nding of any organ of the body and its relationship to other bodily organs, and in particular its contribution to the maintenance of the body organism as a whole. (Haralambos & van Krieken & Smith & Holborn 1996 p, 673)) In the same way, an understanding of any part of society requires an analysis of its relationship to other parts, and most importantly, of its contribution to the maintenance of society. (Haralambos et al 1996 p, 673) As can be deduced from the above definition, Parsons takes a similar approach to the concept of a social system.Sociological perspectives are well known for their penetrating breadth, but also for their high level of abstractness, which may often have led to more confusion than clarification in discussing their relevance. ( Deflem 1998)This is in fact a foundational feature of the concept of a social system, as well as most theoretical concepts, whereby the intricateness and complexity of the concept immediately becomes apparent. The abstractness therefore accentuates the inability to grasp its features at face value without delving further in to Parsons' system theory. (Craib 1992)Parsons posits that the most empirically significant sociological theory must be concerned with complex systems, that is systems composed of many subsystems. The primary empirical type reference is to society, which is highly complex. (Craib 1992) He understands a modern social system to be a distinct entity, different from but interdependent with three other action systems or subsystems. Those of the culture system, personality system and the behavioural organism system. (Waters 1994)Each system contributes specialised functions to any other subsystem as well as to the entire social system. Parsons' functional references diverge from the structural components in a dynamic direction and serve the purpose of integrating, mediating between the system's structure and that imposed by environing systems. (Collins 1988) Parsons attr...
