Talcott Parsons was a contemporary sociologist who had a
universal vision of society. He helped bidge the gap from classic to modern
sociology. He felt that society was making sense of the individual (actor) in
society (full of systems and institutions). Along with Herbert Spencer he felt
that society could be seen as an organism. Parson’s felt there were two key components
to this system: Pattern variables and System Tasks. Pattern variables are
different properties of interaction such as 10 between the actor and 2) between
the actor and a system. System tasks are the criteria needed for social order,
such as, education health care and religion to name a few. Parsons also
described adaptation, where a society needs to change according to the new
times. For example, making buildings wheel chair accessible, or adding no
smoking signs to buildings because we realize that smoking is bad for you and
those who don’t smoke shouldn’t be exposed to it second hand.
One example of an adaptation our society has accepted as a
whole is the concept of recycling. We have realized that our impact on this
Earth leaves a lot of extra trash around and that there are better ways of
handling all of this leftover stuff rather than just dumping it in a pit, or
body of water. The video I posted below involves interviews with numerous
people and as to why they recycle. I feel Parson’s would agree that this is an
adaptation of modern society. We have had garbage taken away for a while now,
but it hasn’t been until the late 1970’s that recycling has even been talked
about. This has to do with the mass amounts of trash that can and should be
re-used. It wasn’t really thought of to save certain items rather than others
to use them for the same purpose over and over.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QxNwvq1PfA
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