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TALCOTT PARSONS

SOCIAL SYSTEM

Talcott Parsons can undoubtedly be regarded as the most outstanding exponent of the social system
theory. In his "Structure of Social Action , Parsons focused on unit act but in "The Social System",
emphasis shifted from unit act to institutional orders, and the system was the primary unit of analysis.
However, it must be noted at the outset that Parsons' social system is a constructed type, an analytical
conceptual framework, and not an empirical referent.

Parsons takes social action as the building block of the system. He prefers the term action’ to
behaviour because he is interested not in the physical events of behaviour for their own sake but in
their patterning. Parson’s sociological theories are largely based upon his conception of social action.
Parsons has also given three configurations or systems of social action. Social actions according to
him, are guided by the following systems: personality system, cultural system and social system. It
can also be said that the scheme of three types of social action [or orientation]“ serves as a
background for the construction of three analytical systems: the social system, the personality system
and the cultural system .

Meaning of System
Parsons has discussed the personality, the cultural and the social systems in his treatise“ The Social
System .It is thus necessary to know what a system is. Asystem is any collection of interrelated parts,
objects, things or organisms.

In Parsonian language,“ In general, system can be defined as a set of interdependent elements or parts
that can be thought of as a whole. In this sense, we can think ofa motor car or the human body as a
system 2 As a general approach to understanding a variety of phenomena, systems theory is the study
of how systems are organized, how they adopt to changing circumstances, how the interests of
subsystems adjust or conflict with those of the whole, and so on.

1. Personality System
Parsons considers personality as the aspect of the living individual. Personality system is concerned
with the total social actions of an individual. It must be understood in terms of the cultural and social
content of all the learnt things that make up his behavioural system. Personality is autonomous as a
distinct subsystem of action. Parsons also claims that the personality system is the primary meeting
ground of the cultural system, the behavioural organism, and secondarily, the physical world. As
Abraham has pointed out,“ The main function of the personality system involves learning,
developing, and maintaining through the life cycle an adequate level of motivation so that individuals
will participate in socially valued and controlled activities. In return, society must also adequately
satisfy and reward its members if it is to maintain the level of motivation and of performance. This
relationship constitutes socialization, the process by which individuals become social beings. Effectne
process of socialization is crucial to make the individual s value commitments link primarily with the
cultural system. Parsons insists that in addition to rewarding conformity and punishing deviance,
motivation must be furnished at different levels.

2. Cultural System

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When the individual system rises to the level of culture, it is known as cultural system. It is
constituted of the normative patterns. It includes cognitive beliefs, values, norms, private moral
obligations, expressive symbols which guide the choices made by the individuals. The main function
of the cultural system is the legitimation of the society’s normative order. Cultural value patterns
provide the most direct link between the social and cultural systems in legitimizing the normative
order of the society. They define what is appropriate and what is not, in accordance with the
institutionalized order. It could be said that the cultural system is said to be well organized if it
actively influences, guides and controls the lives of the individuals.

3. Social System
The concept of social system has been used most explicitly, and self-consciously in modern
functionalism. But it was implicit as much in the 19th century social thought. A social theory which
treats social relations, groups or societies as a set of interrelated parts which function to maintain
some boundary or unity of the parts is based explicitly or implicitly on the concept of social system.
The chief exponent of the most modern theory of ‘social system’ has been Talcott Parsons. Parsons
has tried to give a more scientific and a rational explanation to the concept of social system his books
“The Structure of Social Action” and “An Outline of the Social System”.

Meaning and Definition of Social System

Parsons uses the term social system to refer to society whether it is the smallest or the largest
collectivity. The social system is made up of the relationship of individuals. A simplified version of
the definition of Parsons has been given by W.F.Ogburn and it is stated below:

• A social system may be defined as a plurality of individuals interacting with each other according to
shared cultural norms and meanings. - W.F.Ogburn
• A social system consists of a plurality of individual actors interacting with each other in a situation
which has at least a physical or environmental aspect, actors who are motivated in terms of a tendency
to the “ optimization of gratification and whose relation to their situation, including each other, is
defined and mediated in terms of a system of culturally structured and shared symbols.
• In simple words, the term ‘social system’“ basically consists of two or more individuals interact
directly or indirectly in a bounded situation.

Elements or Units of Social System

The social system is constituted by the actions of individuals. It involves participation of actors in a
process of interactive relationships. This participation has two main aspects : (i) the positioned aspect
and the processional aspect. The positional aspect indicates the location of the actor in social system
which may be called his status .The processional aspect indicates the functional importance of the
actor for the social system which may be called his “ role".

(i) The Act: Social act or action is a process in the social system that motivates the individual
or individuals in the case of a group. The orientation of action has a close relation with the attainment
of satisfaction of the actor. The action is not an unexpected response to a particular situation or
stimulus. It indicates that the actor has a system of expectations relative to his own need-
arrangements. The need-arrangement system of the individual actor has two aspects: (i) the
gratificational aspect, and (ii) the orientational aspect. The gratificational aspect refers to what the
actor gets out of his interaction and what its costs are to him. The orientational aspect refers to the
how he gets it. Both these aspects must be present in what is called a social act.

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(ii) The Actor: The actor is also a significant unit of social system. It is he who holds a status
and performs a role. A social system must have a sufficient proportion of its actors. These actors must
be sufficiently motivated to act according to the requirements of its role system. The social system
must also be adapted to the minimum needs of the individual actor. The system must secure sufficient
participation of its actors also. It means, it must motivate them sufficiently to the performances which
are necessary for the social system to develop or to persist. The act and actor are complementary to
each other. The actor has to act according to the roles assigned to him. This he learns through the
process of socialization. The social system limits and regulates the needs and also actions of the actor.
This, the social system does through social control.
(iii) The Role and Status: The social system involves the participation of actor in a process
of interactive relationship. This participation has two aspects: i) the role aspect, and ii) the status
aspect. Role denotes the functional significance of the actor for the social system. Status denotes the
place of the actor in the social system.

An actor may have a high or low status in a social system and he has a definite role to play. Different
roles associated with the same status are properly integrated in the system. The actors are distributed
between different roles. This process of distribution has been called by Parsons as allocation . Proper
allocation of roles between actors minimizes problems for the system. The allocation of roles is
related to the problem of allocation of facilities. Problem of facilities is actually the problem of power
because possession of facilities means to have power-economic or political.

Thus, a social system faces the problems of proper allocation of roles, proper allocation of facilities
and rewards and proper allocation of economic and political power. If this allocation is properly done
it may preserve itself, otherwise, it may disintegrate.

Mechanism of Social System

Social system is a system of interdependent action processes. But the tendencies of the individuals are
such that they may alter the established status of social system. This may disturb the established
interaction process of the system. It is, therefore, essential that some proper mechanisms are applied
for maintaining the equilibrium between the various processes of social interaction. These
mechanisms have been classified by Parsons into two categories: (i) Mechanisms of socialization, and
(ii) Mechanisms of social control.

(i) Socialisation: Socialisation is a process whereby an individual learns to adjust with the
conventional pattern of social behaviour. He learns to adjust himself with the social situation
conforming to social norms, values, and standards. This process is not confined to the child alone. It
goes on throughout life. Some of the principal aspects of socialization are known as rearing,
sympathy, identification, imitation, social teaching, suggestion, practice and punishment.

(ii) Social Control : Social control consists of the mechanisms whereby the society moulds its
members to conform to the approved pattern of social behaviour. According to Parsons, there are two
types of elements, which exist in every system. These are integrative and disintegrative. The function
of social control is to eliminate those elements, which cause disintegration and create problems for
integration. Besides, in every society, there is a system of rewards for conformative behaviour and
punishments for deviant behaviour. Deviant behavioural tendencies may also constitute one of the
principal sources of change in the structure of the social system.

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FUNCTIONAL PRE-REQUISITES OF SOCIAL SYSTEM

The concept “functional pre-requisites” or “functional imperatives” constitutes an essential aspect of

the functional theory. This concept refers to the basic needs of a society which have to be met if it is
to continue to survive as a functioning system. Thus, from a functional perspective, societies survive
and function only if certain tasks are accomplished. For example, without reproduction and
socialization, there would be no supply of new members. Similarly, a system of social stratification is
said to be necessary to ensure that the most able people are recruited to the most important positions, a
requirement for an efficient society.

Functional theory looks upon society as a social system which is believed to perform certain
functions. Parsons and his followers have given a list which they have called the functional
prerequisites of any social system. They can be grouped under four recurrent functional problems
which every social system must solve in its attempt to adapt itself to the basic facts of life. As
mentioned by Parsons, they are: (i) pattern maintenance and tension management, (ii) adaptation, (iii)
god attainment, and (iv) integration.

1. Pattern Maintenance and Tension Management

A social system has its own patterns which must be maintained. The units of the system, that is. role-
occupants or sub-groups, must learn these patterns and develop an attitude of respect towards them.

Tension Management : A human group cannot endure if it fails to meet the individual human needs
of its members. The units of any system, i.e., individuals or sub-groups are subject to emotional
disturbance and distractions. Man s emotional, spiritual, and cultural requirements are extremely
complex. Still they must be met with or managed if the units are to be able to carry on effectively All
social systems provide for relaxation from tension by means of activities that allow a person express
his or her inner feelings. For example, dance and the arts do this task. All societies provide special
structural arrangements for differences in sex and also for such crucial events as births arc deaths.
Wherever there is social life, there are structures or patterns of leisure and recreation, crafts, art, and
some form of religion expressed in myths or elaborate ritual.

2. Adaptation
Any social system must be adapted to its social and non-social environment. For a society to survive it
must have a technology adequate to provide food, shelter and clothing. The economy of the society
meets this need. Every permanent social system has its own division of labour. Because, for the
production of goods and services, role differentiation becomes necessary. It is known that no one
person can perform simultaneously all the tasks that have to be performed. The system must also
provide care for the helpless young and protection against animal and human predators. Many of the
structures existing in any society are designed to fulfil these essential functions.

3. Goal Attainment
Every social system has one or more goals to be attained, through co-operative effort. ‘National
security’ - can be cited here as the best example of a societal goal. Adaptation to the environment,
social and non-social, is necessary if goals are to be attained. Further, in accordance with the specific
nature of tasks of the system, the human and non-human resources must be mobilized in some
effective way. For example, in any social system there must be a proper process for determining
which persons will occupy what role at what time and for what purpose. The problem of allocation of
members within the social system will be solved by such a process. The rules regulating inheritance,

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for example, get solved by such a process. The rules regulating inheritance, for example, solve this
problem in part.

The allocation of members and the allocation of scarce resources are important for both adaptation
and goal attainment. The economy of a society as a sub-system produces goods and services for
various purposes. The government in complex societies, mobilizes goods and services for the
attainment of specific goals of the total society. Example : A business firm may have the goal of
producing steel. The goal is adaptive for the society because steel can be used for many purposes,
including the purpose of other business firms. The steel company faces the adaptive problem. It
means, it has to adjust to the government and to competing firms and provide itself with the necessary
raw materials for its productive goals.

4. Integration
Since they live in groups, men and women must consider the needs of the group as well as their own
needs. They must coordinate and integrate their actions. Integration has to do with the interrelations of
units of social system, that is, individuals and groups. To some extent, the members of a system must
be loyal to one another and to the system as a whole. This is a problem of solidarity and morale ,
Morale is important for both integration and pattern maintenance. It is closely related to common
values. It is the willingness to give oneself to specific undertakings. In the routine living, the goals
and interests of the whole society are not of much interest to the whole society and are not very much
present in the minds of most of its members. That way, the interests of sub-groups are always
remembered. But during the period of crisis such as war or revolution the goal and interest of the
whole society must always dominate if the society is to survive as an independent group.

In almost every social system, some participants, including whole sub-groups, violate the norms.
Since the norms fulfill some social needs, their violations are a threat to the social system. Thus, the
need for social control arises. It is essential to protect the integrity of the system. Thus, the elaborate
rules provide orderly procedures to determine who will occupy given sites, to control the use of force
and fraud, to co-ordinate traffic, to regulate sexual behaviour, to govern the conditions of exchange,
and so on.

Since the individual members are often motivated by self-interests, chances of clashes taking place
between them cannot be ruled out. Sometimes, even with best morale we find threats to integration.
Hence, there must be mechanism for restoring solidarity. Such mechanisms are normally operative
most of the time. It must be noted that even with the well-institutionalized norms, instances of
deviance do take place. The deviations may even become disruptive. Hence, there is the need for
secondary mechanism of social control. Example: In the modem state, the whole apparatus of
catching and rehabilitating the criminal represents such a kind of secondary mechanism.

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PATTERN VARIABLES

Pattern Variables is an important concept coined by Talcott Parsons and is closely associated with his
theory of social action. As Parsons says we can analyse actions, social relationships, and whole
systems according to what he calls pattern variables -or choices between pairs of alternatives. Parsons
notes that social interaction has a systematic character and hence he refers to it as a social system. The
concept that bridges social action and social system is that of pattern variables.

Definition of Pattern Variables

● The term “pattern variables” refers to the four [sometimes five] basic pattern-alternatives of
value orientation for individuals and cultures, according to Parsons.
● Pattern variables represent“ Five dichotomies or pairs of variables proposed by Talcott
Parsons for the purpose of classifying types of social relationships. Each pattern variable
provides two mutually exclusive alternatives, one of which must be chosen by an individual
before he can act in a social situation
● The concept of pattern variables introduced by Talcott Parsons is an attempt to supply a
logically exhaustive list of action dilemmas on the highest possible level of abstraction.
According to Parsons, the five pattern variables represent the basic dilemmas a person faces
in orienting to another person. As per Parsons analysis,“ cultures are seen as organizing action, and
actors are faced with implicit choices' in relationships, in terms of four dichotomous alternative modes
of orientation to ‘social objects', including other actors”. In simple words, individuals are faced with
some fundamental dilemmas in their interaction and social systems offer a combination of solutions
for these dilemmas.

Five Pattern Variables

Five sets of pattern variables as stated by Parsons are as follows:
1. Affectivity versus affective neutrality
2. Diffuseness versus specificity
3. Universalism versus particularism,
4. Ascription versus achievement [also as quality and performance]
5. Self-orientation versus collectivity orientation

1. Affectivity Versus Affective Neutrality

Affectivity versus affective neutrality represents one of the pattern variables proposed by Talcott
Parsons. The word affectivity refers to feelings or emotions whereas affective neutrality signifies
emotional neutrality or detachment. This is one of the dilemmas that the actors face. For the
individual in a given situation, this is the dilemma of whether to give importance to an impulse or to
the values and more distant goals. This is like the opposition between the demands of an impulse or
immediate need and the possible benefits of restraint and discipline. Here, the individual has to decide
whether he should opt for the immediate gratification of an impulse or need or he should abstain
himself from doing it. Example: Eating a meal or watching a chess match compared with work that
does not require one’s emotional involvement, say, working in a garage. This pattern variable
suggests that actors can either engage in a relationship for emotional reasons [affectivity] or in a
relationship far instrumental reasons without the involvement of feelings [affectivity neutrality].

2. Diffuseness Versus Specificity

As per this dichotomy, actors in their relationship with others will have to choose in any situation
between a totally wide range of activity [diffuseness] or a specific and a structured one [specificity].

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Diffuseness’ implies wide range of satisfying relationships while specificity denotes a narrower range
of relationships. In confronting an object [that is, another person], an actor must choose among the
various possible ranges in which he will respond to the object.

The dilemma here consists in whether the actor should respond to restricted range of them. Example :
Mother-child relationship and family relationships, in general, represent diffuseness where
relationships are not fixed or defined but spread about all aspects of life. On the other hand, bus
conductor issuing tickets to the passenger; or the relationship between the doctor and patient-
represent relationships which have only a specified and limited purpose.

3. Particularism Versus Universalism

This represents a dichotomy in social behaviour, that is concerned with the problem of whether a
person in a given situation should be oriented to another person [or persons] in terms of generalized
standards of behaviour or in terms of the special nature of their relationship to each other. In simple
words, actors have to decide whether to judge a person by general criteria [universalism] or criteria
unique to that person [particularism]. Example, Mother s relationship with the child. A mother’s
relationship with her child may sometimes be particularistic but at other times, involve universalistic
criteria as when the child’s performance is appraised at school.

4. Ascription Versus Achievement

This pattern variable has recently been called as the dichotomy between quality and performance.
This pattern variable refers to the dilemma of whether to treat a person according to who he is or in
terms of what he is doing, or may be expected to do in the given situation. As per this variable, actors
have to decide whether to judge persons by what they do [performance] or by their personal
characteristics [quality]. Example: In most societies, relationships based on inherent qualities [age,
sex, caste, etc] of the individual can be considered ascriptive; while his success in business or a
cricket match or in a musical career involves achievement.

5. Self-Orientation Versus Collectivity Orientation

Here the dilemma is between personal interests and group interests in social situations. For the
individual in a given situation, this is the dilemma of whether to pursue his own personal interests and
goals or sub-orient his private interests to the interests and welfare of a group or other individuals.
This dichotomy is described by Parsons as the dilemma of private values versus collective interests ,
or the distribution between private permissiveness and collective obligation . This fifth variable,
originally proposed by Parsons, was subsequently dropped as being of a different order from the other
four.

Importance of Pattern Variables

According to Parsons, through pattern variables it is possible for us to understand the four/ five
dilemmas the individuals face in orienting their relationship with others. In fact, all relationships
between individuals and others can be brought under this scheme. The first four pattern variables
namely, affectivity, diffuseness, particularism and ascription - bring out the broad norms of
relationships among friends and close ones and they are primary in nature. By contrast, the second
four variables namely, neutrality, specificity, universalism and achievement [or performance] - bring
out the broad norms of secondary relationships.

It appears that Parsons’ conception of pattern variables was presented by him as deriving from
previous characterization of types of society such as Tonnies’ distinction between Gemeinschaft and

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Gesellschaft. Parsons saw his pattern variables as providing an exhaustive general statement of the
fundamental dilemmas permanently facing all actors and involved in all social organizations.

Talcott Parsons’ concept of pattern variables

Pattern variables A Pattern variables B

Ascription Achievement
Status is ascribed; the type of Status is achieved through
family into which a person is a person's own efforts: for
born determines it. example, through hard work.

Diffuseness Specificity
People enter into relationships with others to People enter into relationships with others to
satisfy a large range of needs: for example, satisfy particular needs: for example, the
the relationship between mother and child. relationship between a customer and
shopkeeper

Particularism Universalism
Individuals act differently towards particular Individuals act according to universal
people: for example, they are loyal to their principles: for example, everyone is equal
family but not to strangers. before the law, so a policewoman would
arrest her husband if necessary.

Affectivity Effective neutrality

Gratification is immediate. People act to Gratification is deferred: for example, saving
gratify their desires as soon as possible. money to put a deposit on a house in the
future.

Collective orientation Self-orientation

People put the interests of the social groups to People pursue their own interests first, rather
which they belong before their own interests. than those of the social groups to which they
belong.

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