Functionalism is one of the significant approaches in sociology and social anthropology that explains society as a system of interconnected parts working together to maintain stability and continuity. Two major contributors to functionalism were A.R. Radcliffe-Brown and Bronislaw Malinowski. Although both scholars emphasized the importance of studying social institutions in relation to their functions, they differed significantly in their understanding of what constitutes function and how social systems operate. Radcliffe-Brown developed a structural-functional approach, focusing on the relationship between social structures and their contribution to the maintenance of social order. According to him, society is a system of social relations that forms a structure, and every institution, custom, or practice has a role in maintaining the continuity of that structure. He was influenced by the ideas of Emile Durkheim and viewed society as an organism whose different parts work together to preserve equilibrium.