Relevance: Sociology paper I: Social Change
In his later writings particularly. Societies: Evolutionary and Comparative Perspectives, The Sociological Theory and Modern Sociology, The System of Modern Societies and The Evolution of Societies, Talcott Parsons contributed substantially to an evolutionary theory of social change. His approach to social change, however, remained primarily functional, that is, he still considered all processes of change emanating from strains towards differentiation and adaptation to be system maintaining in the longer time scale. But he introduced two new factors.
- First, he postulated the concept of “evolutionary universals”. By this he meant to say that despite the specific historical particularities of each social system or society (because of its boundedness in its own culture and material environment), if one looked at societies in a longer time scale there were some general directions of evolution through which societies tend to evolve. Parsons called the direction and nature of this historical process of social evolution of all societies “evolutionary universals”.
- The second main departure in Parsons’ views on social change during this period can be noticed in his emphasis on historical and comparative analysis of major types of evolutionary stages of social systems at a global level. Through this exercise he offered a comparative treatment of societies ranging from the primitive to the modern industrial
The evolutionary typologies of societies are described by Parsons in the following terms.
Primitive or Archaic Societies
These societies are the most elementary in terms of social organisation. According to Parsons in order that any human society may exist they must have
- elementary forms of economy taking care of procurement for the survival of human beings (main forms being food gathering, hunting, animal husbandry and cultivation)
- they must also possess elementary technology through which production of food, shelter, protection from environment and other dangers could be ensured
- they should also have some means of speech or mechanism of communication through which social solidarity from the family to the community level could be established and social organisations could be managed and
- some form of belief system (animism, animalism or magic and religion etc.) through which cultural and expressive motivations of people could be socially galvanised and integrated must also be Finally,
- an elementary form of political organisation is also necessary for the functioning of these types of The political system may be very simple, such as that of tribal chiefdoms or control by community’s collective rules, but its presence is necessary for the integrative existence of the society.
The process of social evolution could proceed forward through either collective movement in the direction of growth in the above five factors or it could emanate primarily from any one of these social institutions. For instance, it could well be that in a particular primitive society the innovations in technology revolutionalises the economy or the food production capacity of the community. Thus, it could be possible for this society to sustain a much larger population. The increase in population triggers the process of social differentiation and brings into existence new strains or tensions for adaptation and integration. In yet another society, the primary impulse for change might come from the belief system, where the magical or religious outlook of the people may inspire them to explore new opportunities for economic and technological advancement. Parsons related the process of social change to two main sources of adaptive tensions existent in human societies, firstly, the existential or the material, and, secondly, the symbolic or the cultural. His own emphasis was on the primary causative impulse of symbolic or cultural institutions in societies. This is in line with Max Weber’s work on the role of the Protestant Ethic in the rise of capitalism. But in general terms, both these factors, i.e., the existential and symbolic, mutually reinforce one another in most social systems undergoing social change.
Intermediate Societies
Following the primitive stage, the second evolutionary universal stage according to Parsons is that of the intermediate type of society. This type of society results from the pressure for social differentiation. One most common form of such pressure for differentiation in social systems, according to Parsons, is that of population increase. This changes the size and composition of society. The nature of differentiation in societies like those in the organic system such as the cellular structure within the body is that of binary division that is, in which units divide into two. Following this analogy with the organic system. Parsons argued that with the pressure of population growth there is division of human settlements on binary lines between town and village. This division further brings about occupational differentiations and many types of occupations not related to agriculture emerge. This is because the growth of towns and cities also brings into existence new classes of people who control surpluses of wealth, have more power and social status, and also those who are artisans, craftsmen, people in literary and priestly professions, businessmen, warriors, etc. The primitive or tribal society is generally a society without division between classes or castes. The leaders in this society might enjoy some prerogatives, which are mainly honorific and entail no major differences in consumption pattern or life style.
In the second phase of evolution social differentiation on class lines or as in India, on caste lines, evolves. This type of growth in the nature of the social system also necessitates new rules for the administration of society. As in the past merely customs are not sufficient for the management of societies at this stage. So, more generalized rules and legal norms are codified, often in written form, for the governance of society. In this phase the political system takes on a more systematized form, such as those of feudalism and monarchy.
But the two basic new institutions which constitute the distinctive character of societies in the intermediate stage of evolution, according to Parsons are
- emergence of an elaborate and complex system of social stratification and
- the emergence of generalized norms for the social control of society.
The examples of these types of societies according to Parsons are China, India, the Islamic empires and the Roman empire. But apart from these historical examples, most social systems undergo this process of evolution due to their need to be adaptive, and because of social differentiation. In the primitive society the examples of adaptive change can be drawn from several specific instances. The cultural or symbolic source of initiation of processes of change has been reported among many Indian tribal societies such as the Mundas and Birhors of Bihar through the emergence of messianic movement or Devi movement. The goddess appears in the dream of some tribal leader(s) and requires of him or her to implement many social reforms in the conduct of people. Often such reforms are necessary even otherwise to combat the forces threatening the vital interests of the tribal community. May be these reforms emanate from hostile nature or from the presence of other hostile communities or classes outside. Illustrations of innovative new technologies to improve the productive capacity of society are indeed numerous in many simpler societies. As a matter of fact the technology of seeding and ploughing were very novel when they were first introduced many thousand years ago.
Modern Societies
The third stage in the process of evolution of societies according to Parsons, was that of the modern social systems. These types of societies evolved from the intermediate stage of evolution (which could also be called the pre-industrial stage of societies) through the development of a number of social institutions. Technology, of course, played an important role in this process. But all this was possible because of three types of revolutions that the Western (European) society went through. These revolutions according to Parsons, were uniquely Western contribution to humanity. That is why he also held the view that the development of the modern stage of society is an entirely Western contribution, and no other civilisation, such as India or China, from the Eastern hemisphere took a lead in this direction.
This scale of change was possible in the West (Europe) because of three revolutions, (i) industrial revolution (ii) democratic revolution led by the French Revolution and (iii) educational revolution. The industrial revolution in Europe which you have already learnt about in Unit 1, Block 1 of this course (ESO-13) was caused by technological revolutions through invention of steam and electrical sources of energy. This brought about radical changes in transport, navigation, commerce, the production system and its market. Factories emerged where instead of animal power, which was the main source of energy during the intermediate stage of societal evolution, steam and electrical energy sources were used on a large scale.
The factory mode of production contributed to urban and industrial growth and increased the role of science and technology in economic and social affairs of society, providing thus a continuing element of development.
This industrial revolution both coincided with and contributed to the strengthening of the democratic revolution in Europe. The French Revolution particularly ushered in the values of equality, universal brotherhood, liberty and set the pace for the abolition of kingship and replaced it by the democratic process of elected government. In England also the reformation and political movement took away the authoritarian powers of the king and transferred it to the people’s elected representative.
The democratic movement had a revolutionary consequence for the emergence of a new system of society in which not birth related status and power but acquired individual merit governed the place of individual in the power and prestige scale of society. Together with industrial revolution it set in motion a process of social mobility which ensured greater participation and egalitarianism in matters of access to opportunities. But this was largely possible through the third revolutionary development, in European society, that of education.
The educational revolution in Europe resulted primarily from the separation of education from the Church and its progressive secularisation and universalisation. The emergence of university systems of education where both teaching and research could be conducted allowed the pursuit of knowledge to take place free from any religious or sectarian presumptions. This was a great social and cultural movement in the life of the European society. It liberated the production and communication of knowledge from sectarian control and made it available to the entire society, or humanity, without any favour or prejudice. Similarly, the universalisation of elementary education strengthened the foundations of higher education in Western society. This reinforced the democratic and industrial institutions of those societies. The industrial, the democratic, and the educational revolutions were thus, according to Parsons, a unique contribution of the West to humanity.
Following the impact of these three types of revolutions the modern system of society emerged. Its main features in Parsons views are:
- the growth of universalistic laws
- the evolution of modern institutions of money and banking
- the institution of rational bureaucracy and
- the growth of democractic
According to Parsons, for a society to qualify as a modern society these institutional prerequisites or pre-conditions have to be met. The universalistic laws are based on universal brotherhood and freedom of human kind. It makes for the rational and uniform application of law to all human beings without favour or prejudice based on faith, colour, birth, etc. A major feature of these universalistic legal norms is the emergence of the concept of “fundamental rights” or civic rights, available to all human beings in the society. This protects an individual from the arbitrary application of state power. Similarly, the invention of money and banking rationalises the scope of trade and commerce and makes it truly global in character. One can talk about the world market rather than a city or town market. These also intensify and widen the scope of industrial and economic activities of society. The role of a rational bureaucracy is most crucial in this process. Rational bureaucracy is a concept, which was first introduced by Max Weber. It means among other things, the selection of executive or government officials on the basis of merit through examination, and the precise allocation of responsibilities and legal accountability in the realms of official duty. It also safeguards the bureaucrat from the wielders of political or economic power in the event of the latter trying to misuse their authority. Rational bureaucracy thus, is an essential institutional requirement for the implementation of public policy, for it invokes the principles of equality, universality and justice.