Britsyna Natalia
Institute
of Sociology, Psychology and Social Communications, student (Ukraine,
Kyiv)
Pet’ko Lyudmila
Ph.D., Associate Professor,
Dragomanov
National Pedagogical University (Ukraine,
Kyiv)
PARSONS AS ONE OF THE FIRST ICONIC FIGURES
IN AMERICAN SOCIOLOGY
Talcott Parsons (December 13, 1902, Colorado
Springs, USA – May 8, 1979,
Munich, Germany) was an American sociologist who served on the faculty of
Harvard University from 1927 to 1973. Parsons developed a general theory for
the study of society called action theory, based on the methodological
principle of voluntarism and the epistemological principle of analytical
realism.
Parsons analyzed
the work of Émile Durkheim and Vilfredo Paretoand evaluated their
contributions through the paradigm of voluntaristic action. For Parsons,
"structural functionalism" was a particular stage in the
methodological development of the social science, and "functionalism"
[11] was a universal method; neither term was a name for any specific school.
In the same way, the concept "grand theory" is a derogatory term,
which Parsons himself never used [2].
The differential
effect of dynamizing and ordering forces on any given action is determined by
its location in the action space and by the kind of relation obtaining between
the subsystems of the action space. The relation between these subsystems which
enables them simultaneously to expand their areas of effectiveness is
interpenetration. The entire development of Talcott Parsons's theory of action
is a progressive refinement of the theoretical devices available for the
analysis of such processes of interpenetration. This is demonstrated in this
essay for all the various stages of Parsons's theoretical development, from the
laying down of the theoretical core in The
Structure of Social Action (1937) through The Social System (1951) to Action
Theory and the Human Condition (1978) [5].
Parsons produced a general theoretical system for the
analysis of society, which he called 'theory of action' based on the
methodological and epistemological principle of "analytical realism"
and on the ontological assumption of "voluntaristic action." Parsons
concept of analytical realism can be regarded as a kind of compromise between
nominalist and realist views on the nature of reality and human knowledge [3].
The
Structure of Social Action, (SSA) Parsons most
famous work took form piece by piece. Its central figure was Weber and the
other key figures in the discussion was added little by little as the central
idea took form. Parsons' action theory can be characterized as an attempt to
maintain the scientific rigour of positivism,
while acknowledging the necessity of the "subjective dimension" of
human action incorporated in hermeneutic types of sociological theories. It is
cardinal in Parsons' general theoretical and methodological view that human
action must be understood in conjunction with the motivational component of the
human act. What was essential in human life, Parsons maintained, was how the
factor of culture was codified. Culture, however, was to Parsons an independent
variable in that it could not be "deducted" from any other factor of
the social system. This methodological intention is given the most elaborate
presentation in The Structure of Social Action, which was Parsons' first
basic discussion of the methodological foundation of the social sciences [3].
In the
theoretical system of The Structure of
Social Action, Parsons began with the unit act, and then examined ways
these acts are oriented toward ends. In
other parts of his writings, he argues that the combined results of such acts
produce and maintain the institutions and structures of society. His aim was to
build a model of society and the social system and explain the various parts of
it, beginning with action theory. In this, he emphasizes the actor and the way
in which subjective consciousness and mental acts shape social action [4].
For social action, the basic unit for a social system is the unit act. This has several characteristics that are essential
to its definition (2nd paragraph, p. 1):
1) An actor or agent – presumably a human
individual with a mind and body and an individual who is able to exercise some
form of action; 2) An end: each act
must have some purpose or end – “a future state of affairs through which the
process of action is oriented.” By identifying an end, this identifies the
process as in time and resulting in some particular state of affairs. This may also imply conscious action, in
that Parsons implies that the actor is consciously aiming at this end – the
action is oriented at some future state of affairs; 3) Situation: the act is initiated by the actor within a certain
situation – again there is an implication here, that of initiative or
motivation on the part of the actor. There are two aspects to the situation: Conditions of action, over which the
actor has little or no control. These refer to the natural environment or the
social structures within which the action takes place. Or in the context of
economic or rational choice models, these are the constraints within which the
actor makes choices. Means of action,
over which the actor does have some control. These refer to aspects of the
situation that the actor can control and can change. These are items such as
particular courses of action or selections that the actor can make. As an
example, an actor with employment in a workplace situation may have no control
over hours of work or structure of the business, but can act with respect to
how the work is carried out, and how customers, subordinates, and superiors are
dealt with; 4) Normative orientation:
Parsons says that means cannot be selected at random or that any possible means
of pursuing the ends are acceptable.
Neither are the means constrained by “conditions of action” – that is,
entirely dictated by nature, environment, or other constraining factors. Rather, the orientation toward the ends is
guided by norms. The actor has some understanding of what these norms are and
these guide the actor. As a result, there is a normative orientation to social
action. Parsons notes that these are of no specific type, just as Weber noted
that authority could be based on any characteristic – it was not the nature of
the content that was important but its existence. For example, the normative
orientations of Parsons could include the different values in different
societies associated with proper forms of childrearing – there is a range of
choices in any society, but not a complete or random set of acceptable choices
either [5].
Parsons formulates four functional prerequisites that must be met by the
community, namely: 1) Adaptation,
adjusting the demands of the environment and its needs (to the physical and
social environment); 2) Goal Attainment,
the actions of individuals in the community systems are directed at a common
goal in which its activities are the means (the need to define primary goals
and enlist individuals to strive to attain these goals); 3) Integration, the level of solidarity for
a unit in social systems (the coordination of the society or group as a
cohesive whole); and 4) latency (pattern
maintenance), from within the social system itself should be attempted to
maintain the pattern of interaction (maintaining the motivation of individuals
to perform their roles according to social expectations). Usually cultural
systems become part of this maintenance, such as ritual, may be education [6;
8; 1].
To sum up, T. Parsons
developed a sophisticated theoretical model that appears to provide a
reasonable explanation for social action on the basis of subjective
consciousness and rationality. While focused on instrumental forms of action,
it avoids some of the difficulties of the more narrowly utilitarian explanations
of social action. Through the definition of the
unit act, considering the viewpoint of the
actor, through chains of action,
and through some of the systems and
structures that form part of the analysis of Parsons, the theory is social
and reasonably all-encompassing. That is, Parsons begins with the unit act and
builds an overall model of the systems and structures of society, at the same
time keeping in mind the actor and his or her motivation and interests [4].
Bibliography
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View Of The Role Of Education
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