Can Latent Function be Manifest?

Aram, you make an interesting point. I agree with Jessica that "latent functions will always remain latent". The meanings in which we assign to objects/phenomenons are never fixed, but are rather evolving. When the latent function becomes obvious, by default it is no longer latent. As a result, I think the function can transform into a manifest function through space and time.

Thanks for an interesting question, Aram, and for some insightful responses! I agree with both Jessica and Bich that latent functions will always remain latent as they lose their latency once widely recognized by the public. With that being said, latent functions can, in a sense, transform into latent functions; once this transformation is complete, however, the exact same functions once latent are classified as manifest.

To add on to this for another direction, the idea of understanding HOW latent and manifest functions are conceived and re-ified as either manifest or latent is interesting to me. For example, I have not read Chomsky's work on "Manufacturing Consent" with mainstream media, but I know that in it, he makes the argument that mainstream media's function of manufacturing consent was not latent, but absolutely manifest from its conception. It's interesting that the subject of such a prominent work is not entirely focussed on the function itself (although it is somewhat, I imagine), but much moreso on the distinction of how a the nature of a function (either manifest or latent) really has an effect on function itself, and how there is such a need, scholarly, to uncover whether or not institutions like mainstream media are indeed manufacturing consent either manifestly or latently.