Category: Structural Functional Analysis

The linkage between different sub-systems can also be shown through an input-output model. Any sub-system receives ‘inputs’ from the wider social system, which are then ‘processed’ within the sub-system. The process is technically known as ‘through-put’, and is delivered to the wider social system as ‘outputs’. Take the example of a college as a sub-system…

Consolidating all the ideas mentioned above, Parsons talks of four functional problems or requisites, namely (i) Adaptation, (ii) Goal attainment, (iii) Integration, and (iv) Latency2 or Pattern maintenance—abbreviated as the AGIL paradigm.   Parsons subscribes to the view that the action generated within any given social system is in part directed toward its external situation and in part toward its internal situation …. The external-internal dichotomy is one axis. Consistent with his…

For any system to function—that is, to become operational—there are some requirements to be fulfilled. They may be called preconditions. What are they? A social system consists of interacting individuals. For a system to operate, therefore, it is essential that it have a regular supply of individuals to serve as actors. The first prerequisite for…

As a study of the social sphere, sociology is concerned with those empirical systems that involve interactions of a plurality of individuals. These interactions—between two or more individuals (regular or casual), or between individual/s and a group, or between groups—follow a pattern governed by a society’s culture. Individuals interacting with each other in diverse settings…