The Object of the Social Function, II

2) social actors. One could say that a certain social arrangement is functional for certain people with certain interests. An example: because I want to accumulate wealth, the fact that there is the institution of wage labor is rather functional for me, as it is for all people with similar interests.  Or: the fact that that property is protected by law is functional for most firms.

This approach forces one to be very precise about which individuals, groups or organizations benefit or suffer from a certain functional or dysfunctional social phenomenon (which also need to be specified to be sure). 

3) social mechanisms. The institution of law can be said to be functional for market exchange, or for that matter for formal organization (which may also be seen as an actor). Nationalism is functional for the coordination inside firms, in that it allows people to get along more easily than before the era of nation states.

Because these latter two entities are more precise, I think one is best advised to relate social functions to them only, instead of to underspecified notions of society. It is not always easy however to distinguish actors from mechanisms, and this would require subsequent categorization.