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Book No. – 24 (Sociology)
Book Name – The Social System
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1. EXISTENTIAL EMPIRICAL BELIEFS AND THE SOCIAL SYSTEM
1.1. The Institutionalization of Scientific Investigation
1.2. The Institutionalization of Applied Science
1.3. The Institutionalization of Ideologies
2. THE RELATION OF NON-EMPIRICAL BELIEFS TO THE SOCIAL SYSTEM
2.1. Religious Belief Systems
3. THE INDEPENDENCE AND INTERDEPENDENCE OF BELIEF SYSTEMS AND VALUE-ORIENTATIONS
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Belief Systems and the Social System: The Problem of the “Role of Ideas”
Chapter – 8
Table of Contents
- The fundamental relations of cultural tradition to the social system are essential for analyzing phenomena of action; these are necessary for further developing the theory of the social system.
- The chapter focuses on developing specific problems of the interdependence of cultural elements with other components of the social system.
- Patterns of value-orientation are central to the social system, and previous chapters have already covered this aspect, except for social change, which will be discussed later.
- This chapter and the next will focus on two other components of cultural traditions: systems of beliefs and systems of expressive symbols.
- Culture consists of patterned or ordered systems of symbols that are internalized components of individual personalities and institutionalized patterns of social systems.
- Cultural phenomena are analyzed through theoretical constructs that order observations and interpretations.
- Cultural elements are elements of patterned order that mediate communication and regulate mutual orientations in interaction processes.
- There is always a normative aspect in the relation of culture to the motivational components of action, as culture provides standards for orientation and ordering.
- The classification of cultural elements is based on three functional problem-contexts of action-orientation: cognitive, cathectic, and evaluative.
- Cultural pattern types are classified into belief systems, systems of expressive symbols, and systems of value-orientation.
- The relation of belief systems to social action processes is emphasized, particularly in communication and the sharing of meanings in interaction.
- The primary function of cognitive orientation is reality-testing, including the cognition of the environment and self-knowledge.
- Beliefs are shared between ego and alter in a common belief system, which is crucial for interaction.
- Cognitive distortions can have positive functions in interaction systems and may be resistant to correction.
- The existential focus of cognitive orientation deals with beliefs about the physical environment and third parties.
- Cognitive orientation is subdivided into empirical and non-empirical beliefs:
- Empirical beliefs concern processes subject to understanding and manipulation in terms of practical rationality or empirical science.
- Non-empirical beliefs concern subjects beyond the reach of empirical science, such as supernatural entities and unverified properties of natural objects.
- Empirical beliefs are further subdivided based on the classes of objects they apply to: physical objects, individual actors, collective actors, and cultural objects.
- Non-empirical beliefs form the philosophical belief system of the culture, including beliefs about supernatural entities, gods, spirits, and untestable properties of natural objects and personalities.
- Philosophical investigation deals with non-empirical issues and the logical and epistemological foundations of empirical knowledge.
- Scientific investigation focuses on empirical problems, while philosophical investigation concerns non-empirical problems, including the presuppositions of empirical knowledge.
- Cognitive primacy is maintained in instrumental orientation, where the goal is given and the problem is raised of the most effective means to attain that goal.
- The action problem in instrumental orientation remains purely cognitive, with solutions subject to cognitive standards while appreciative and moral considerations are subordinated.
- Apparent exceptions arise because the goal must fit into a larger orientation system, and the cost of attaining a goal may involve the sacrifice of appreciative or other evaluative interests.
- Once expressive and evaluative considerations are introduced, the problem of belief-systems expands beyond existential concerns and involves a problem of meaning.
- A problem of meaning includes both existential problems (empirical and non-empirical) and the bearing of existential considerations on the interests of actors, individual and collective.
- The meaning-reference of action systems has a double aspect: a cathectic aspect (assessment of emotional significance) and an evaluative aspect (assessment of value-realization in the action system).
- In fully integrated actors, the cathectic and evaluative aspects align, but for collectivities, individual sacrifices may occur for the collective’s values.
- The term evaluative beliefs is introduced to parallel existential beliefs when a problem of meaning is involved.
- Belief systems are classified based on empirical vs non-empirical references and existential vs evaluativesignificance:
- Empirical and existential: science and its proto-scientific counterparts.
- Non-empirical and existential: philosophy or proto-philosophy.
- Evaluative empirical: ideology, referring to shared belief systems in collectivities; when individual, called personal ideology.
- Evaluative non-empirical: religious ideas, distinct from philosophical ones.
- There is a fundamental symmetry between science and ideology, and philosophy and religious ideas, based on the transition from acceptance to commitment.
- The shift to the evaluative category marks a change in the stake the actor has in the belief system, from interest in whether the proposition is true to commitment to its implications for action.
- This transition echoes the distinction between acceptance and commitment to a cultural pattern, with significant implications for its institutionalization in a social system.
- The chapter will discuss these four major types of belief systems and conclude with a discussion of general classification based on orientation content.
EXISTENTIAL EMPIRICAL BELIEFS AND THE SOCIAL SYSTEM
- The treatment of empirical belief systems is divided into four parts:
- Status of empirical knowledge in social systems.
- Institutionalization of scientific investigation as a role-function.
- Application of empirical knowledge in practical affairs.
- Social ideologies.
- Empirical lore is crucial to cultural traditions and human societies, enabling the cumulative growth of knowledgethrough language and the transmissibility of culture.
- In many societies, especially non-literate ones, the development of empirical knowledge is restricted compared to modern science, due to the integration of knowledge with other action elements that inhibit investigative interests.
- The immediacy and urgency of practical needs inhibit the abstraction and generalization of knowledge necessary for scientific progress.
- Knowledge tends to be tied down to immediate practical contexts and readily available procedures under such conditions.
- Specialization of roles is needed for rapid scientific development, but in primitive conditions, the cognitive realization of this possibility and institutional prerequisites are absent.
- The stabilization of relationships and cultural orientations in social systems also hinders the development of empirical knowledge.
- Magical beliefs in non-literate societies, associated with uncertainty in practical endeavors, inhibit rational empirical knowledge, as magic and empirical knowledge are in direct competition.
- The existence of magical beliefs prevents further development of empirical knowledge, leading to a status quo.
- Vested interests in maintaining the status quo further slow the development of empirical knowledge, which is upsetting to some vested interests.
- Religious beliefs, often integrated with magical beliefs, are institutionalized in social systems and may inhibit the growth of empirical knowledge unless the religious system is dynamic and supportive of empirical investigative interests.
- The instrumental and investigative interests are often bound up with expressive interests, as urgent practical needs align with immediate gratifications and expressive activities, minimizing the disciplines required for scientific progress.
- In non-literate societies, disciplines are more associated with affective-diffuse roles like kinship than with universalistic, specific, and affectively neutral patterns seen in modern occupational roles.
- The higher development of empirical knowledge requires universalistic orientation, affectively neutral discipline, and role specialization, which are not widely developed except under special conditions, leading to stagnation in empirical knowledge.
- The development of science in modern societies raises important problems regarding the relation of investigative interests to the rest of the social system.