Robert merton used the term for the harmful consequences of people's actions.

Robert Merton used the term dysfunctions for the harmful consequences of people's actions.

According to Merton, functions (people's actions_ in society can either be functional (positive) or dysfunctional (negative). Here, we are focusing on dysfunctions- harmful consequences of people's actions. Dysfunctions in turn can either be manifest (obvious and expected) or latent (hidden and unintended). A manifest (expected) dysfunction is rowdy behavior at a football game, whereas, a latent (hidden) dysfunction is the effect of urbanization on an endangered bird species.

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