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Talcott Parsons Born1902- Died 1979. Education Undergraduate work at Amherst University in biology and medicine Studied economics in the London School of Economics Strongly influenced by the social anthropologist Brownislaw Malinowski (a functionalist) - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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Talcott ParsonsBorn1902- Died 1979
Education◦ Undergraduate work at Amherst University in biology and medicine
◦ Studied economics in the London School of Economics Strongly influenced by the social anthropologist Brownislaw Malinowski (a
functionalist)
◦ Attended Heidelberg University, in Germany, on an educational exchange Alfred Weber (Max Weber’s brother) was his primary teacher Also sat under the instruction of Karl Mannheim
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Talcott ParsonsHarvard Professor of Economics, and
then Sociology, 1927-1973
Founded the Department ofSocial Relations combiningSociology, Anthropology,and Psychology, 1944
Key works:The Structure of Social Action (1937)The Social System (1951)Social Structure and Personality (1964)The System of Modern Societies (1971)The Structure and Change of the Social System(1983)
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Parsons’ Department of Social Relations 1945-1972 interdisciplinarity:
for UNDERSTANDING HUMAN BEHAVIOR
PHYSIOLOGY
PSYCHOLOGY SOCIAL
STRUCTURE
CULTURE
DURKHEIM: Social System Integration
WEBER: Culture & Social Systems Borderline
FREUD: Social Systems & Personality Integration
Talcott Parsonsand Grand Theory
“The dominant figure in American sociology – if not world-wide – from the mid-1940’s to the mid-1970’s.” (Bell, 1979)
“Talcott Parsons was probably the most prominent theorist of this time, and it is unlikely that any one theoretical approach will so dominate sociological theory again.” (Turner 1998)
“Parsons’ theory of society is plagued by an absence of clarity. His work abounds with ambiguities in both semantics and syntax.” (Perdue, 1986)
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FUNCTIONALISM’S FUNDAMENTAL PREMISES ala PARSONS • EVERY SYSTEM HAS REQUISITE NEEDS THAT MUST BE MET FOR THAT SYSTEM TO SURVIVE. • SPECIALIZED STRUCTURES FUNCTION TO SATISFY THE NEEDS OF THE SYSTEM. • SOCIAL STRUCTURES, FUNCTIONS, AND THE SYSTEMIC WHOLE ARE THUS INTRISICALLY RELATED AND AFFECT ONE ANOTHER. • SPECIALIZATION OF STRUCTURES OCCURS THROUGH THE EVOLUTIONARY PROCESS OF DIFFERENTIATION. • SYSTEMS TEND TO BECOME MORE COMPLEX THROUGH STRUCTURAL DIFFERENTIATION. • STRUCTURAL DIFFERENTIATION MAKES SYSTEMS MORE ADAPTIVE. • DIFFERENTIATION CREATES PROBLEMS OF COORDINATION AND CONTROL, WHICH CREATES PRESSURES FOR THE SELECTION OF INTEGRATING PROCESSES. • INTEGRATING PROCESSES TEND TO KEEP THE SYSTEM IN A STATE OF EQUILIBRIUM
Talcott Parsons: The Structure of Social Action
• Voluntaristic Theory of Action: the Unit Act– Involves these basic elements• Actors are individual persons• Actors are viewed as goal seeking• Actors also possess alternative means to achieve goals
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PARSONS’ VOLUNTARISTIC UNIT ACT:
SELF EGO
THE NORMATIVE ORDER
MEANS
GOALS ENDS
THE ACTOR
CONDITIONS
Talcott Parsons: The Structure of Social Action
Actors are confronted with a variety of situational conditions, such as their own biological makeup and heredity as well as various external ecological constraints, that influence the selection of goals and means.
Actors are governed by values, norms, and other ideas such that these ideas influence what is considered a goal and what means are selected to achieve it.
Action involves actors making subjective decisions about the means to achieve goals, all of which are constrained by ideas and situational conditions.
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PARSONS’ VOLUNTARISTIC UNIT ACT:
“ENVIRONMENTAL” CONDITIONS
“AVAILABLE” MEANS
SELF EGO
THE ACTOR
GOALS ENDS
THE NORMATIVE ORDER
NEED DISPOSITIONS MOTIVATIONS (psychodynamic)
-----------------
•Cognitive •Appreciative •Evaluative
VALUE ORIENTATIONS
(cultural frameworks) --------------------------
•Cognitive Significance •Expressive Symbolism •Moral Standards
I NTERNALI ZATI ON SOCIALIZATION, ENCULTURALIZATION
EXTERNALIZATION, PUTTING ONE’S SELF INTO EFFECT
OBJ ECTIVATION, SOCIAL FACTICITIES, SOCIALLY- CONSTRUCTED REALITY
TALCOTT PARSON’S MODEL ala BERGER
Man is a social product.
Society is a human product
Society is an objective reality
I NSTI TUTI ONALI ZATI ON NEED DI SPOSI TI ONS
STRUCTURED PATTERNS of I NTERACTI ON >
< MODES of ORI ENTATI ON
Talcott Parsons: The Social System
How do social systems survive?How do social systems survive?
More specifically, why do institutionalized More specifically, why do institutionalized patterns of interactions persist?patterns of interactions persist?
Parsons, Talcott. 1951. The Social System. Glencoe, IL: The Free Press.
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Talcott Parsons: The Social System
The Four Functional Imperatives• Adaptation– Involves securing sufficient resources from the
environment and then distributing these throughout the system
• Goal Attainment– Refers to establishing priorities among system
goals and mobilizing system resources for their attainment
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Talcott Parsons: The Social System
• Integration– Denotes coordinating and maintaining viable
interrelationships among system units
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Talcott Parsons: The Social System
• Latency– Embraces two related problems• Pattern Maintenance
– Pertains to how to ensure that actors in the social system display the appropriate characteristics» Motives» Needs» Role-playing
• Tension Management– Concerns dealing with the internal tensions and strains of
actors in the social system
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ADAPTATION
Economic:Energy for
Environmental Interactions
GOAL ATTAINMENT
Political:Selective
Group-Determination
INTEGRATION
Cultural-Legal System:
Institutions of socialization and
social control
LATENT PATTERN MAINTENANCE &
TENSION MANAGEMENTKinship (family)
System:Values and Norms,
Beliefs and Ideologies
External Environment (Natural & Social)
Bare Materials(Human Nature)
ACTION SYSTEMS withinPARSONS’ AGIL MODEL
Talcott Parsons: The Social System
Here are several illustrations of how the Four Functional Imperatives can
illustrate the workings of social systems:
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A U.S NAVAL DESTROYER AS A SOCIAL SYSTEM:
GOAL ATTAINMENT comprises the activities related to sinking enemy ships as when all hands are at battle stations.
ADAPTATION involves keeping the ship afloat and operating – repairs, drills, recruitment and training of personnel.
INTEGRATION is the maintenance of smooth relations between the various departments – gunnery, supply, engineering, and so on, in order to reduce jealousy and enhance cooperation.
LATENT PATTERN MAINTENANCE & TENSION MANAGEMENT involves the efforts of each crew member to reconcile the goals and standards of the ship with those of his/her other roles – husband, wife, son, daughter, father, mother, church member, ethnic group, etc.
The WNBA as a Social System
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The WNBA as a Social System
How to Integrate the WNBA into the United States’ Sports Consciousness
• Adaptation– Resources are allocated to the WNBA• The United States is evaluated as ready for a women’s
league similar to the NBA• Resources are deliberately allocated to help give the
WNBA a structure similar to the NBA• Return on those allocated resources will not be
immediate
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The WNBA as a Social System
• Goal Attainment– Priorities are developed to insure goals are
attained• Media space (television) is given to the WNBA even
though the audience is not yet fully developed
• Integration– Coordinating various relationships within the
sports world
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The WNBA as a Social System
• Latency (after the WNBA is integrated into the nation’s sports consciousness)– Pattern Maintenance• Establishing proper roles and motives
– Tension Management• Dealing with internal tensions and strains of actors in
the social system
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The WNBA as a Social System
If any of the four components “fails,” then the WNBA will not be “integrated” into the social system of organized professional athletics in the United States.
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PARSONS’ MODEL OF SOCIAL CHANGE(countering the systemic tendency toward equilibrium)
INCREASED SOCIAL STRAIN • Critical mass • Dissatisfaction • Value inconsistencies
SUB GROUP ORGANIZATION • Emergence of expressive leadership
S: Situation (chaotic, unstable)I: Individual (charismatic leader)S: Symbols (resonating with previous traditions)A: Audience (marginal, experiencing anomie)
• Creation of alternative set of normative expectations and sanctions • Evasion of current cultural sanctions
PARSONS’ MODEL OF SOCIAL CHANGE(countering the systemic tendency toward equilibrium)
DEVELOPMENT OF MEANINGFUL IDEOLOGY • Acceptable claim to legitimacy • Symbols with wide appeal • Coherent • Relevant
RECONNECTION TO THE DOMINANT SOCIAL SYSTEM • Introduction of internal discipline • Institutionalization of new core values • Adaptive concessions to external realities
Talcott Parsons: The System of Modern Societies
The System of Modern SocietiesA historical study of societal evolution as
evident in the stages of systematic developmentwithin Western history.
Published in 1971 .
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Talcott Parsons: The System of Modern Societies
◦ From feudalism to a differential and interdependent division of labor that marked the European system.
◦ During this process, feudal institutions came to be replaced by early capitalism with some growing centralization of political power.
◦ Then came the Renaissance and the development of secular culture within the framework of a still vibrant religious order.
◦ Reformation: During this period, the priesthood began to lose its exclusive entitlement to the keys to the kingdom, an event that signaled the advent of individualism
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Talcott Parsons: The System of Modern Societies
• Era Two: First Crystallization of the Modern System
– Centered in the European northwest (England, France, and Holland), which saw the centralization of a form of state power and the establishment of mercantile capitalism. One noteworthy development here was the coming of a pluralist political system in England.
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Talcott Parsons: The System of Modern Societies
• Era Three: Age of Revolutions
– During this time, the industrial revolution featured the expansion of financial markets, while the democratic revolution saw the spreading
of the differentiation of rule by people throughout Western Europe.
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Talcott Parsons: The System of Modern Societies
Era Four: New Lead Society
◦Parsons argued that the promise of the industrial and democratic revolutions could not be realized in Europe because of its aristocratic, stratified, and monarchal traditions.
Primarily because of the lack of such restrictions, together with its educational revolution and political pluralism, the “new lead society” is (for Parsons) the United States. It is here that Parsons located the highest form of general adaptation, the embodiment of the evolutionary principle that drives systems and systematic theories.
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