stressing the importance of interdependence among all behavior patterns and institutions within a social system to its long-term survival.ö Malinowski adopted it from the French sociologist, Emile Durkheim, who used the concept in an effort to understand the usefulness of social and cultural traits. Malinowski came up with the explanation that these behavior patterns and institutions were necessary for their contributions to the operation of the particular cultural system of which they were a part. Malinowski promoted the idea in England, believing that cultural practices served both physical and psychological purposes: they satisfied practical desires, and were also useful in reducing fear and anxiety in a society. Malinowski was noted for his integration of cultural theory with psychology.
Malinowski saw cultures as wholes, as working units with the various activities of societies working for a given reason according to those involved (Kuper, 1983). Malinowski analyzed connections within systems and tried to link one activity and its meaning to another. He avoided the use of technical jargon, and asked simple questions of those he studied. He looked at the present only, and did not try to link it to the past or the future. He wrote that though some beliefs appear magical, they often have a practical purpose, rather than being merely symbolic. He showed that ritual magic could be seen as logical, and serving a purpose, such as dispelling fear, demonstrating a cognitive theory of the mind that is the same in all peoples. He found that cultures used ritual magic only when it was needed, such as to calm fears about the unknown and did not apply it when they were in a situation they knew and understood.
His belief in functionalism led Malinowski to believe that the way to study anthropology was to live among the peoples being studied. He was the first to advocate such a way of studying other cultures with such a ôh...