Sociologists - Talcott Parsons

“If there are four equations and only three variables, and no one of the equations is derivable from the others by algebraic manipulation then there is another variable missing.”

Summary

• US sociologist of the 20th century who was influenced by Weber and Durkheim
• Structural Functionalist (however, he disproved of the label)
• Extended the theory of Social Action provided by Weber
• Introduced Action Systems and Social System theory
• Introduced a theory of Social Change

Introduction

• Talcott Parsons was arguably the most influential US sociologist of the 20th century.
• He introduced the Americans to European sociological thought by translating works of Weber and contributing to structural-functionalism.
• While Durkheim focused on society (macro) in his works, and Weber focused on the individual (micro) in his works, Parsons focused on combining both macro, micro and rejecting exclusivism.

Theory of Social Action

• Parsons extends the works of Weber when it comes to social action but focuses on macro as well as micro.
• Parsons states that an actor has many alternative when it comes to performing a social action e.g. you can greet someone with a handshake, hug, kiss, etc.
• However, four conditions should be met for the action to be considered a social action as listed below.

Conditions of Social Action

1. Social Aspect: There should be a social situation. Social action can not be performed in isolation.
2. Motivational Aspect: The action should achieve a purpose or a goal e.g. your goal is to compliment a stranger so you give them a thumbs up.
3. Value Aspect: The social action will be regulated by society’s norms and values e.g. you may be able to give a thumbs up to a stranger as a compliment but you can’t walk up to them and kiss them. That may go against the values set by your society. While the previous two aspects focused on the micro level, value aspect focuses on the macro level as the norms and values set by society are involved.
4. Biological Aspect: Social action involves investment of energy. If there is no energy being spent, then no social action took place.

Orientations of Social Action

• Parsons talked about how a social action has a certain orientation to it. The two orientations are described below.

1. Motivational Orientation (Micro Perspective)
   • The social action is done based on your motivations. It is influenced by the individual’s own needs, interests and plans. The individual commits a social action to satisfy an internal need.
   • Example: If we take the simple example of eating lunch, it is a social action that has a certain orientation. You may not like your mother’s cooking and decide that you’d like to eat pizza for lunch. However, pizza makes you fat which isn’t exactly appreciated by the society. If you end up ordering and eating the pizza, then your motivational orientation is stronger than your value orientation.
   • This orientation is divided into three aspects:
   1. Cognitive - observation, according to one’s needs e.g. consider that your body needs proteins. Based on that observation, you pick vegetables that contain proteins.
   2. Cathactic - affective, emotional aspect e.g. you picked a vegetable that gave you proteins but it tastes bad. It doesn’t satisfy you emotionally so you decide to pick another which satisfies your cognitive need for protein, but also your emotional need of it being tasty.
   3. Evaluative - best way to satisfy the needs e.g. you’ve finally decided to buy the vegetable that is tasty and has proteins but you find out it is only available in another country. You evaluate whether you want to expend all your energy to travel to a different country to get the vegetable or is it better to look for an alternative locally?
2. Value Orientation (Macro Perspective)
   • The social action is done based on the societal values. The norms and values are considered heavily before the action is committed. The individual commits a social action to satisfy the needs of the society.
   • Example: Let’s go back to our lunch example. You decide to not order the pizza and end up eating your mother’s cooking to conform to the society. You don’t get fat and your mother is happy. This means that your value orientation is stronger than your motivational orientation.
   • This orientation is also divided into three aspects:
   1. Cognitive - societal values altering observation e.g. you decide that the best way to get protein for your body is to eat pork but it is banned in Muslim countries. So you decide to not eat pork based on the values of the society.
   2. Appreciative - societal values alter emotions e.g. you travel to Europe and pork is readily available everywhere. No one is going to punish you if you order a pork sandwich in Europe. However, you may still decide to not eat it because the society you originated from has instilled such emotions that makes you not want to eat pork.
   3. Moral - what is the right thing to do e.g. the society considers pork to be immoral due to religion so you decide to not eat it.

Conflict between Motivational Orientation and Value Orientation

• Motivational orientation is personal (micro) and Value orientation is societal (macro).
• If there is a conflict between the two, Parsons says there are pattern variables which need to be highlighted.
• The pattern variables show which aspect is valued more in the society.
• Parsons states that societies lie on a continuum. No society is fully motivational oriented or value oriented; there is a range to them.
• The pattern variables are listed in the table below.

Value Oriented (Macro/Traditional)	Motivational Oriented (Micro/Modern)
Ascription (birth-related)	Achievement
Diffused Interactions (small-talk)	Specific Interactions
Affectivity (high emotions)	Affective Neutrality (not emotion-driven)
Particularism (treat someone particularly)	Universalism (treat everyone the same)
Collective Orientation (what’s good for the society)	Self Orientation (what’s good for me)

• Parsons believe this conflict occurs due to:
  • Problems of Internalization: there is a fault in socialization e.g. the Pakistani society is becoming increasingly secular as time passes by but religion is still considered a pillar of the society. When it comes to many activities, religion is not given importance but for a specific activity such as marriage, religion of the boy and girl starts to matter.
  • Problems of Institutionalization: there is a lack of clarity in the institutions of society. A single rule created by the institution should apply to everyone who interacts with the institution but that is not the case e.g. favors are asked based on caste, nepotism, etc.

Types of Social Action

• While Weber divided social actions into four types, Parsons was of the opinion that there are only three types of social actions as described below.

1. Instrumental Action - the rational and logical action. The evaluative aspect is the strongest in this type of action.
2. Expressive Action - emotional action. The appreciative aspect is the strongest in this type of action.
3. Moral Action - the mixture of Weber’s traditional and value oriented action. Parsons considers to be one and the same called moral action. The moral aspect is the strongest in this type of action.

Action Systems

• Parson states, “actions occur in constellations called as action system”. In other words, actions do not occur in isolation.
• Parson believed that there are four types of action systems that comprise reality.
  1. Cultural System - which provides the basic guidelines of performing an action through specifying norms and values.
  2. Social System - how interaction occurs between the units of the system e.g. family interactions, political interactions, etc.
  3. Personality System - hidden or internal aspect. This system talks about emotions, stress, aspirations, etc.
  4. Organismic System - biological or physical aspect.

Cybernetic Hierarchy of Control

• Interaction of action systems is known as the cybernetic hierarchy of control.
• The organismic system creates energy which flows through personality system, social system and finally reaches cultural system.
• The cultural system generates information which flows through social systems, personality system and organismic system.
• If a balance between the two flows is maintained, the system will keep surviving.

Social System

• Out of the four action systems, let’s focus on the social system.
• A social system requires:
  • two or more individuals in social interaction.
  • some collective goals (motivation of units & values of society).
  • consensus on role expectations e.g. a father will earn, a mother will cook, children will study, etc.
  • that an interaction will develop an abstract boundary around the system.

Functional Analysis of Social System

• How does a social system survive over time? An example is that Christianity has survived over time but many religions have perished. Parsons stated that the system survives due to Mechanism/Moving Equilibrium Phase. Basically, whenever the system changes, it adapts to a new equilibrium. A good example is the internet which originated in the 1990s but after some time, there was cyber crime on the internet. The internet should have perished due to the prevalence of cyber crime but the system adapted to a new equilibrium as countries started introducing cyber laws.
• What are the functions fulfilled by a particular system? Parson states there are four functional requisites which are a must for the survival of the system. This became the AGIL Model of Parsons. AGIL model is inter-related and inter-dependent.
  1. Adaptation - generation, acquisition & distribution of resources (Economic System) e.g. a father needs to do all this to maintain the family.
  2. Goal Attainment - determination of goals, motivating, mobilizing, channelizing (Political System) e.g. the American founding fathers wanted freedom from the British as a goal.
  3. Integration - consensus, solidarity, coordination between units (Cultural System) e.g. mother helps with the solidarity in the family.
  4. Latency - hidden aspect for pattern management, maintaining the motivation, stress management (Family System) e.g. wife, mother, and family members help with motivation for a person.

Parsons Theory of Social Change

• Parson considers change “not as something that disturbs the social equilibrium but as something that alters the state of equilibrium so that a qualitatively new equilibrium results.” - an idea similar to Mechanism Equilibrium phase.
• He stated that change arises from two sources:
  1. outside the society by contact with other societies.
  2. inside the society through adjustments that must be made to resolve strains within the system.
• He talked about two processes that are at work in social change. In traditional and simple societies, undifferentiated institutions exist e.g. the family. The institution of family caters to education, socialization, providing financial support, recreation, etc. Over time, a process of Differentiation takes place which breaks up these different functions in different institutions e.g. the schools provide education, parks provide recreation, etc. The new institutions must be linked together in a proper way by the process of Integration. New norms must be established in order to govern the relationship between the school and home.

Criticism

• Parsons’ later works were met with criticism and were generally dismissed in the 1970s by the view that his theories were too abstract, inaccessible, and socially conservative.

Bibliography

1. The Structure of Social Action (1937)
2. Social Systems