Theories of the Family:
Talcott Parsons
Scheduling Change
• Original Plan
– Becker and Parsons today
– Two Prominent Critiques on Tuesday
• New Plan (Today)
– Parsons
– Critiques
• New Plan (Tuesday)
– Becker
– Critiques
• Readings
– DO NOT READ THE ASSIGNED READINGS
– Instead read “Feminism and the Family” I will scan it and post it on Blackboard
and the course website tonight.
– IF YOU HAVE ALREADY READ THE POSTED READINGS I WILL ACCEPT A
RESPONSE BASED ON THEM INSTEAD
Lecture Outline
• Structure of Sociological Theory
• Structural Functionalism: 3 Components of the
social system
• Connections among components
• Functional Requisites of a Social System (AGIL)
• Latent Pattern Variables
• Volunteeristic Action
• Equilibrium and Change
• Critiques
Comparing Sociological Perspectives
• Four main categories:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Subject matter
Assumptions about social action
Methodology
Theoretical Objective
Subject Matter
• Macrosociology: the unit of analysis is a higher
order than the individual
– Characteristics of social structure
• Institutions
• Inequality
• Microsociology: the unit of analysis is the
individual or interaction between individuals
• Communication
• Face-to-face encounters
• Decision-making processes
Assumptions about social action
• Actors are Predictable
Predictable
• Actors are Creative
Values
OR
• Motivated by Values
OR
• Motivated by Interests
Interests
Parsons
Becker
Creative
Methodology
Deductive (Top-Down)
Theory
Hypothesis
Pattern
Observation
Inductive (Bottom-up)
Theory
Hypothesis
Pattern
Observation
From Research Methods Knowledge Base at: http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/dedind.php
Reality – A more
Circuitous Approach
Theory
Hypothesis
Pattern
Observation
Objectives
Describe
Explain
A Sociological Theory is a Special Case
of a Sociological Perspective
Sociological Theory:
• Begins by systematically defining concepts
– Also frequently lays out the underlying assumptions
• Puts forth empirically testable general
propositions about the concepts
– A theory must be falsifiable
Talcott Parsons (1902-1979)
• Did his undergraduate work in Biology at Amherst
College
– Important to the development of his organic
perspective of social systems
• Studied with Malinowski at LSE
– European Structuralist Anthropologist
• Did an exchange at Heidelberg
– Influenced by Max Weber’s theory of action
• Later translated most of Weber’s works to English
• Taught at Harvard between 1927 and 1973
Structural Functionalism
• ‘The main guiding line of the analysis is the concept that a
complex social system consist of a network of interdependent
and interpenetrating subsystems, each of which, seen at the
appropriate level of reference , is a social system in its own
right, subject to all the functional exigencies of any such
system relative to its institutionalized culture and situation…”
(Quoted from Calhoun et al. 2007 p.431)
• Society is a set of mutually dependent systems
• Studies how each subsystem contributes to the
system’s maintenance (the subsystem’s function)
– Biological analogy
3 Components of the Social System
1. Cultural System: shared symbolic meanings
–
–
–
–
–
Religious beliefs
National values
Language
Fashion
Cuisine
2. Personality System: elements of identity
• The basic unit is the individual
– Social needs, motivations and attitudes
• Gratification motivation: close to a utilitarian principle
• Behavioural organism
– Biological needs and constraints
• Central nervous system
• Physical capabilities
– Strength
– Fecundity
3. Social System: modes of interaction among
actors
– Within the social system people act according to
the principle of “optimization of gratification”
– All relationships in the social system are mediated
by the cultural system (roles)
Connections Among Systems
Cultural System
Personality System
Social System
Socialization (roles)
Connections Among Systems: An
Example of how Socialization Makes
the Family “Work”
Cultural System
(Values)
Produce
Children
Social System
Socialization (roles)
Mother/Father
Personality System
(needs and
biological
capacities)
(1) Healthy Childishness,
Sexual Gratification
(2) Fecundity
Parsons’ Four-Function Paradigm
Applied to the United States as a Social
System: AGIL
Adaptation
Economic
Goal Attainment
Political
Education,
Religious,
Family
Latent Pattern Maintenance/
Tension Management
Legal
Integration
Reproduced from Wallace and Wolf 1995 pp. 41
Adaptation
• The system’s adaptation to the material
environment
– Concerns the production and distribution of
resources
– The economy performs these functions in USA
Goal Attainment
• Establish system goals and mobilize resources
to fulfill them
– Concerns the distribution of decision-making
power in society
– The political institutions perform these functions
in USA
Integration
• Provides social cohesion and solidarity
– Regulates social interactions and prevents the
mutual interference of systems
– Also regulates conformity through the use of
social control
– The legal institutions perform these functions in
USA
Latent Pattern Variable Maintenance
• Sufficiently motivates actors to fulfill their
social roles
• Upholds the social system by transmitting
values and invoking commitment to those
values
– Family, education, and religion perform these
functions in USA
Family as a subsystem with its own
needs
Adaptation
Goal Attainment
Economic:
Father
(Breadwinner)
Political:
Father
(Decision-Maker)
Value Transmission:
Mother
(Housewife)
Legal:
Father
(Co-ordinates and adjusts
family relationships)
Latent Pattern Maintenance/
Tension Management
Integration
Latent Pattern Variables
• A series of orienting dichotomies
– The meaning of a situation is determined for an
actor by the side (s)he chooses on these
dichotomies
– Once the meaning is determined action can take
place
Pattern Variables
Expressive
Ascription
Diffuseness
Affectivity
Instrumental
Achievement
Specificity
Neutrality
Particularism
Universalism
Collective
Private
Individual Action: Volunteeristic Action
• Balances utilitarian elements of motivation
with normative ones
Internalized
Culture
Actor
Alternative Means
S
GOALS
Family as a Subsystem with its own
Pattern Variables
• Within the family subsystem
– Status is ascribed: based on age, gender and
generational rank
– Distribution of goods is based on collectivist principles
“to each according to his needs”
– Relationships are diffuse rather than specific
– Familial relationships are imbued with high levels of
emotional gratification
– The general orientation of family members is expected
to be based on collectivist principles rather than
personal gain
Equilibrium Assumptions
• Systems tend toward equilibrium
• The four systems (AGIL) must perform their
functions to maintain system equilibrium
• If the system is functioning equilibrium will be
maintained through
Malfunction!
1. Socialization
2. Social Control
Social Change in StructuralFunctionalism
• Changes are gradual
• No great disharmony
• Societies become more
complex/differentiated as they must re-adjust
to solve more problems
– Similar to Durkheim’s idea of how the division of
labor develops
• Very close analogy to evolution
1950s as a period of Re-equilibrium
• The nuclear family became more isolated
– Wider kinship (beyond the household) lost its
functions
• Physical separation of households
– Economic and social independence from kin
– Love and physical attraction became important
Structural Functionalism: A Theory?
• Deductive, macro theory of society
• People’s actions are predictable and motivated by
both values and interests (although perceptions
of interests are heavily shaped by values)
• Empirical evidence of function could be brought
to bear
BUT
• What would Constitute Contrary Evidence?
Critiques of Structural Functionalism:
Internal Structure of the Theory
• Teleological argument
– Assumes that social structures in and of
themselves have purposes and goals that benefit
the system
• Tautological (Circular) reasoning
– Uses a concept in both the cause and effect
• Inhibits comparative research
Critiques of Structural Functionalism:
Substantive Validity
• Lacks a power dimension generally
– Built on a consensus model of social order
– Can’t account for rapid social change
• Socially conservative because change is dysfunctional
(if as he assumes, the nuclear family is functional)
– Rigid Gender Roles
• The assumption that the instrumental and expressive
functions in a family must be carried out by two
separate people
Reading Assignment
• Which of the feminist arguments do you find
most compelling and why? What kinds of
critiques apply to Parsons and which to
Becker?