Sees society as a collection of all institutions working together to create a society. The theory of functionalism helps you look at society to understand the functions and institutions that work together to support society as a whole. The weakness of the theory of functionalism is the inability to change society, causing conflict. Changing the elements will affect other elements of the system and cause a change in the entire balance. Functionalism does not inspire people to change the social environment, even when it will benefit them. Functionalism believes that if social change occurs, different parts of society will seemingly naturally compensate for any problems that may occur.