ABSTRACT
In recent years a number of social theorists have sought to approach the study of organisations from a perspective characteristic of the radical structuralist paradigm. For the most part they have attempted to do this by providing a critique of the problems inherent in the functionalist approach. As in the case of the interpretive and radical humanist paradigms, the radical structuralist approach to the study of organisations has developed in a reactive mould. The critique which has evolved has been wideranging, far from coherent and, at times, highly polemical. Functionalist theorists in general. and organisation theorists in particular, have been accused of being the mere servants of the capitalist system; of being mindlessly empiricist; of neglecting the historical dimensions of their subject; of ignoring the whole body of social thought reflected in the works of Marx; of underplaying the importance of class relationships in contemporary society; of ignoring the importance of the State; and of adopting analytical models which are generally orientated towards the preservation of the status quo. as opposed to accounting for the phenomena of ongoing social change. Not all theorists who have attempted to provide a critique of functionalism in this way are located within the radical structuralist paradigm. Indeed, as will be apparent from our discussion of functionalist sociology, many functionalists have criticised their colleagues on some of these grounds, in order to forge a more radical perspective within the context of the functionalist paradigm. Again, radical structuralists have not always provided a critique upon all the above grounds. Typically, one or more has been given the focus of attention. The critique of functionalism has been launched from a variety of perspectives and with a variety of objectives in mind.
