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The Theory of Action and the Analysis of Culture
Book chapter

The Theory of Action and the Analysis of Culture

Victor M. Lidz
The Routledge International Handbook of Talcott Parsons Studies, pp 48-68
2022
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429321139-5

Abstract

Entire Action System Intellectual Disciplines Cybernetic Theory Christian Churches Black Lives Matter Mental Schemas Cultural Sociology Anti-vaccine Movement Social Systems Beethoven's Late Quartets Mont Saint Victoire Contemporary Society Cognitive Culture Rouen Cathedral Night Watchmen Cybernetic Hierarchy Moral Relevance Religious Congregations Violating Classical Quartet Law Journals Mark Twain's Life
In his contributions to Toward A General Theory of Action of 1951, Talcott Parsons introduced a conception of culture as a system independent of, yet interdependent with, social systems. Later, after developing the four-function paradigm for the analysis of action systems, he introduced an analysis of culture in terms of four subsystems: constitutive or religious culture, moral-evaluative culture, expressive symbolism, and cognitive culture, including the intellectual disciplines. He refined the four-function treatment with cybernetic theory, which placed cultural systems as highest in information and thus controlling the long-term development of other elements of action systems. The present essay reviews Parsons' formulations, emphasizing that each of the four subsystems of culture is, in the actualities of modern civilization, more varied in its elements and organization than he suggested. Also, different methods are needed for the hermeneutic understanding and the analysis of each of the subsystems of culture.

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