Structural Functionalism Talcott Parsons PART 1-3 PDF

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Structural Functionalism: Talcott Parsons PART 1

NOTES This week I will discuss about the school of strut trial functionalism whose main exponent Talcott Parson for his grand theory and before I elaborate on his key contributions I will provide a context for the rise of structural functionalism which is often known as functionalism within Parson contribution I will focus about his theory of actions, concepts of variable scheme and his model which known the AGIL Adaptation Goal Integration Latency

NOTES - I would provide a background to the schools of functionalism and structural functionalism to explain the context of Parsons work and in this first mini lecture I will outline Parsons keyi contributions through his concept of social system and his theory of action I apologize that this slide is a little bit mixed up they were originally to squares each outlining the key points pertaining to functionalism and structural functionalism please refer to my full set of PowerPoint slides that I normally oost in the resources folder under lecture notes - although used interchangeably functionalism and structural functionalism are quite overlapping however functionalism was the first turn to appear functionalism is a theoretical perspective that grew out directly of the thinking of Durkheim and it was widely accepted across all social sciences including sociology in the early to mid part of the 20th century - in short it's a perspective that explains how every society is the total sum of interrelated parts which part for example politics economics religion law Etc plays an important function to make Society work as I mentioned last term theories or Big Ideas don't come out of the blue but they are always shaped by a particular context indeed as post World War II was marked by an economic boom and political stability many Western Nations managed to rebuild l themselves and experience growth in their standards of living making significant improvements in different social infrastructures like Health technology and communication systems structural functionalism an extension of functionalism developed in these times of Economic and political stability by taking the functionalist ideas a step further it's early proponents Kingsley Davis Wilbert Moore along with Parsons and Mertin , they try to identify the specific structures or conditions in society that allow each Society to function properly

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essentially the names functional and structural functionalism are often used interchangeably especially in sociology unlike other social sciences like Anthropology where significant differences are noted between this to prospective but for the purposes of all class in sociology we don't need to know about those differences okay so this week we're going to examine the work of one of the most influential structural-functionalists and Talcott Parsons who's work dominated until the 1970s but his influence is still felt today not only within sociology but also in other disciplines his work has certainly sparked this ongoing debate among sociologists regarding whether social change is largely a result of structural condition meaning Baker systems in society for individuals free will or agency

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Before you upgrade to on the key contributions of Talcott Parsons I'm going to start with a bit of his biography he was so American born who started majoring in biology but converted to social sciences during his undergraduate studies his brand of sociology is there for influenced by biological studies throughout his career he taught at many prominent American universities including Harvard University where he spent most of his academic life he provided many contributions to Modern sociological Theory so I'm going to briefly explain some of his key arguments but I hope you will refer to the assigned reading for this week for further details this week's reading provides a very clear overview of the strengths as well as limitations to his work horses contributions are usually referred to as Grand Theory because he tried to provide an all-encompassing Theory to explain all that goes on in society one of his key contributions was his concept of social system a social system explains how different parts of society fit together according to four systems and these four systems include cultural system the social

system the personality system and the behavioral organism or physiological system so I'll start off with the first one to cultural system which is made up of shared beliefs norms and values such as religious beliefs cultural Customs or Traditions languages National values the social system is made up of social interaction between individuals and groups and the roles they play in particular environments the personality system refers to individual needs motivations and attitudes that become part of one's personality fan for Behavioral organism or physiological system refers to the biological aspect of Being Human and also the physical environment in which a person lives according to Parsons socialization links these four levels together specifically at Birth we are only biological organisms and as we develop as individuals we gain a personal identity by internalizing norms and values in society which is given by our cultural system and by learning from others the social system where we learn about what is expected of us to become full participants in society persons applied this process of socialization to any types of membership in society including deviant so for example a gang .

NOTES - Parson developed his famous theory of action to explain how individuals are motivated to action gratification it has theory he argues that individuals who want to achieve certain goals are not necessarily motivated by self-interest or individual choices but their goals are defined or society's norms and expectations Let me ask you this question. Does this sound familiar with the Durkheims thinking what Durkheim has to say about the relationship between society and individuals through his concept of social facts? - According to Parsons in order to satisfy their rules individual must feel certain conditions before can be rewarded for example if you are motivated together a BAa you must the means to achieve your goal such as intelligence and money to take courses your action

is shaped by certain personal and external conditions that can either enable or constrain the pursuit of your goals for example if you have strong personal support including financial support you can focus on your studies without having to woking or bills in question on the other hand if you have to work part-time while attending school you must find courses that fit your schedule that time off to attend classes and to study for exams regardless of your personal and external conditions all of the students must meet standard normative expectations to achieve your goal. Structural Functionalism: Talcott Parsons PART 2

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I will develop another key contribution of Parson which refers to his pattern variables scheme he developed this model to explain the choices that individuals make according to the type of society in which they live in order to satisfy their goals he describes societies according to two main types traditional society that are expressive in which relationships are more personal and informal and modern industrialized societies as instrumental in which relationships are more impersonal or formal when fulfilling the purpose within this model Parsons defined 5 pattern variables to describe the different types of relationships that individuals established with one another within expressive and instrumental Societies in order to achieve their goals or to hold certain positions in society so in particular according to Parsons expressive or traditional societies are characterized by least five patterns or relationships which ascription diffuseness affectivity particularism and collectivities and in contrast that Modern or Instrumental societies are characterized by achievement specificity neutrality universalism and self

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orientation so I will describe each individually by providing several samples as well as soliciting for your own examples to illustrate each of these concepts I'll start off with ascription ,ascription means that one goals in the Society are achieved based on who they are in other words according to individual ascribed or inherent qualities or characteristics that are given by birth such as age gender race ethnicity social status of blood etc so can you give me examples of calls with positions that are achieved based on one's birth characteristics achievement in contrast which he argued to occur primarily in contemporary societies means that one positions in society are defined by what they can do in other words like quality performance

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diffuseness refers to the higher expectations and demands and responsibilities placed in personal relationship like friends and family members example we expect our friends and family members to be truthful to one another to share as much as possible with one another help out one another different times good or bad

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specificity on the other hand refers to relationships are are limited to specific function example of the relationship between a client and a service provider like a Dr lawyer dentist in which there interdependence is specific to certain goals example of a lawyer offers legal counsel and client pays for the service rendered the dentist fixes one's teeth and the patient pays for the service rendered but does relationships don't go any further in normal circumstances as these individuals don't have any further connections so their relationships are tied to a specific function Affectivity refers to the higher emotional reciprocity or bonding that one expects from a personal relationship example we expect greater connection and affection between lovers close friends and between parents and children but neutrality on the other hand refers to the lower emotional reciprocity between individuals in a relationship such as between employers and employees students and teachers customers and service providers

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particularism refers to prioritizing or choosing someone for a particular job or position based on a personal connection so for example one would hire a friend or family member for a job not because of their qualifications but because of their personal connection

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universalism on the other hand concerns non preferential treatment towards someone based on a general or objective standard and this is supposedly part of employers hiring practices where they should be hiring somebody on the basis of their qualifications or experience

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collectivities involves making decisions in the name of a collective good rather than satisfying individual needs or interests examples serving in the Army taking part in an arranged marriage being a religious leader so individual fulfill roles on the basis of a common good

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in contrast self orientation means satisfying private self interests and needs such as the pursuit of profit in business activities pursuing a career that offers a individual satisfaction high income power Etc So as you can see Parsons distinctions are very truncated or dichotomized assuming that these relationships are unique to traditional societies where is on the opposite spectrum these relationships characterize contemporary or modern society

Structural Functionalism: Talcott Parsons PART 3

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In this third and final mini-lecture I'd like to draw your attention to Parsons four function Paradigm under the acronym agill it is few Society is divided into 4 equal parts there are interdependent with one another in order to survive the four different parts refer to social institutions like the economy political system the legal system and cultural system each is responsible for satisfying needs or functions

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A refers to adaptation which is the process of securing and using resources from the environment to sustain society and the social institution responsible for the task is the economy

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G refers to goal attainment which is the process by which the government and political institutions decide how resources will be distributed to satisfy collective meets the needs of society and the responsible for the government and other political institutions

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I refers to integration which is the use of norms and rules to regulate individuals and groups in society to allow for functional interdependence the legal system is the institution that is responsible for establishing rules and regulations to maintain social control and social finally

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L refers to latency which is the process that ensures individuals are motivated to play their parts to derive meaning in society managing tensions through shared values for some of the cultural institutions that can ensure to transmission of common values to allow individuals to feel integrated in society include the family religion and education...