AGIL paradigm

The functional prerequisites of action systems (including the social system)

Parsons' theory is a part of the paradigm of action theory. AGIL represents the functional scheme for the whole general action system (including the human condition paradigm), so that AGIL also defines the cultural system, the personality system etc. The social system represents the integral part of the action system and is in this way only a subsystem within the greater whole of systems. For example, the order of the cultural system vis-à-vis the AGIL functional scheme is:

A: Cognitive symbolization. G: Expressive symbolization. I: Moral-evaluative symbolization. L: Constitutive symbolization.

Society, in this paradigm, is defined as a prototypical category of the social system that meets the essential functional prerequisites that define the system's universal attributes. AGIL scheme outlines four systematic, core functions that are prerequisites for any society to be able to persist over time. It is a misconception that the system functions are "institutions," they exist on a much higher level of theoretical comprehension than institutions, yet each system is inhabited by institutions. Institutions have either universal implications or historical implications depending on their form, nature, and specification. The system shapes the "nature" of its institutions, so that the political system is the orbit of "political institutions." The stock market is common-sensically not regarded as a political institution, yet the stock market might have political functions (which is a different analytical issue).

AGIL is an acronym from the initials of each of the four systemic necessities. The AGIL system is considered a cybernetic hierarchy and has generally the following order L-I-G-A, when the order is viewed from an "informational" point of view; this implies that the L function could "control" or define the I function (and the I the G and so on) approximately in the way in which a computer-game-program "defines" the game. The program does not "determine" the game (which actual outcome would depend on the input of the player, that was what Parsons in a sense called the voluntaristic aspect of action) but it "determined" the logical parameter of the game, which lies implicit in the game's concrete design and rules. In this way, Parsons would say that culture would not determine the social system, but it would "define it." The AGIL system also had an energy side (or a "conditional" side), which would go A-G-I-L. So that the Adaptive level would be on the highest level of the cybernetic hierarchy from the energy or "conditional" point of view. However, within these two reverse sequences of the hierarchy, Parsons maintained that in the long historical perspective, a system which was high in information (that is, a system that followed the L-I-G-A sequence) would tend to prevail over a system which was high in energy. For example, in the human body, the DNA is the informational code which will tend to control "the body" which is high in energy. Within the action system, Parsons would maintain that it was culture which was highest in information and which, in his way, was in cybernetic control over other components of the action system, as well as the social system. However, it is important to maintain that all action systems (including social systems) are always dependent on the (historically specific) equilibrium of the overall forces of information and condition, which both shape the outcome of the system. Also, it is important to highlight that the AGIL system does not "guarantee" any historical system survival; rather, it specifies the minimum conditions for whether societies or action systems in principle can survive. Whether a concrete action system survives or not is a sheer historical question.

• Adaptation, or the capacity of society to interact with the environment. This includes, among other things, gathering resources and producing commodities to social redistribution.
• Goal attainment, or the capability to set goals for the future and make decisions accordingly. Political resolutions and societal objectives are part of this necessity.
• Integration, or the harmonization of the entire society, is a demand that the values and norms of society are solid and sufficiently convergent. This requires, for example, the religious system to be fairly consistent, and even on a more basic level, a common language.
• Latency, or latent pattern maintenance, challenges society to maintain the integrative elements of the integration requirement above. This means institutions like family and school, which mediate belief systems and values between an older generation and its successor.

These four functions aim to be intuitive. For example, a tribal system of hunter-gatherers needs to gather food from the external world by hunting animals and gathering other goods. They need to have a set of goals and a system to make decisions about such things as when to migrate to better hunting grounds. The tribe also needs to have a common belief system that enforces actions and decisions as the community sees fit. Finally there needs to be some kind of educational system to pass on hunting and gathering skills and the common belief system. If these prerequisites are met, the tribe can sustain its existence.