SOCIAL SYSTEM: CONCEPT, ELEMENTS, THEORIES, EXAMPLES - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2025

The social system can be defined as a plurality of individuals who interact with each other according to shared cultural norms and meanings. The interactions that occur can be infinite and not only include internal ones, but also relationships with the outside world.

The term is a key principle in systems theory, which drives the field of sociology. The first to define the social system was the American sociologist Talcott Parsons (1902-1972), as part of his theory of action. However, the term was first used by the Italian Vilfredo Pareto (1848-1923), but as a simple sketch, rather than as an analytical scheme as such.

A social system is a plurality of individuals that interact with each other. Source: Pixabay

Social system concept

Parsons defines the social system as “a plurality of individual actors who interact with each other in a situation that have at least one physical or environmental aspect, actors motivated by a tendency to 'obtain optimal gratification' and whose relationships with their situations -including the other actors- are mediated and defined by a system of culturally structured and shared symbols ”.

The concept follows from the notions that Pareto formulated and from the principles of homeostasis in physiology. This leads to the assumption that social systems are in dynamic and functional balance of their parts, but also that it can break down resulting in anomie, tension and conflict.

Social systems cannot be considered as concrete entities, since they are not directly observable. They are identified analytically, abstracting from social interaction, relationships and environmental phenomena, which can be of a physical-chemical, biological, psychological or cultural nature. In addition, the elements of the environment with which they interact must be considered.

Other authors have raised a diversity of concepts about the social system, among which we find David Popenoe, Eliot Chapple and Carleton Coon, among others.

For Popenoe it is a set of people or groups that interact with each other. In this case, the whole is conceived as a social unit distinct from the particular persons that compose it.

Meanwhile, Chapple and Coon consider it a group of individuals who interact with each other more frequently than with non-members when the system is in operation.

Elements that make up the social system

A sports team is an example of a social system. Source: Pixabay

Theorists Charles Loomis and J. Allan Beegle, in their work Social Rural System (1950), propose seven elements that are present in every social system and, through which, they can be analyzed as units of study. The elements are as follows:

- Roles: refers to the function that each individual fulfills within the social system and that contributes

- Status: in the performance of the role there is a position, a responsibility and an implicit conduct.

- Authority: there is one or more individuals who fulfill the role of directing and leading the rest. For example, in a university the authority rests with the rector.

- Rights: the members of a social system also enjoy certain principles that favor them, since they guarantee coexistence and respect among the members.

- Aims and objectives: supposes the purpose for which the social system exists

- Norms: the members perform their roles according to certain parameters that regulate behavior. Each system has its own rules so, for example, the rules of a university will not be the same as those of a hospital.

- Territoriality: supposes the space that the system occupies to operate and fulfill its function.

Main theories of the social system

- Functionalist theory

This theory conceives of society as a whole or a unit that is made up of sectors or parts that work for the proper functioning of the whole. The elements are interdependent, so the variation of one impacts the rest.

The American Talcott Parsons is one of its greatest exponents. For Parsons, every social system fulfills four functions, which he identifies under the acronym AGIL by the first letter of his words in English.

- Adaptation. It assumes that every system must adjust to its environment, but in turn the environment must adapt to its needs.

- Goals (Goal Attainment). Systems are built for a specific purpose and have the ability to mobilize resources to achieve that purpose.

- Integration. Every system must regulate the interrelation of its components, as well as control possible conflicts and guarantee harmony between them so that each one fulfills its function.

- Latency or pattern maintenance (Latent Pattern Maintenance). Every system must provide cultural norms, values ​​and guidelines, but also maintain, renew and motivate individuals to adhere to those patterns.

- General systems theory

This proposal offers a variety of conceptual tools to understand in depth the functioning of the social. For this, it is based on three pillars: the Theory of Communication, the Theory of Evolution and the Theory of Systems.

The first assumes that communication is what allows the social to emerge. The second is to explain the origin and evolution of the different social arrangements. The third gives the social system the character of autopoietics, which means that from within it the aspects that will determine its limits, structures and that perpetuate its difference with the environment are generated.

Autopoiesis

The concept of autopoiesis was originally developed by Chilean scholars, Humberto Maturana and Francisco Varela. Autopoietic systems are organizationally closed and informationally open systems, that is, their self-referential operative closure makes possible their communicative openness towards the environment.

This idea breaks with the concept of function as subordinate to the structure that the theory of functionalism handles, since the function would precede the structure. Furthermore, the environment is conceived as a source of stimuli for the system that operates from within, but does not go so far as to ignore it.

However, it should not be considered a simple adaptation between system and environment, but rather as a constant interaction that occurs as communication between the two.

One of the great theorists of this theory was the German sociologist Niklas Luhmann (1927-1998). For this there are four main types of systems: machines, organisms, psychic systems and social systems. These last three are considered self-referential.

In this sense, it considers that the difference of the systems can only be carried out through self-references, that is, a system can only be defined and understood by its difference with respect to the environment.

He stated that social systems coordinate their operation through communication, otherwise it cannot be considered as a social system. The purpose of communication is to control and channel the potential variety of all human and social activity.

Other systems

Society is made up of three planes or systems in addition to the social one, which are organization and interaction. Those three planes can overlap but are not interchangeable with each other.

The organization is one that is made up and maintains decisions that will operate within and define it as a social system. Meanwhile, interaction is a system that is generated by the communications established between human beings who are not physically present.

- Theory of conflict

One of the fundamental aspects of conflict theory is the recognition of its functionality. It will cease to be seen as a pathology to be considered a social relationship with positive functions in society, as long as the destructive or disintegrating potentialities of the system are kept under control.

The conflict begins to be social when it transcends the individual and precedes the structure of society itself. It is being conceived as an essential mechanism for innovation and social change.

Within this current it is possible to find two historical variants: the Marxist and the liberal. The difference between them is presented in the way they approach power and in the political postulates they handle.

Examples of social system

An example of a social system par excellence can be a family, which is made up of individuals who play the role of father, mother, son, nephew, cousin. Depending on their role, they have specific authority and rights. The space where they develop would be home.

A university, a sports team, a union committee or a hospital are also examples of social systems. The university is made up of students and teachers. The hospital for nurses, doctors, patients.

In all these systems a target can be identified, individuals with different functions, one or more members with positions of authority and in different status. The space where the interaction takes place can also be detected, in addition to the rules and rights they handle.

Social systems can vary in size and duration. In addition, members can participate in many other social systems, adopting different roles, norms, and rights in each. A person can be a parent in a family, an employee in a business enterprise, a captain on a soccer team, and the treasurer on a neighborhood council.

References

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