On January 14, 2011, I posted “Requisite Functions” on this
blog. It reviewed a model of politics
known as the structural-functional model by Gabriel Almond and G. Bingham
Powell, Jr. In a nutshell, the model
claims that in order for political systems to deal with stress and lead a healthy
existence, it needs to act in such a way that certain functions are met. They identified five functions: rule making, rule application, rule
adjudication, interest articulation, and interest aggregation. Since the Almond and Powell model was
published, there has been a slew of “function” models, each with its own set of
functions and all claiming that it is imperative for systems to meet these
requisites and that to the extent that they don’t, they will face stress even to
the point that their very existences can come into question. My take is that these models are useful and
the exact list of functions one wants to use is dependent on the aims an
analyst or student has in his/her study.
If one is an educator charged with teaching secondary students the
nature and workings of our political and governmental realities, is a
functional approach helpful? Does it
guide that educator to ask insightful questions that students can use to study
their political and governmental world?
Of course, this blog adds another concern: is there a list of functions that reflects a
concern for federalist systems? Is there
a set of questions that has students analyze a group, be it a social group, an
organization, an association, or an institution, as to whether that entity
encourages and/or expects its membership to federate among themselves and
pursue federalist values? I want to
suggest such a list of questions, beginning with this posting and continuing in
the postings that follow. In this effort,
I want to use the ideas expressed by Samuel P. Huntington.[1]
Central to Huntington’s concern is how viable political
systems are dependent on how well the various systems under their jurisdiction
develop into institutions. Viable
political systems and the societies they represent need stable
institutions. Huntington writes:
Political community in a complex
society thus depends upon the strength of the political organizations and procedures
in the society. … Institutionalization is the process by which organizations
and procedures acquire value and stability.
The level of institutionalization of any political system can be defined
by the adaptability, complexity, autonomy, and coherence of its organizations
and procedures.[2]
And with this, Huntington offers his own set of functions. While I will use this list of functions as overall
concerns that my list will address, I will change the terminology so that
classrooms will find it more adaptable to their needs.
This posting will focus on a function that is not directly
identified by Huntington, but is alluded to as he describes the above list of
functions, particularly adaptability. I
believe the most basic of all functions is that a social group or organization
needs to produce the good, service, or environment it is created to
produce. For example, a government is
created for many reasons; among them is to maintain social stability – a society
can’t have havoc and chaos breaking out.
Any social/political system has, to some degree, to fulfill those aims
and goals that motivated people to form that social entity. I call this function the producing function. As with any production, certain activities
have to be accomplished.
These activities lead to questions as to whether they
are/were done and to what level of viability they are/were done. These questions can include the following:
Has the entity identified and defined the product it is
created to produce?
Has the entity acquired or secured the resources needed to produce
the product(s) it was set up to produce?
Is the process of production a viable use of resources?
Does the entity use the resources in a reasonably efficient
mode?
Is the process of production effective?
Is the product distributed in a way that meets the aims and
goals of the entity?
Are the recipients of the product sufficiently satisfied with
the quality, viability, and efficiency of the product? Do they have a method of evaluating the
product and the ability to communicate their judgment of the product to those
who are responsible for it and to other interested parties?
Are there in place evaluation protocols over any of the above
concerns and ways to communicate the results of these evaluations?
These questions can be used by students to investigate any
political organization. That would
include their own schools that, like or not, are political entities. In the case of public schools, they engage in
providing a governmental service and, as such, have to answer the concerns of a
constituency: the community they serve,
particularly the parents of the students who attend them. But here’s another idea: have students pick one of the formulating
presidential campaign organizations that we hear about; for example, Rand Paul’s
people. These organizations’ aim is to
elect a particular candidate to the presidency.
That is what they want to produce.
Note: a teacher need not use all
of the above questions and they can be geared to the appropriate level of
sophistication that is suitable for the students in question.
In the following postings, I will add additional functions
and the questions I associate with each.
The producing function is probably the most basic of these functions and
assignments limited to just this function are sufficient to lead students to
discover a great deal about a political or governmental entity, be it a
political campaign, a part of the government (like their school), or any other
politically active entity.
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