erson internalize the values of theprevailing cultural system. In other words, the person learns role expectations, as mentioned inthe social system, and so become full participants in that society. The socialization disseminatesfrom the first system to the last. Values first come from the cultural system. Then thecorresponding normative, or role expectations, are learned in the social system. The individualsidentity comes from the personality system and the necessary biological equipment comes fromthe behavioral system. Parsons does not consider these four systems to be mutually exclusive. Instead they exhibit the interdependence that functionalism consistently stresses. It is the contextof the four systems that Parsons attempts to describe actual behavior in his theory of action.He begins with an actor, which could be either a single person or a collectivity. Parsonssees the actor as being motivated, as in “motivated toward gratification,” to spend energy andresources to reach a desirable goal or end. This goal or end is defined in the actor by the culturalsystem through socialization. The action takes place in situation defined by the social system andincludes means(facilities, tools, or resources) and conditions(obstacles that arise in the pursuit ofthe goal). Being that means are scarce in society and conditions are unforeseeable, the situationcould be so restricting the goal may be unattainable. These elements are regulated by thenormative standards of the social system and an actor who is motivated to pursue a goal mustfulfill those normative expectations. It is because of this standard for goal attainment it could besaid that norms are central to Parsons’ theory of action and the cultural system that legitimatesthem is primary(Wallace and Wolf 1999). The theory of action describes the relationship betweena motivated actor, a goal, and the conditions that are defined by the cultural system but says...
