Book chapter
Language and the "Family" of Generalized Symbolic Media
TALCOTT PARSONS TODAY, pp.141-176
01 Jan 2001
Abstract
Argues that Parsons's focus on money as a paradigm for understanding the entire "family" of media led to a reductive understanding of the media in which other media are reduced due to a lack of the same material qualities, or the ability to provide the same forms of measuring value, that are present in money. The language-related characteristics of media are emphasized to point to another way to reveal the realities embodied in other generalized symbolic media. This approach focuses on such qualities of the media as signification, transformation, generativity, & hierarchical relationships. It also stresses the importance of looking at the complex composition of specific sequences of action, which provides a perspective that differs from Parsons's emphasis on double interchanges between adjacent subsystems of action. A look at differences between "compositional" & "interchange" perspectives notes that they are basically complementary. It is suggested that integrating the two perspectives could improve current understandings of the generalized symbolic media & processes of social action. 81 References. J. Lindroth
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Details
- Title
- Language and the "Family" of Generalized Symbolic Media
- Creators
- Victor Lidz
- Publication Details
- TALCOTT PARSONS TODAY, pp.141-176
- Resource Type
- Book chapter
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Psychiatry; [Retired Faculty]
- Identifiers
- 991021895798104721