Functional Problem
of social system
Social system is a functional arrangement. Its
functional character ensures social stability and
continuity. It is generally agreed that the social
system have four primary functional problems to
attend and these are :




Adaptation
Goal attainment
Integration
Latency or Pattern-Maintenance
ADAPTATION
GOAL ATTAINMENT
Economy
INTEGRATION
Cultural System
Political System
LATENCY
Family, Education, Religion
These primary functional problems are
called AGIL paradigm. It is
a sociological scheme created by American
sociologist Talcott Parsons in 1950s. It is a
systematic depiction of certain societal
functions, which every society must meet to
be able to maintain stable social life.
Adaptation
In order to survive or maintain equilibrium with respect to
it’s environment, any system must to some degree adapt
to the environment.
 The function of adaptation is to produce and allocate
resources among the member of the society.
 Food and shelter must be provided to meet the physical
needs of members. The economy is the institution primarily
concerned with this function.
 Economy for its maintenance, division of labor for better
production of goods and effective services, and role
differentiation for job opportunity is essential.

Goal Attainment
A
social system has to maximize the
capacity of the society to attain it’s own
goal.
 It is the responsibility of political system to set
and achieve the goal of it’s respective
societies.
Example:
Giving free education
National security
Integration
 Every
social system has one or more goals
to be attained through cooperative effort.
 When
individual’s goal and social goal are
complementary to each other and not
contradictory that is called integration.
 The
function of integration is bringing all the
individual together in the society.
Latency or Pattern-maintenance
 It
refers to the ‘maintenance of the
basic pattern of values, institutionalized
in the society’.
 In absence of appropriate effort in this
direction maintenance and continuity
of social order is not possible.
 Institutions that perform this function
includes the family, the educational
system and religion.