Social Systems Essays - Structural Functionalism,

Social Systems WHAT ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT FEATURES OF THE CONCEPT OF A SOCIAL SYSTEM? A social system as a concept in sociological theory is one of great importance and indeed necessary. As a theoretical concept and component of theoretical explanation, it highlights the intricate nature of the society we live in. (Craib 1992) Talcott Parsons, a dominant functionalist theorist, focused much of his work on the concept of a social system. (Water 1994) Such a concept is indeed synonymous with his work. Whilst there is no universal sociological definition of the concept, Parsons defined a social system as: 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 the tendency to the optimization of gratification and whose relation to their situations, including each other, is defined and mediated in terms of a system of culturally structured symbols. (cited in Wallace & Wolf 1999) In order to fully grasp the features of Parsons' social system it is necessary to examine such a concept in the context of his all-embracing system theory, or more in particular his theory of action. However, theoretical vices become apparent, thus it is imperative to briefly address the concept from an alternative perspective, such as Dahrendorf's theory, in order to highlight varying features of the concept of a social system, but also the interpretative nature such a concept entails. Therefore this essay primarily will deal only with those highlights or 'features'. From a functionalist perspective, society is viewed as a system insofar as it is made up of parts, which mesh together. The basic unit of analysis is society, and its various parts are understood primarily in terms of their relationship to the whole. (Craib 1992) The early functionalists often drew an analogy between society and organisms, such as the human body. Such an analogy involves the understanding of any organ of the body and its relationship to other bodily organs, and in particular its contribution to the maintenance of the body organism as a whole. (Haralambos & van Krieken & Smith & Holborn 1996 p, 673)) In the same way, an understanding of any part of society requires an analysis of its relationship to other parts, and most importantly, of its contribution to the maintenance of society. (Haralambos et al 1996 p, 673) As can be deduced from the above definition, Parsons takes a similar approach to the concept of a social system. Sociological perspectives are well known for their penetrating breadth, but also for their high level of abstractness, which may often have led to more confusion than clarification in discussing their relevance. ( Deflem 1998)This is in fact a foundational feature of the concept of a social system, as well as most theoretical concepts, whereby the intricateness and complexity of the concept immediately becomes apparent. The abstractness therefore accentuates the inability to grasp its features at face value without delving further in to Parsons' system theory. (Craib 1992) Parsons posits that the most empirically significant sociological theory must be concerned with complex systems, that is systems composed of many subsystems. The primary empirical type reference is to society, which is highly complex. (Craib 1992) He understands a modern social system to be a distinct entity, different from but interdependent with three other action systems or subsystems. Those of the culture system, personality system and the behavioural organism system. (Waters 1994) Each system contributes specialised functions to any other subsystem as well as to the entire social system. Parsons' functional references diverge from the structural components in a dynamic direction and serve the purpose of integrating, mediating between the system's structure and that imposed by environing systems. (Collins 1988) Parsons attributes the functions of adaptation (A) to the behavioural organism, goal attainment (G) to the personality system; integration (I) to the social system; and latency (L) to the cultural system. (Collins 1988) The structural elements of social system are treated as constants over certain ranges of variation. These four types of independently variable components include role (A), collectivity (G), norms (I) and value (L). (Waters 1994) These roughly cover the social structure from individual to social system and form the fundamental integrating principle in society.