Chapter 7
1. Talcott Parsons, ‘An Outline of the Social System’ as part of the General Introduction to Theories of Society: Foundations of Modern Sociological Theory edited by Talcott Parsons, Edward Shils, Kaspar D. Naegele, and Jesse R. Pitts. New York, The Free Press, 1965. Quotes are from p. 34.
2. It is on this fine distinction that Parsons attempts to define the boundaries of sociology and anthropology as practised in the United States. However, it may be noted that British anthropology uses the prefix ‘social’ and not ‘cultural’, and yet their contributions relate to the total socio-cultural system, that is, society. Since the Parsonian analytical frame also includes elements of the cultural system, the distinction between sociology ...
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