Loomis’ view of Social System

Charles Price Loomis in his book Social System: The Study of Sociology defines social system as
the patterned interaction of the members of a society. According to Loomis “It is constituted of
the collaboration of a majority of individuals actors whose relations to each other are commonly
situated through the meaning of and intervention of an example of organized and shared images
and desires.”

Main elements of Social System

1. Belief and Knowledge

2. Sentiment
3. End Goal or Objective
4. Norm
5. Status Role
6. Rank
7. Power
8. Sanction
9. Facility

Belief and Knowledge

Any proposition around any perspective of the universe that is acknowledged as genuine may be
called a belief. According to D. Krech and R. S. Crutchfield, “A belief is an enduring
organization of perception and cognitions about some aspect of individual’s world.”
A conviction may be genuine or untrue. It may be irrefutable or not. But the individuals who
hold it consider it to be genuine. Belief outfits the cognitive premise for social action.

The significance of beliefs is not determined by the objective truth or falsity of the belief. The
belief that there is no God can create the relationships of individuals totally different from those
who believe in God. The belief that capitalist economy is guaranteed
to decay might make individuals optimistic. Even today we come across people who hold those
beliefs which were held by primitive men.
The Hindu social structure is based on beliefs regarding the existence of God, the idea of rebirth,
the belief of fate and also the reality of hell and heaven. The Indian caste system relies on destiny
theory. it's because of the idea that the Hindu structure has been able to survive despite several
invasions over it. according to Loomis, the testing and validation of the cognitive facet of belief
is also vital. it'll bring progress and supply dynamism to the scheme.

Sentiment

Sentiments represent “what we feel” about the world. Sentiment is the chief element articulated
in the internal pattern of a social system. The sentiments as expressed in the internal pattern
result from both externally patterned and internally patterned social interaction. The sentiments
of the external pattern are those which members bring from outside.

They are the product of experience and cultural conditioning. Our cultural values and social
goals influence and control our sentiments. The sentiments of love, hatred, benevolence, charity,
nationalism, internationalism etc. are created by our cultural conditioning. The sentiments may
be of various kinds, intellectual, ethical, aesthetic, religious etc.

End, goal or objective

The end, goal or objective creates social system. The members of a social system expect to
accomplish a particular end or objective through appropriate interaction. Had there been no
human needs, goals or ends, there would have been no society. The human needs, goals and ends
determine the nature of social system.

Norm

Norms are the requirements for figuring out what is right and wrong, suitable and irrelevant, just
and unjust, suitable and unsuitable in social relationships. Every social device is possessed of its
norms which the individuals are obliged to examine. Some norms are standard and may not be
violated by means of anyone; others apply only to specific people and status roles within the
system. Specific norms may be specifically essential for unique social systems. The norm of
“performance” is of exquisite importance in the monetary system. The norm of “fair play” is of
significance in athletic activity. The idea of social system implies order. consequently a primary
criterion for delineating a social system is honestly the existence of consensus with respect to the
suitable ways of behavior.

Status-role
Status is the position which an individual has in society. In a social system each individual has a
standing. The place in a specific system which a certain person occupies at a specific time is
his status with regards to that system.

The element of status is observed in every social system. In the own family there are the
statuses of father, mother, son, daughter, etc. Likewise there are statuses in a club, college, union
or manufacturing facility. The status of an individual can be ascribed or achieved. The
ascribed status is one which an person gets at his birth. It's miles conferred to
him by his organization or society. It may be based totally on sex, age, caste or color.
The achieved status is one which an person achieves through his efforts. A man born in a low
caste may additionally, through his efforts, become the prime Minister and achieve thereby
a high status.

There are some features connected to every status which might be known as roles. In a
social system the people are expected to carry out their roles according with their statuses. There
is a role fixed for each status. The people may change but statuses remain unchanged.

Rank
Rank as used here is equivalent to “standing”. It includes the importance an individual has for
the system in which the rank is accorded. It is determined by the evaluation placed upon the
individual and his acts in accordance with the norms and standards of the system. A political
leader enjoys higher rank than a teacher in modern society whereas in ancient times the teacher
enjoyed higher rank than that of even the king.
Power

Power refers to the ability to manipulate others. A war may take place among distinct groups in a
society. Such conflict is dangerous for the social system. For instance there may additionally
arise a dispute among the students and teachers which is dangerous for the efficiency of the
institution.

There must exist some power with the ability to manipulate both the lecturers and college
students. Such power is vested in the principal. Hence each social system gives power to a few
person or body of individuals to eliminate tension among exclusive groups in a society and
maintain peace and order among them. Within the state the ruler, in the family the father, in the
union the president has such power. This power always resides in the status-role and not in the
individual as such. It's far the authority of office.

Therefore the authority of the principal, father, president, police guy resides in the particular
office. As soon as an individual ceases to preserve the workplace, he no longer exercises the
authority of that office. An ex-principal can't direct the scholars, an unfrocked priest cannot
deliver the sacraments, an ex-president can't name the parliament. Authority, therefore, implies a
few degree of institutionalization.

Sanction
Sanction refers to the rewards and penalties given out by the individuals of social system as a
tool for inducing conformity to its norms and ends. Sanctions can be positive or negative. The
positive sanctions are the rewards which may include wages, earnings, interest, esteem, reward,
privileges etc. The negative sanctions are the penalties and punishments.

Facility
A facility has been defined as a means used to attain ends within the system. It is necessary that
the individuals in a social system should be provided with adequate facilities to help them to
perform their roles efficiently. Facilities should not only exist but should also be utilized. Mere
existence of facilities is of no use unless these can be utilized.
The ends, goals, or objectives of a social system can be realized only through the utilization of
facilities. The utilization of facilities highlights systemic ends, beliefs and norms that might
otherwise remain obscure. To put it other way, a society reveals its ends, beliefs, and norms by
its failure to utilize certain available facilities.

The farmers may be having the facilities of tractors and fertilizers but unless they utilize these
facilities they may not be able to increase their production and save time and energy. The use of
tractors may require a reorganization of land system since the facilities of a tractor cannot be
utilized if the land is of a very small size.

There may even be some resistance to its adoption. The same can be said of the facilities
available for family planning. Unless these facilities are used, goal of self sufficiency in food
cannot be achieved. If we use the nuclear energy for peaceful proposes, it shows our belief in
peace, but if it is used for manufacturing nuclear bombs it would show that we are making
preparation for war. Thus it is the use of the facility rather than its intrinsic qualities which
determine its significance to social systems.
Talcott Parsons Social System Theory

Parsons can be regarded as one of the most important contributor to the social system theory.
Parsons uses the term ‘social system’ to refer to society whether it is the smallest or the largest
collectivity. The social system is made up of relationships of individuals.

“A social system consists of a plurality of individual actors interacting with each other in a
situation which has at least a physical or environmental aspect, actors who are motivated in terms
of tendency to the “optimization of gratification” and whose relation to their situations, including
each other, is defined and mediated in terms of a system of culturally structured and shared
symbols.”

In simple words, social system means two or more individuals interacting directly or indirectly in
a bounded environment.

In The Social System, Parsons adopted a mode of theoretical activity based on a quest for
symmetry and pattern, which characteristically involved either three-fold or four-fold diagrams
or boxes. Thus, a system of social action can be divided into three principal components:

1. Personality System
2. Cultural System
3. Social System

Personality system: Personality is the aspect of the living individual. Personality system is
concerned with the total social actions of an individual. It must be understood in terms of social
and cultural contents of all the learnt things that make up his behavioral system. Parsons says
that the personality system is the primary meeting ground of the cultural system, the behavioral
organism, and secondarily, the physical world.

“The main function of personality system involves learning, developing, and maintaining through
life cycle an adequate level of motivation so that the individuals will participate in socially
valued and controlled activities.”

Parsons insists that “in addition to rewarding conformity and punishing deviance, motivation
must be furnished at different levels.”
Cultural system: When an individual rises to the level of culture it is known as cultural system.
Cultural system consists of normative pattern. It includes cognitive beliefs, values, norms,
private moral obligations, expressive symbols which will guide the choices made by the
individuals.

“The main function of the cultural system is legitimization of the society’s normative order.
Cultural value patterns provide the most direct link between the social and cultural systems.
They define what is appropriate and what is inappropriate and what is not, not necessarily in the
moral sense but in accordance with the institutionalized order.”

Social System: A social theory which treats social relations, groups or societies as a set of
interrelated parts which function to maintain some boundary or unity of the parts is based
explicitly or implicitly on the concept of social systems.

Pattern Variables

According to Parsons we can analyse actions, social relationships, and whole systems according
to what he calls pattern variables. Pattern variable are choices between pair of alternatives.

Affectivity v. Affectivity neutrality

The pattern is affective when an organized action system emphasizes gratification that is when
an actor tries to avoid pain and to maximize pleasure; the pattern is affectively neutral when it
imposes discipline and renouncement or deferment of some gratifications in favor of other
interests.

Self-orientation v Collectivity orientation

This dichotomy depends on social norms or shared expectations which define as legitimate the
pursuit of the actor's private interests or obligate him to act in the interests of the group.

Particularism v. Universalism

The former refers to standards determined by an actor's particular relations with particular
relations with a particular object; the latter refers to value standards that are highly generalized.
Quality v. Performance

The choice between modalities of the social object. This is the dilemma of according primary
treatment to an object on the basis of what it is in itself an inborn quality or what it does and
quality of its performance. The former involves defining people on the basis of certain attributes
such as age, sex, color, nationality etc; the latter defines people on the basis of their abilities.

Diffusion v. Specificity

This is the dilemma of defining the relations borne by object to actor as indefinitely wide in
scope, infinitely broad in involvement morally obligating and significant in pluralistic situations
or specifically limited in scope and involvement.