Latent functions - the twist of social paradox

• The manifest function of the law is to prevent transgression; the latent function of the law is to create transgressors.
• The manifest function of marriage is to form lasting unions of mid-level* support among adults and children; the latent function of marriage is to break those unions. The break comes from the insistence upon fidelity and mutual support, two ideals which are not always honored.
• The manifest function of social stratification is to parcel people into jobs that need to be done to maintain a group; the latent function of social stratification is to maintain class differences in distribution of social capital and thereby weaken the supply of the right individuals for jobs. Opportunity structures are family-filtered and strangle supply routes for individuals to positions.
• The manifest function of religion is to stop and calm people and unite them in peace with the force that is bigger than all of us and keeps the cosmic ecology intact; the latent function of religion is to divide people in groups that "think" they are better or that the other is worse. To be a group - to unite with some - is to divide from others. Think gangs.
• The manifest function of a democracy is to concentrate the will of the people into a small number of vessels (legislators) so that they can publically exchange ideas and make decisions; the latent function of a democracy is to control the masses of people through control of the legislators by the few so that their will rather than that of the people is done. When representatives become targets, some will fall.
• The manifest function of a formal organization with a reporting structure is to pursue its goal (e.g., manufacture something, make profit); the latent function of an organization with a reporting structure, particularly a large organization with a heavily bureaucratized authority structure, is to create entropy and to permit or disguise waste and corruption.
• The latent function of rationality is irrationality. think Pi.
• The latent function of overpopulation (population density) is population reduction through chaos and breakdown. (natural disasters, mass layoffs, divorce)
• The latent function of "the news" is to create fiction.
• The manifest function of distinguishing between manifest and latent functions is to clarify; the latent function of the distinction is to blur and blend social institutions into the complex and magical fabric of social life.

*mid-level: the "family" unit exists between the individual and the collective.