A cultural system is the interaction of different elements in
culture
Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups.Tyl ...
. While a cultural system is very different from a
social system
In sociology, a social system is the patterned network of relationships constituting a coherent whole that exist between individuals, groups, and institutions. It is the formal structure of role and status that can form in a small, stable group. ...
, sometimes both systems together are referred to as the
sociocultural system
A sociocultural system is a "human population viewed ouyess(1) in its ecological context and (2) as one of the many subsystems of a larger ecological system".
The term "sociocultural system" embraces three concepts: society, culture, and system. A ...
.
Social theory
A major concern in the social sciences is the problem of order. One way that social order has been theorized is according to the degree of integration of cultural and social factors.
Action theory
Talcott Parsons
Talcott Parsons (December 13, 1902 – May 8, 1979) was an American sociologist of the classical tradition, best known for his social action theory and structural functionalism. Parsons is considered one of the most influential figures in sociol ...
, a major figure in sociology and the main originator of
action theory in the early 20th century, based his sociological theory of action system is built up around a general theory of society, which is codified within a cybernetic model featuring four functional imperatives: adaptation, goal-attainment, integration, and pattern maintenance. The hierarchy of systems is, from least to most encompassing system, respectively, behavioral organism, personality system, social system, and cultural system as well. Ritzer and Goodman (2004) summarize Parsons' view, "Parsons saw these action systems acting at different levels of analysis, starting with the behavioral organism and building to the cultural system. He saw these levels hierarchically, with each of the lower levels providing the impetus for the higher levels, with the higher levels controlling the lower levels." In an article, late in life, Parsons maintained that the term "functionalism" was an inappropriate characterization of his theory.
System and social integration
The British Sociologist David Lockwood argued for a contrast between social content and social transmission in his work on social
structure and agency
In the social sciences there is a standing debate over the primacy of structure or agency in shaping human behaviour. ''Structure'' is the recurrent patterned arrangements which influence or limit the choices and opportunities available. '' Agency ...
. Noting that social systems were distinct in structure and transmission. Lockwood's conceptual distinction influenced
Jürgen Habermas
Jürgen Habermas (, ; ; born 18 June 1929) is a German social theorist in the tradition of critical theory and pragmatism. His work addresses communicative rationality and the public sphere.
Associated with the Frankfurt School, Habermas's wor ...
' discussion in the classic ''Legitimation Crises'', who made the now famous distinction between system integration and social integration of the lifeworld.
Cultural and socio-cultural integration
Margaret Archer
Margaret Scotford Archer (born 20 January 1943) is an English sociologist, who spent most of her academic career at the University of Warwick where she was for many years Professor of Sociology. She was also a professor at l'Ecole Polytechniq ...
(2004) in a revised edition of her classic work ''Culture and Agency'', argues that the grand idea of a unified, integrated culture system, as advocated by early Anthropologists such as
Bronisław Malinowski
Bronisław Kasper Malinowski (; 7 April 1884 – 16 May 1942) was a Polish-British anthropologist and ethnologist whose writings on ethnography, social theory, and field research have exerted a lasting influence on the discipline of anthropol ...
and later by
Mary Douglas
Dame Mary Douglas, (25 March 1921 – 16 May 2007) was a British anthropologist, known for her writings on human culture and symbolism, whose area of speciality was social anthropology. Douglas was considered a follower of Émile Durkhei ...
, is a myth. Archer reads this same myth through Pitirim Sorokin's influence and then Talcott Parsons' approach to cultural systems (2004:3). The myth of a unified, integrated cultural system was also advanced by Western Marxists such as by
Antonio Gramsci
Antonio Francesco Gramsci ( , , ; 22 January 1891 – 27 April 1937) was an Italian Marxist philosopher, journalist, linguist, writer, and politician. He wrote on philosophy, political theory, sociology, history, and linguistics. He was a ...
through the theory of
cultural hegemony
In Marxist philosophy, cultural hegemony is the dominance of a culturally diverse society by the ruling class who manipulate the culture of that society—the beliefs and explanations, perceptions, values, and mores—so that the worldview of t ...
through a dominant culture. Basic to these mistaken conceptions was the idea of culture as a community of meanings, which function independently in motivating social behavior. This combined two independent factors, community and meanings which can be investigated quasi-independently (2004:4)
Archer, a proponent of
critical realism, suggests that cultural factors can be objectively studied for the degree of compatibility (and that various aspects of cultural systems may be found to contradict each other in meaning and use). And, social or community factors in socialization may be studied in the context of the transmission of cultural factors by studying the social uniformity (or lack thereof) in the transmitted culture. Cultural systems are used (and inform society) both through idea systems and the structuring of social systems. To quote Archer in this regard:
: "logical consistency is a property of the world of ideas; causal consistency is a property of people. The main proposition here is the two are logically and empirically distinct, hence can vary independently of one another. Thus it is perfectly conceivable that any social unit, from a community to a civilization, could be found the principle ideational elements (knowledge, belief, norms, language, mythology, etc.) of which do display considerable logical consistency – that is, the components are consistent, not contradictory – yet the same social unit may be low on causal consensus. " (2004:4)
Archer notes that the opposite may be the case: low cultural logical consistency and high social consistency. Complex societies can include complex sociocultural systems that mix of cultural and social factors with various levels of contradiction and consistency.
Research
According to Burrowes (1996), in two recent approaches to the study of culture, in the 1980-1990s, the "cultural studies" and "cultural indicators" approaches, investigators explored the traditionally functionalist concern of "cultural systems integration." These two approaches could be synthesized in the investigating cultural systems. Burrowes (1996) writes, "If functionalism offers to this cross-fertilization a focus on the normative orders of society, the cultural indicators approach provides a rigorous methodology, and cultural studies caution a greater sensitivity to social hierarchies." Constrained by Merton's
middle range theory ote: to be discussed here the specification of cultural elements and social structures makes possible the investigation of specific cultural and social systems and their interaction.
References
* Archer, Margaret S. 2004. Culture and Agency: The Place of Culture in Social Theory, Revised Edition. New York and Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press
Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII of England, King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press
A university press is an academic publishing hou ...
.
* Burrowes, Carl Patrick. 1996. From Functionalism to Cultural Studies: Manifest Ruptures and Latent Continuities, ''
Communication Theory
Communication theory is a proposed description of communication phenomena, the relationships among them, a storyline describing these relationships, and an argument for these three elements. Communication theory provides a way of talking about a ...
'', 6(1):88–103.
* Geertz, Clifford. 1966. "Religion as a Cultural System," in M. Banton (ed.), ''Anthropological Approaches to the Study of Religion''. New York: Praeger, pp. 1–46.
* David Lockwood. 1964. “Social Integration and System Integration,” in G. Zollschan and W. Hirsch (eds.), ''Explorations in Social Change''. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
* Ritzer, George, and Douglas J. Goodman. 2004. "Structural Functionalism, Neofunctionalism, and Conflict Theory," in ''Sociological Theory'', sixth edition.
McGraw-Hill
McGraw Hill is an American educational publishing company and one of the "big three" educational publishers that publishes educational content, software, and services for pre-K through postgraduate education. The company also publishes referenc ...
.
{{Systems
Cultural studies
Social systems
Anthropology