The functionalist paradigm is based upon the assumption that society has a concrete, real existence, and a systemic character oriented to produce an ordered and regulated state of affairs. It encourages an approach to social theory that focuses upon understanding the role of human beings in society. Behavior is always seen as being contextually bound in a real world of concrete and tangible social relationships. The ontological assumptions encourage a belief in the pos- sibility of an objective and value-free social science in which the scientist is distanced from the scene which he or she is analyzing through the rigor and technique of the scientific method. The functionalist perspective is primarily regulative and pragmatic in its basic orientation, concerned with under- standing society in a way which generates useful empirical knowledge.