Functional explanations can justify harmful behaviors, so functionalism is not inherently good

Evidence

Note, generally, that the likely prevalence of contexts in which we can give a straightforward functional account of essentially negative, collectively self-destructive behavior patterns suggests the silliness of functionalist theories that suppose functionalism is good. It also suggests the silliness of cultural claims that the present culture is right or good because it serves the interests of members whose identities were formed by that culture. — Russell Hardin, Trust and Trustworthiness, 694

Categorization

• SEED: Angle: ‘When Functionalism Justifies the Dysfunctional’ — an essay on how adaptive-evolutionary and social-functionalist reasoning can rationalize harmful equilibria.
• XREF: connects to: Intellectuals assume functional systems must be good, but efficient evil can persist — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 1080; Behaviorism’s danger is that it could become true, not that it is false — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1217