{"id":5280,"date":"2019-12-26T18:31:46","date_gmt":"2019-12-26T13:01:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/?p=5280"},"modified":"2023-10-27T11:44:01","modified_gmt":"2023-10-27T06:14:01","slug":"sociology-social-system-and-pattern-variables","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/sociology-social-system-and-pattern-variables\/","title":{"rendered":"Sociology: Social system and pattern variables"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/forms.gle\/rk58J2Lc3xAHJn9Y8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone  wp-image-19583\" src=\"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Best_Sociology_Optional_Teacher-1-1-300x242.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"791\" height=\"638\" srcset=\"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Best_Sociology_Optional_Teacher-1-1-300x242.jpg 300w, https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Best_Sociology_Optional_Teacher-1-1-150x121.jpg 150w, https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Best_Sociology_Optional_Teacher-1-1-768x620.jpg 768w, https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Best_Sociology_Optional_Teacher-1-1.jpg 989w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 791px) 100vw, 791px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCsv76U-4y0dAIiHT92oYUgA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Relevance: Sociology paper I: Social Thinkers<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Pattern variables <\/strong>refers to a set of concepts , which reflects the \u2018properties of all action systems\u2019, in Talcott Parsons Theory of \u2018Social Action .\u2019 According to Parsons, in the performance of roles, individuals face \u2018<strong>dilemmas\u2019 <\/strong>which occur due to <strong>\u2018improper <\/strong>internalisation of values\u2019 related to <strong>\u2018role -expectation.\u2019 <\/strong>These strains in the \u2018role performance\u2019 are reflected in <strong>five sets of dilemma, <\/strong>placed dichotomously, with each side representing one polar extreme. The social actor has to \u2018choose\u2019 one side before the actor can act .<\/p>\n<p>The <strong>five pattern variables <\/strong>, as listed by Parsons are :<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Affectivity versus affective neutrality<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Self-orientation versus Collectivity orientation<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Universalism versus Particularism<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Ascription versus Achievement<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCsv76U-4y0dAIiHT92oYUgA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Specificity versus Diffuseness<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The \u2018dilemma\u2019 of role performance is involved in relation to a \u2018situation\u2019 i.e., how much should a situation be evaluated in \u2018<strong>emotional terms or with a degree of emotional<\/strong> <strong>neutrality.\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In this the main issue is that of \u2018<strong>moral standard\u2019 <\/strong>in the procedure of evaluation.<\/p>\n<p>In this, role situation the actor\u2019s \u2018dilemma\u2019 is between the \u2018<strong>cognitive versus the cathective.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Here the dilemma is whether or not the actor defines the objects of his or her role in terms of <strong>\u2018quality or performance.\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In this the dilemma is to be understood in terms of \u2018 nature of social interaction\u2019 or in other words , the <strong>scope of the object of role performance<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The Pattern variables, therefore according to Parsons, define the nature of \u2018<strong>role interaction\u2019 <\/strong>and <strong>\u2018role expectations\u2019 i<\/strong>n social system. It provides the <strong>overall direction <\/strong>in which most members of a social system choose their roles. It therefore gives us an idea about the <strong>nature of the<\/strong> <strong>social system<\/strong>. They, help us to identify different types of <strong>\u2018structures of social systems\u2019. \u2018<\/strong>Social structure\u2019 <strong>, <\/strong>refers to the specific manner in which \u2018roles in an interaction situation are configurated or composed \u2018.<\/p>\n<p>In his book, <strong>\u2018<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCsv76U-4y0dAIiHT92oYUgA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Social System<\/a>\u2019<\/strong>, Talcott Parsons , himself mentions , many types of empirical social systems, with different \u2018clusterings of social structure .\u2019 He mentions four such types :<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Universalistic -achievement pattern<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>The Universalistic-ascription pattern<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>The Particularistic-achievement pattern<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>The Particularistic- ascription pattern<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>It is a type of \u2018structure of social system\u2019 in whose roles those \u2018value orientations\u2019 are dominant which encourage achievement based on \u2018legal rational methods\u2019 among members of a society .ex. <strong>American society.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>It is yet another type of configuration of roles which makes a social system in which values of \u2018legal rationality\u2019 are encouraged in performance of roles but the distribution of authority is not on the basis of equality or democracy. Ex. <strong>Nazi Germany<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>This type of social structure, is best seen in the <strong>classical Chinese society<\/strong>. This society was dominated by values of \u2018familism\u2019 , but at the same time , the society emphasized achievement and a code of propriety ,in the conduct of roles.<\/li>\n<li>It refers to such types of social structures in which the roles are organized in terms of values, associated with kinship, birth and other ascriptive features. Achievement through individual effort is not encouraged. <strong> Spanish Americans in USA, traditional Indian caste<\/strong> <strong>system.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The Pattern \u2013 variables, can , thus help us to identify different types of <strong>structures of social systems<\/strong>, their <strong>social characteristics <\/strong>and their <strong>place in society. <\/strong>However, in real life ,the \u2018dilemma of choices\u2019 in terms of pattern variables are much more \u2018<strong>precarious\u2019 <\/strong>and <strong>\u2018full of strain\u2019 <\/strong>than ,emphasised by Parsons. The empirical social systems as described by Parsons , may in real life settings , show <strong>variations <\/strong>ex. Racism in American society, mobility in Indian caste system. Social reality has however , become very <strong>complex <\/strong>, especially due to rapid pace of \u2018social change,\u2019 in the wake of an increasingly globalizing world .It is therefore , very difficult to identify social systems , with a pre &#8211; dominant \u2018cultural value\u2019 defining them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Relevance: Sociology paper I: Social Thinkers Pattern variables refers to a set of concepts , which reflects the \u2018properties of<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3204,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[114,115],"tags":[392],"class_list":["post-5280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sociology-optional","category-sociology-optional-paper-i","tag-union-public-service-commission-upsc"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5280"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5280\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19584,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5280\/revisions\/19584"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}