EDITORIALS & ARTICLES

'Evolutionary universals in society' according to Parsons

  • Parsons, in his paper on ''evolutionary universals in society'', was concerned to develop a generalized analytical theory and remained opposed to any view that evolutionary theory should be historical in the sense of historicism. Hence, he only adopts, tacitly, a two-stage model of social growth: the ''primitive'' and the ''modern''. He shuffles the evolutionary cards so as to distinguish between evolutionary universals and evolutionary prerequisites.
  • An evolutionary universal is identified as being ''a complex of structures and associated processes the development of which so increases the long-run adaptive capacity of living systems in a given class that only systems that develop the complex can attain certain higher levels of general adaptive capacity''.
  • Evolutionary prerequisites are universal elements in all human societies and Parsons lists four of these, their presence marking a minimum for a society to be considered truly human: technology, language, kinship and religion.
  • He identifies six evolutionary universals:
      1. Social stratification.
      2. Cultural legitimation of differentiated social functions.
      3. A bureaucratic organization or the institutionalism of the authority of office.
      4. A money and market complex.
      5. Generalized universal norms, i.e. a formal legal system.
      6. A democratic association or a liberal, elected leadership.
  • The first two of these evolutionary universals are of primary importance for societies to ''break out'' from a primitive stage of social organization. The rest have served to promote advanced industrialization, our present social order.  






POSTED ON 20-04-2023 BY ADMIN
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