society can be construed as an organism, it can be investigated in the same methodical and dispassionate way that biologists investigate plants and animals. Assuming the analogy, Herder proposed to study the rise and fall of cultures ohne vorgeschobenen Plan, without a preconceived design, and Comte admonished sociologists to examine political facts "without extolling or condemning them" (Comte, 1974, p. 473). Park and Burgess would repeat the injunction, urging students of sociology to deal with social attitudes and sentiments "as the biologists deal with organisms," dissecting them in a matter-of-fact manner and looking for the environmental factors to which they are a response (Park and Burgess, 1921, p. vi).