Society, you can’t live with it and you can’t live without it and Talcott Parson knew this. Parson knew the structure of society and how it functions. In his article called, “The Functional Prerequisites of Social Systems” stats this idea of how Social systems works. Before, I get into this theories, this blog will mostly be about how I agree with Parsons and explain that his theories can even be used to rule a society. Parsons argues that in order to maintain a stable and orderly system there has to be 4 prerequisites that a social system has to go through. Many known leaders, like Cleopatra, Queen of England, Julius Caesar, Hitler, and even the presidents today have many countless errors in there society and that is because they did not understand the structure of the system which is the individual actor, the interactive system and the cultural patterning.
If I were to rule a system or society, I have to understand the value of the individual actor. Parson was right when he said that society is like a machine, every part needs to work together for the whole thing to function. So, each individual counts within the system because they have their own role and status. Parson said “social systems cannot be so structured as to be radically incompatible with the conditions of functioning of its component individual actors as biological organisms” (188). As for interacting system, it means that there must be equal amount of support so that the actors have motivation to meet the requirements expected from the system. Parson stated “avoid commitment to cultural patterns which either fail to define a minimum of order or which place impossible demands on people and generate deviance…” (188). With this statement, it would be hard to determine exactly what needs the individuals aka actors want but if I’m control of my own society, I will have to determine what is best for society than what is best for all individuals within the system. Parson also argues that you cannot let actors live without a set of norms, or values because this can cause confusion and chaos. Which is why, I believe all societies needs norms, rules, and structure in the world.
No the social order cannot live without a set of rules of how people should act, think and be because people will always will look for some type of order to follow and with time, if people don’t like it, it will change. I dislike today’s norms on how American views disability people, women, gays, outsiders and just different but I know with time, different will be common and common will be different or weird. Norms just work, people can hate or love it, it doesn’t matter. In order for the society to not fail, society will need consequences if any actor decides to act deviant. The reason for the punishment is because, if they disrupt the pattern of how the system is running then it can cause anomie for society. If one individual stops then everything else breaks down because people depend on each other. Overall, the world leaders that failed paid too much attention on power and greed and did not look at society as a whole. People want order, justice, peace, and gratification within themselves and everything around them. When one thing starts to fail, everything else starts to break apart which is why Parsons saw society as a machine; every part counts.
If I were to rule a system or society, I have to understand the value of the individual actor. Parson was right when he said that society is like a machine, every part needs to work together for the whole thing to function. So, each individual counts within the system because they have their own role and status. Parson said “social systems cannot be so structured as to be radically incompatible with the conditions of functioning of its component individual actors as biological organisms” (188). As for interacting system, it means that there must be equal amount of support so that the actors have motivation to meet the requirements expected from the system. Parson stated “avoid commitment to cultural patterns which either fail to define a minimum of order or which place impossible demands on people and generate deviance…” (188). With this statement, it would be hard to determine exactly what needs the individuals aka actors want but if I’m control of my own society, I will have to determine what is best for society than what is best for all individuals within the system. Parson also argues that you cannot let actors live without a set of norms, or values because this can cause confusion and chaos. Which is why, I believe all societies needs norms, rules, and structure in the world.
No the social order cannot live without a set of rules of how people should act, think and be because people will always will look for some type of order to follow and with time, if people don’t like it, it will change. I dislike today’s norms on how American views disability people, women, gays, outsiders and just different but I know with time, different will be common and common will be different or weird. Norms just work, people can hate or love it, it doesn’t matter. In order for the society to not fail, society will need consequences if any actor decides to act deviant. The reason for the punishment is because, if they disrupt the pattern of how the system is running then it can cause anomie for society. If one individual stops then everything else breaks down because people depend on each other. Overall, the world leaders that failed paid too much attention on power and greed and did not look at society as a whole. People want order, justice, peace, and gratification within themselves and everything around them. When one thing starts to fail, everything else starts to break apart which is why Parsons saw society as a machine; every part counts.