ABSTRACT
Since at least the 19th century, social scientists have asserted that various social phenomena are explained by their functions and the purposes they serve. Marx, for example, thought the state exists in order to promote the interests of the ruling class. Of course, functional explanations in the social sciences have been quite puzzling to commentators. This chapter shows how functional explanation in the social sciences can be explicated, why some standard objections are wrong, what might count as evidence for functional explanations, and some open and interesting questions about them. There are at least two distinct notions of functions or functional explanation invoked in these explanations. The first notion describes the roles social practices play, usually as part of some larger social system. The second notion asserts that social practices exist because of their effects, usually because of their beneficial effects.
