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Book No. – 24 (Sociology)
Book Name – The Social System
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1. THE PLACE OF SOCIAL SYSTEMS IN THE GENERAL THEORY OF ACTION
2. THE THEORY OF ACTION AND THE NATURAL SCIENCES
3. THE CLASSIFICATION OF THE SCIENCES OF ACTION
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The Place of Sociological Theory Among the Analytical Sciences of Action
Chapter – 12
Table of Contents
- The volume aims to present a systematic theory, not a theory of a particular concrete phenomenon.
- The title, The Social System, emphasizes the systematic reference to social systems.
- Social systems are empirical systems, but they are analyzed within a logically articulated conceptual scheme.
- The book does not aim to codify available empirical knowledge or critically evaluate the literature of theory in the field.
- It is an essay in theory construction, not an attempt to present a system of theory.
- The book presents a theory of systems rather than a complete system of theory.
- The theory aims to represent the best attainable knowledge in the theoretical analysis of a defined class of empirical systems.
- The theory is fragmentary and incomplete, but the concept of system is crucial as an organizing principle and guide to research.
- The concept of theory of systems is a strategic tool for working toward a system of theory.
- The general relations between structural categories, the imperatives of social systems, and the paradigm of motivational process have been discussed and stated multiple times in the book.
THE PLACE OF SOCIAL SYSTEMS IN THE GENERAL THEORY OF ACTION
- The theory of social systems is an integral part of the larger conceptual scheme called the theory of action, which includes the theory of personality and the theory of culture.
- The interdependence of these three subsystems has been a major theme in the analysis.
- Without clarifying the relationship between social systems and the other branches of the theory of action, the clarity in the analysis of social systems would not have been possible.
- A significant insight came in 1949 during work on the general theory of action, involving Shils, Tolman, and others, leading to new understandings of the relation between cultural and motivational elements in action.
- This work, though not focused on social systems directly, impacted the theory of social systems, leading to a reorganization of thinking.
- The book emphasizes that the theory of the social system is not independent but deeply tied to the institutionalization of cultural patterns, especially value-orientation.
- The motivational processes of the social system are always processes within personalities of individual actors.
- Understanding the personality system and its motivational processes is critical for the theory of social systems.
- The book is anchored in the general frame of reference of action, which underpins the theory of the social system.
- The unity of the theory of action is emphasized, but so is the independence of personality, culture, and social systems as subsystems of action.
- Social systems cannot be reduced to either the resultants of personality functioning (psychological perspective) or embodiments of cultural patterns (anthropological perspective).
- The independence of social systems has allowed sociologists to focus on issues that are inadequately addressed by psychology or cultural anthropology.
- The theory clarifies the relationships between independence and interdependence of these systems, going beyond earlier sociological insights, including those of Durkheim.
- The theory clarifies the institutionalization of culture patterns, the structure of the social system, and the relationship between personality and the social system.
- Personality is seen as a social phenomenon, and its relationship to the social system is central to understanding action.
- The relationship between institutionalization and internalization of culture is clarified.
- The central point of interaction between personalities and social systems is the value-patterns that define role-expectations.
- Need-dispositions of personality and role-expectations of the social system form the transformation formulabetween the two systems.
- The relationship between need-dispositions, role-expectations, and internalized-institutionalized value-patterns is a key element of the organization of systems of action.
- This clarification of the relationship between these elements has made the theory of the social system more analytically refined and has brought a new level of clarity to the field.