Talcott Parsons

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Sociology (Social Inequality) Mind Map on Talcott Parsons, created by Daniel Johnston on 25/11/2013.
Daniel Johnston
Mind Map by Daniel Johnston, updated more than 1 year ago
Daniel Johnston
Created by Daniel Johnston over 10 years ago
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Resource summary

Talcott Parsons
  1. Functional Prerequisites
    1. Just as our bodies need to resolve basic needs in order to survive, so do societies
      1. Adaptation (economic function)
        1. Every society must provide an adequate standard of life for the survival of its members
          1. Goal attainment (political function)
            1. Societies must develop ways of making decisions.
          2. Integration (social harmony)
            1. Each institution in society develops in response to particular functions
            2. Latency (individual beliefs & values)
              1. This deals with individuals and how they cope
                1. Pattern Maintenance
                  1. The problems faced by people when conflicting demands are made of them, such as being a member of a minority religious group and a member of a largely Christian-based society. (Issue of identity).
                  2. Tension Management
                    1. For society to exist, it needs to motivate people to continue to belong to society and not to leave or oppose it.
                2. Pattern Variables
                  1. For a society to exist, it must fulfil the functional prerequisites.
                    1. Within society, there are five possible cultural choices of action.
                      1. Affectivity or affective neutrality
                        1. Societies can be characterized either by close interpersonal relationships between people, or by relationships where the majority of interactions are value free.
                        2. Specificity or diffuseness
                          1. The relationships people have can be based on only one link or on many.
                          2. Universalism or particularism
                            1. We believe that rules should apply equally to everyone, yet in many societies, rules are not regarded as being necessary to all.
                            2. Quality or Performance
                              1. Should people be treated according to their abilities or by their social position at birth?
                              2. Self-orientation or collectivity orientation
                                1. Do the societies stress the importance of individual lives and happiness or that of the group?
                              3. His work dominated US sociology
                                1. Provides a useful and relatively simple framework
                                  1. As did Durkheim, Parsons starting point was that of the "Organic Analogy"
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