Problems
There are a number of general problems we can note in relation to Functionalist theories of culture which we can briefly identify as follows:
Firstly, there is the problem of how to explain the very clear differences in behaviour we see around us in everyday life. People, for example, do not behave in exactly the same way and there are clear cultural differences present in the same society. The solution to such a problem is usually created by arguing that there are different levels of socialisation in any society.
Secondly, and related to the above, it is often argued - especially in A-level Sociology textbooks - that Functionalism (because it is a Consensus theory), has a major problem when it comes to explaining conflict in and between societies. The basic criticism here is that if there is such a strong socialising impetus for consensus, how and why do conflicts occur?
However, it is possible for Functionalism to explain conflict (since, as I've noted, it is clear that conflicts occur all the time) and this explanation usually focuses on the way various ways cultural values come into opposition.
From the above it is evident that the situation exists for a certain level of interpretation, argument and disagreement over values and norms at both the cultural and sub-cultural levels of any society. Consensus theorists do not deny this, but argue that this disagreement is itself part of the necessary dynamic process whereby societies adapt and change. In a peculiar way, therefore, conflict and deviance can, as Durkheim argued, be functional for a society because the resolution of social conflicts will eventually produce a new, stronger, consensus over core values.
We can see an example of this argument in the work of the Consensus theorist Robert Merton when he analysed the nature of crime and deviance in American society in the 1930's.