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:
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- Social stratification.
- Cultural legitimation of differentiated social functions.
- A bureaucratic organization or the institutionalism of the authority of office.
- A money and market complex.
- Generalized universal norms, i.e. a formal legal system.
- 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.
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