“An Outline of the
Social System”
Talcott Parsons, 1951
Talcott Parsons
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Born December 13, 1902 in
Colorado Springs, CO
his father was a Congregational
minister and active in the social
reform movement known as the
Social Gospel movement.
Relatively little information about
him before he went to Amherst
Graduated from Amherst College
with a major in biology, leisure and
tourism, and philosophy.
Went to London School of
Economics (LSE). Reputation for
intellectual excellence and a radical
political stance on the part of
many of its staff – grounding in
sociology
Met wife Helen Walker – married
to for whole life
…continue Parsons
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WWII – important lag time for Parsons --- the deaths of his elder
brother and of both parents between 1940 and 1943 seem to have
played a part in what he thought of “as a 'major failure' of his
career-the inability to complete a 'major monographic study of
medical practice' at that time, based on his empirical work”
University of Heidelberg with Ph.D. in sociology and economics
Most works influences by time spent with the Program in Social
Relations (1946)
1949 – elected president of the American Sociological Association
Very prominent American Sociologist – teaching at Harvard
In 1953/4 Parsons traveled to England - visiting chair of social
theory at Cambridge.
He was asked to give the annual Marshall Lectures that academic
year, with the theme of 'the relations between economic and
sociological theory'
Died May 8, 1979
Structural Functionalism and Ideas
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Main focus Structural Functionalism
• Social Systems/Institutions
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Pattern Variables
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subsystems, roles, the normative order, and the
interpretation of situations by social actors
Gratification/discipline – actor’s emotional involvement
Private/collective – needs to individual or wider population
Universalism/particularism – action to particular person
Achievement/ascription – interaction and achievements
Specificity/diffuseness – range of roles an actor has
Society Breakdown
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Cultural system – symbols for expressions
Personality system – unique identity
Social system – modes of interactions between actors
Sociocultural Evolutionism
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The change in cultures and societies over
time
Provides models for understanding
relationship between technologies, social
structure, the values of society, and
how/why changes occur over time.
Mechanisms of variation and social change
Then how does a society maintain itself…?
AGIL & subsystems of action
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A - The function of adaptation. Adaptation is another consequence
of goal plurality. With providing additional disposable facilities
independent of their relevance to any particular goal.
G - The function of goal-attainment. Goal-attainment becomes a
problem in so far as there arises some discrepancy between the
inertial tendencies of the system and its needs resulting from
interchange with the situation.
I - The function of integration. In the control hierarchy, integration
stands between the functions of pattern-maintennce and goalattainment. The system as a whole is concerned most with the
allocation of rights and obligations.
L - The function of pattern maintenance. The function of pattern
maintenance refers to the imperative of maintaining the stability of
patterns of institutionalized culture defining the structure of the
system.
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Advocate of "grand theory," an attempt to
integrate all the social sciences into an
overarching theoretical framework
Most influential works:
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The Structure of Social Action (1937)
The Social System (1951)
Early work The Structure of Social Action (1937)
– inspired by work from Max Weber, Vilfredo
Pareto, and Emile Durkheim
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Main goal: “action theory” – human action is
voluntary, intentional, and symbolic
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Pattern variables
Today’s Readings focused on early developing
theories and Social Systems
Parsons’s Works
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The Structure of Social Action (1937)
The Social System (1951)
Economy and Society - with N. Smelser (1956)
Structure and Process in Modern Societies (1960)
Societies: Evolutionary and Comparative Perspectives (1966)
Sociological Theory and Modern Society (1968)
Politics and Social Structure (1969)
The American University - with G. Platt (1973)
Social Systems and the Evolution of Action Theory (1977)
Action Theory and the Human Condition (1978)
“The Position of Sociological Theory”
(1948)
Five important postulates:
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4.
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Must be recognized as fundamentally important to
any science.
Must have social systems.
Must conform to the “structural-functional” type.
Must be formulated within an “action” frame of
reference
Must be framed in terms of genuinely operational
concepts.
1. Fundamental Importance
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Some of the highest levels of scientific
development need the theoretic system in order
to conceptualize ideas
When people recognize fundamental
importance, social science will mature and have
more “predictive power” in the science realm
2. Social Systems
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“theoretical scheme which articulates our own
field with others which are equally part of the
same broader fundamental system.”
3. “Structural-Functional” Type
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Does not currently fit the analytical mechanics,
but this is most desired state because it would
cover a wider range of empirical analysis
(Pareto)
“by use of structural categories it simplifies
dynamic problems to the point where a
significant proportion of them became
empirically manageable with the observational
and analytical resources we can hope to
command in the near future”
4. “Action” Frame of Reference
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CANNOT be completely behavioristic
Excluding point-of-view of actor
Essential in order to understand the foundation
of “motivational categories,” which include:
attitudes, sentiments, goals, complexes, etc.
5. Genuinely Operational Concepts
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“have theoretical categories of such a character that
the empirical values of the variables concerned are
the immediate products of our observational
procedures”
Currently approach is not possible for most fields of
social sciences
Methodological Prerequisites of the
Formulation of a System
1. Analysis of the action frame of reference
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Actor vs. Situation
Not physical or biological
“Analysis of the situation must be fully
integrated with the analysis of the action
itself”
Three fundamental modes of orientation:
cognitive, goal directed, and affective.
2. The functional prerequisites of the social system
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System of social action involving a “plurality of interacting
individuals”
Two primary foci:
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Coordinating activities so that they do not negatively affect
each other and contribute into the system
Adequacy of motivation
3. The bases of structure in social systems
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Stable patterns between actors or roles and social
relationships
Important aspects:
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Institutionalization
Differentiation
Importance of Institutions
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Structural differentiation and integration
patterns
Dynamic interrelationships of institutions
and culture
Motivation of institutional behavior
Motivation of deviant behavior/social
control concerns
Dynamic theory of institutional change
“An Outline of the Social System”
(1961)
Functional differentiation
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structured units acquire specialized significance in the
functioning of the system
social interaction is bound to the physical task
performance of individuals in a physical environment; it
is bound to spatial location in the physical sense
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spatial location is the community aspect of social structure,
which can be broken down into four complexes
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residential location and the social structure around it
functional task-performance through occupation, and its locational
problems
jurisdictional application of normative order through the
specification of categories and persons, and the relevance of this to
the spatial location of their interests and activities
physical demands of communication and of the movements of
persons and commodities
Technology
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Technology relates to physical demands,
but is also based on cultural resources and
their significance as a means for social
action
Outlining the structure of complex
society as a social system
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can be regarded as:
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the maintenance of its patterns of
institutionalized culture at the value level
the integration of its system of differentiated
norms
the coordinated handling of external
situations
Boundaries
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The boundaries of a society tend to
coincide with the territorial jurisdiction of
the highest-order units of a political
organization
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In history, the collective values of a society have
been concentrated in both religion and politics.
Law has been legitimized by religion and
enforced by political authority
often interpretation has been debated
in the western world, since the Christian era,
there has been a separation of church and state
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individualism
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social theory advocating the liberty, rights, or independent
action of the individual
moral community shifted from religious
organization to an organization which included
both religious and secular aspects
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shift to a politically organized community although
values still anchored in religion
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“In God We Trust”
Values now embodied by judicial and legislative agencies
Other main points to article:
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While there are limitations on physical force as an authority,
control of a superior socially organized force usually prevents
undesired action
political organization is organized around the attainment of
collective goals
maintenance of states of interaction between system and its
desirable environment
the maintenance of security against outside, adverse force
political organization must also be integrated with legal
system
the differentiation at highest level of societal organization
described as a function of 4 sets of factors
societal values that are institutionalized
the degree and mode of their institutionalization
kind and level of structural differentiation of society
kinds of situational exigencies to which the system is exposed
Problem of Structural Change
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sources of tendencies toward change
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consist of external tendencies to change in
the cultural systems in the social system
change in the genetic components within
populations, which impact behavior and social roleperformance
 changes in physical environment
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change originating in other politically
organized systems
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war, government interrelations, cultural borrowing
Problems of Structural Change
continued…
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internal sources, “strains”
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if strain (tendency to disequilibrium between two or
more units of a system) becomes great enough, the
mechanisms of control will not be able to maintain
that conformity and avoid breakdown of the structure
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relieving strain
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resolution – restoring conformity with normative expectations
arrestation/isolation – full conformity is not restored, however,
some accommodation is made by which is accepted
change in structure itself
Aftermath:
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the impact of these tendencies on the
affected structural components and the
possible consequences
possible generalizations about trends and
patterns of change
•exogenous
•endogenous
Structural Components of the
Social System
The Pattern-alternatives of Value-Orientation as Definition
of Relational Role-expectation Patterns
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The analysis of the differentiation of a
social structure must start with the
patterns the enter into its relational
institutions
Social Structure brings out a limited
number of ranges which, in their simplest
form can be defined as polar alternatives
of possible orientation-selection
The GratificationDiscipline Dilemma
Affectivity vs. Affective Neutrality
Cont’d.
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The “ultimate interest of any actor is in
the optimization of gratification
Affectivity-No actor can subsist without
gratifications, while at the same time no
action system can be organized or
integrated without the renunciation of
some gratifications which are available in
the given situation
CONT’d.
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Affectivity-Neutrality formulates the
patterning out of action with respect to
the basic alternative, in direct orientations
to the social objects with whom as actors
interact in a role, and in its relevance to
the structure of the expectations of his
action in that role
The Private vs. Collective
Interest Dilemma
Self-Orientation vs. Collectivity
Orientation
Cont’d.
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Focuses on the same intrinsic problem as
Affectivy vs. Affective-Neutrality but, is
approached from the other end, as it
were, namely the permissibility of his
pursuing any interest “private” to himself
as distinguished from those shared with
the other members of the collectivity in
which he plays a role.
Cont’d.
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A role, then, may define certain areas of
pursuit of private interests as legitimate,
and in other areas obligate the actor to
pursuit of the common interest of the
collectivity
May be called “Collectivity-Orientation”
The Choice Between Types
of Value-Orientation
Standard
Universalism vs. Particularism
Cont’d.
Concerns not subordination to vs freedom
from certain value standards whatever their
content, but the type of value-standard which
is defined as relevant to the role-expectation.
The Choice Between “Modalities”
of the Social Object
Achievement vs. Ascription
Cont’d.
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Concerns its application to the definition of
ideal states of affairs where they differ
from a given initial state
Concerns characteristics of the object
which maybe selected as the focus of
orientation
The Definition of Scope
Interest in the Subject
Specificity vs. Diffuseness
Cont’d.
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A particular instrumental or expressive
orientation or interest has a certain
specificity such that is capable of clear
analytical segregation from the other or
from moral orientations
Diffuseness-alternative to specificity, to
treat the object as significant in an
indefinite plurality of specific orientation
contexts.
Discussion Questions:
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Looking at social systems today, can you
identify some that have been successful in
maintaining themselves? What about
systems that have failed? Why did they
fail?
Parsons ideas were not taken well in
America – why do you think this is?
Which aspect of his teachings do you think
was most controversial?
Introduction
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Empirically social systems are conceived as open
systems engaged in interchange with environing
systems, which include:
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This also implies boundaries and their maintenance
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Cultural and personality systems
Behavior and other subsystems of an organism
And the physical environment
“A boundary means that a theoretically and empirically
significant difference between structures and processes internal
to the system and those external to it exists and tends to be
maintained”
There are three “bases or axes of variability” also called
“bases of selective abstraction,” which are important in
analyzing a system:
1. Structural and Functional Modes
of Analysis
Distinction between “structural” and “functional”
references for analysis
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Structural – focuses on elements of the patterning of
the system that are independent of smaller
fluctuations in the relation of the system to its
external situation
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Example: The American Constitution has been a stable
reference point over time, because although society has
changed and it has been adjusted, it has, for the most part,
remained constant in important elements
Functional – relates to the problem of mediation
between exigencies: those from the constancy of a
structure and those imposed by the situation a
system is in
2. “Dynamic” Modes of Analysis
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Distinction between two orders of
“dynamic” problems relative to a system
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Equilibrium problems – patterns assumed to
remain unchanged
Change in the structure of the system itself –
problems of interchange with the cultural
system
Process of “structural differentiation”
which involves reorganization and
fundamental structural change
3. The Hierarchy of Relations of
Control
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The organization of living things involves mechanisms
that operate as agencies of control of metabolic and
behavioral processes
Basic subsystems of the general system of action
constitute a hierarchical series of such agencies of
control over the behavior of humans or organisms:
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Behavior system is point of articulation of th system of action
with the anatomical-physiological features of the physical
organism and is its point of contact with the environment
Personality system is a system of control over the behavioral
organism (the social system) over the personalities of its
members and the cultural system is a system of control relative
to social systems
Control Relations within the Social System
Hierarchies also exist within subsystems of action
Four essential functional imperatives of any system of
action (hence, any social system):
1. The Function of
Pattern-maintenance
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“The imperative of maintaining the stability of the patterns of
institutionalized culture defining the structure of the system”
Two distinct aspects:
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Focus of pattern-maintenance is in the structural category of values
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Values are subject to change, but there is a great potential for
disruption from them
Motivational commitment of the individual, or “tensionmanagement”
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1. character of the normative person
2. state of “institutionalization”
Problem of mechanisms of socialization of the individual, strain on
commitments
Social systems show a tendency to maintain their structural patters
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Reference point provided for analysis of problems of variation
Clear that when we analyze social change we work with a different kind
of theoretical problem
2. The Function of
Goal-attainment
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Is a problem because arouses discrepancy between
inertial tendencies of the system and its “needs”
resulting from interchange with the situation
Goals are therefore defined in terms of equilibrium – a
directional change
A social system with one goal is inconceivable – situation
is usually complex with many goals and problems
Goals must be arranged in order of relative urgency
(system must be flexible)
Goal-orientation focuses on a social system’s relation as
a system to the personalities of the participating
individuals
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Therefore it concerns not commitment to societal values, but
motivation to contribute what is necessary for the system to
function
3. The Function of Adaptation
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Must differentiate between the function of
effective goal-attainment and providing
disposable facilities independent of their
relevance to any one goal
There is a hierarchy of both goals and facilities
as well – flexibility must be maintained to
maximize use of facilities to meet goals
Facilities include control of physical objects,
access to services of humans, and certain
cultural elements
Goal-attainment is more important than
adaptation within any system
4. The Function of Integration
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All systems are differentiated and divided into
independent units – must be treated as
boundary-maintaining systems within an
environment of other systems
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Example: in a highly differentiated society, legal
norms govern the allocation of rights, obligations,
facilities, and rewards
The integrative function is the focus of most of a
system’s distinctive properties and processes
Problems focusing on integration, therefore, are
the central concern of sociological theory
CATEGORIES OF SOCIAL
STRUCTURE
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Introduction
Two main points of reference for
sociological theory:
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1. relations of social systems and culture
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Focuses on the problem of values and norms in the
social system
2. the individual as an organism and
personality
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Focuses on the individual’s participation in social
interaction
Social Interaction and Roles
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Role is the essential starting point for individual
interaction
In order for interaction to be stable, roles and actions
must have meanings and be governed by understood,
shared rules. Rules define goals and the consequences
of and given move by one player for the situation in
which the other must make his choice.
A stable system of interaction orients its participants in
terms of mutual expectations, which also express
normative evaluations
The Concepts of Role and Collectivity
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“Since the normal individual participates in many collectivities, it
is commonplace, though a crucial one, that only in a limiting
case does a single role constitute the entire interactive behavior
of a concrete individual”
Roles are “sectors” of the behavioral system
The Structure of Complex
Systems
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The Concept of a Society
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Societies are relatively self-sufficient collectivities which cannot
be said to be a differentiated subsystem of a high-order
collectivity oriented to most of the functional exigencies of a
social system. The functional exigencies take shape in three
distinct ways: differentiation, segmentation and specification
The Segmentation of Social Units
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Humans as agencies of performance are indispensable
There are limits to what individuals can do and to the
effectiveness of how individuals can cooperate with one another
Segmentation refers to the development of sub collectives within
a larger collectivity system in which some members participate
more intimately than others
“The necessity of segmentation derives largely from the
problems of integration resulting from the other exigencies to
which units of the system are subject.”
Functional Differentiation


structured units acquire specialized significance in the
functioning of the system
social interaction is bound to the physical task
performance of individuals in a physical environment; it
is bound to spatial location in the physical sense

spatial location is the community aspect of social structure,
which can be broken down into four complexes




residential location and the social structure around it
functional task-performance through occupation, and its locational
problems
jurisdictional application of normative order through the
specification of categories and persons, and the relevance of this to
the spatial location of their interests and activities
physical demands of communication and of the movements of
persons and commodities



In history, the collective values of a society have been
concentrated in both religion and politics. Law has been
legitimized by religion and enforced by political authority
often interpretation has been debated
in the western world, since the Christian era, there has
been a separation of church and state

individualism


social theory advocating the liberty, rights, or independent action of
the individual
moral community shifted from religious organization to
an organization which included both religious and
secular aspects

shift to a politically organized community although values still
anchored in religion


“In God We Trust”
Values now embodied by judicial and legislative agencies










While there are limitations on physical force as an
authority, control of a superior socially organized force
usually prevents undesired action
political organization is organized around the attainment
of collective goals
maintenance of states of interaction between system
and its desirable environment
the maintenance of security against outside, adverse
force
political organization must also be integrated with legal
system
the differentiation at highest level of societal
organization described as a function of 4 sets of factors
societal values that are institutionalized
the degree and mode of their institutionalization
kind and level of structural differentiation of society
kinds of situational exigencies to which the system is
exposed



Technology relates to physical demands, but is
also based on cultural resources and their
significance as a means for social action
Outlining the structure of complex society as a
social system
can be regarded as:




the maintenance of its patterns of institutionalized
culture at the value level
the integration of its system of differentiated norms
the coordinated handling of external situations
The boundaries of a society tend to coincide
with the territorial jurisdiction of the highestorder units of a political organization
Problem of Structural Change

sources of tendencies toward change

consist of external tendencies to change in the cultural systems
in the social system



change originating in other politically organized systems


change in the genetic components within populations, which impact
behavior and social role-performance
changes in physical environment
war, government interrelations, cultural borrowing
internal sources, “strains”

if strain (tendency to disequilibrium between two or more units
of a system) becomes great enough, the mechanisms of control
will not be able to maintain that conformity and avoid
breakdown of the structure

relieving strain



resolution – restoring conformity with normative expectations
arrestation/isolation – full conformity is not restored, however, some
accommodation is made by which is accepted
change in structure itself
PARSONS, a summary


Parsons is best known for bringing classical
sociological theory (typical of Europe) to the
United States and formulating a grand classical
theory of his own
He strove for integration in sociological theory in
many ways by attempting to unify the study of
various social sciences, deliniating levels of
social analysis, and arguing for the importance
of maintaing stability in the social world
PARSONS: pattern variables
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Parsons set out to formulate a “grand theory” of general action that
would consider the relevance of cultural phenomena such as ideas,
norms, and goals.
Parsons also formulated the “pattern variables,” which are sets of
choices any individual (or “actor”) must make in a given situation.
He also used them to analyze larger-scale phenomena, such as
patterns of norms within entire cultural systems. His pattern
variables include:
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affectivity-affective neutrality
speificity-diffuseness
universalism-particularism
ascription-achievement
self-collectivity
Parsons later turned away from action theory toward a structuralfunctionalism that had at its core the concepts of functional
imperatives, status-roles, need-dispositions, and value orientations.