Functionalism & Talcott Parsons

Functionalism

• Functionalism Lecture Notes from SOCI 1002

Talcott Parsons (1902 – 1979)

• Concerned with social order
• Society is held together by a common value system.
• A common value system is the basis for social order
• Society's survival is linked to having adaptation, goal attainment, integration, and pattern maintenance

Parsons' Functional Prerequisites

Adaptation

• Refers to the relationship between the social system and the environment
• A social system must control its environment to secure sufficient resources
• Food and shelter are important for physical sustenance
• The economy is the institution concerned with these matters and the distribution of resources

Goal Attainment

• All societies must set goals for action
• Procedures for establishing goals and deciding on priorities between goals are institutionalized in the form of political systems
• Governments deal with things like resource allocation, policy making, regulation of the economy, and legislation

Integration

• Entails coordination and working together of all parts of the social system
• The legal system ensures regulation of social institutions for a harmonious society
• The law is the main institution that meets this need
• Legal norms define and standardize relations between individuals and between institutions, reducing the potential for conflict
• The judicial system executes this

Pattern Maintenance

• Refers to the maintenance of the basic pattern of values institutionalized in the society
• Institutions performing this function include the family, the educational system, and religion

Parsons – Social Action and Social System

• Building blocks of Parsons' theory consist of distinctions between social action and social system.
• Actions of groups and individuals are determined by the society/system, or by an individual/group's choice based on their own values and objectives

Parsons – Social Order

• Parsons believed members of society naturally cooperate, leading to social integration.
• This is possible because the values of society are shared by social actors
• People act on the basis of their values
• The actions of people are oriented and constrained by the values and norms around them
• These norms and values are the basis of social order

Parsons – Social Change

• Explained the changes that took place in society like Durkheim
• Universalism, performance, specificity and affective neutrality changed society, enabling it to better meet the needs of its members
• Modernity resulted from a combination of political, cultural, legal, and economic institutions in society, producing a framework referred to as GAIL or AGIL
• Goal Attainment (Political system): the system must be able to mobilize its personnel and materials to attain its objectives
• Adaptive Function (Economy): the system must maintain itself while transacting with other societies
• Integrative Function (Laws): the system must reproduce itself. This is achieved by having agencies of social control that will ensure the transmission of values from one generation to the next
• Latent Pattern Maintenance and Tension Management (Religion, Family, Education System): motivation and morals of society members must be ensured so they can fulfill their objectives
• Parsons developed pattern variables to link individual actions to normative expectations
• Patterned variables give the range of possible decisions and modes of orientation that distinguish between Traditional and Modern society
• Traditional society is Pattern Variables A
• Modern society is Pattern Variables B.

Parsons' Characterization of Traditional and Modern Society

Criticisms of Functionalism

• Initially critiqued due to its inability to account for social change and later revised to acknowledge an orderly change process that restores equilibrium
• Argument that everything in society providing function is seen as circular or tautological, because its reason is perceived to exist in its definition
• Social institutions exist because social institutions serve a specific function
• Critics ask how can society be assumed to have a 'natural' order when social patterns vary from place to place and change over time
• Functionalism tends to gloss over inequality i.e. divisions that may generate considerable tension and conflict
• Reification theory is criticized for treating society as an autonomous entity that determines the outcomes of individuals, rather than realizing it is not an independent living system.
• Functionalism is perceived to be Euro-centric as it is based on the development within Europe and North America. It is argued to hold limited relevance to other societies as a result.

Lecture notes on functionalism, focusing on Talcott Parsons' theory. Society is held together by a common value system. Society's survival is linked to having adaptation, goal attainment, integration, and pattern maintenance. Parsons' functional prerequisites such as adaptation and goal attainment are discussed.