scispace - formally typeset
Search or ask a question
Topic

Social system

About: Social system is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 2974 publications have been published within this topic receiving 92395 citations.


Papers
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The role of education in social stratification systems was first spelled out in some detail by the late Pitirim A. Sorokin in his classic book, published in 1927, Social Mobility as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: OCIOLOGISTS' interest in education dates back to the earliest days of the discipline. Auguste Comte, Herbert Spencer, Lester F. Ward, Emile Durkheim, Charles H. Cooley, Edward A. Ross-to mention only a few-were writing on the sociological aspects of education more than a half century ago. Although their interests were more in education as a basic institution for melioration and for passing on the social and cultural heritage from generation to generation, they were not unaware of some of the consequences of educational attainment for the individual and for society. The role of education in social stratification systems, however, was first spelled out in some detail by the late Pitirim A. Sorokin in his classic book, published in 1927, Social Mobility [33]. Sorokin correctly saw the school to be a major channel of vertical circulation and emphasized the extent to which the school served as a mechanism of social testing, selection, and distribution of individuals within different social strata, thus determining the properties of the different social classes. Much later, Talcott Parsons [18] elaborated on Sorokin's theme in his well-known article, "The School Class as a Social System: Some of Its Functions in American Society." Parsons stressed not only the selection and allocation functions of the

343 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Burns as discussed by the authors study of the internal politics of universities and business concerns may develop insights contributing to the understanding of political action in general, while the corporation is hardly a microcosm of the state, it is also social systems within which people compete for advancement; in so doing they may make use of others.
Abstract: While the corporation is hardly a microcosm of the state, study of the internal politics of universities and business concerns may develop insights contributing to the understanding of political action in general. Corporations are co-operative systems assembled out of the usable attributes of people. They are also social systems within which people compete for advancement; in so doing they may make use of others. Behavior is identified as political when others are made use of as resources in competitive situations. Material, or extrahuman, resources are also socially organized. Additional resources, resulting from innovation or new types of personal commitments alter the prevailing equilibrium and either instigate or release political action. Such action is a mechanism of social change. Tom Burns is a reader, Social Sciences Research Center, University of Edinburgh.

336 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This article explored the potential for resilience theory to meet this challenge by applying a framework that integrates the adaptive cycle heuristic and structuration theory to place power at the heart of the analysis and question the transformational qualities of social systems facing climate change.
Abstract: Climate change is but one expression of the internal contradictions of capitalism that include also economic inequality and political alienation. Seen in this way analysis of human responses to climate change must engage with social relations of power. We explore the potential for resilience theory to meet this challenge by applying a framework that integrates the adaptive cycle heuristic and structuration theory to place power at the heart of the analysis and question the transformational qualities of social systems facing climate change. This theoretical frame is applied to Mahahual and Playa del Carmen, two rapidly expanding towns on Mexico’s Caribbean coast. The resilience lens is successful in highlighting internal contradictions that maintain social relations of rigidity above flexibility in the existing governance regimes and development pathway. This generates a set of reinforcing institutions and actions that support the status quo while simultaneously undermining long-term flexibility, equitable and sustainable development. One outcome is the placing of limits on scope for adaptation and mitigation to climate change which are externalized from everyday life and development planning alike.

327 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Analysis of data from a national panel of minority science students showed that self-efficacy (operationalized consistent with Kelman's 'rule-orientation') predicted student intentions to pursue a scientific career, but when identification as a scientist and internalization of values are added to the model, self- efficacy becomes a poorer predictor of intention.
Abstract: Students from several ethnic minority groups are underrepresented in the sciences, such that minority students more frequently drop out of the scientific career path than non-minority students. Viewed from a perspective of social influence, this pattern suggests that minority students do not integrate into the scientific community at the same rate as non-minority students. Kelman (1958, 2006) describes a tripartite integration model of social influence (TIMSI) by which a person orients to a social system. To test if this model predicts integration into the scientific community, we conducted analyses of data from a national panel of minority science students. A structural equation model framework showed that self-efficacy (operationalized consistent with Kelman’s ‘rule-orientation’) predicted student intentions to pursue a scientific career. However, when identification as a scientist and internalization of values are added to the model, self-efficacy becomes a poorer predictor of intention. Additional mediation analyses support the conclusion that while having scientific self-efficacy is important, identifying with and endorsing the values of the social system reflect a deeper integration and more durable motivation to persist as a scientist.

314 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explore the influence of global institutions on the environment and find that institutions' structure, penetration, and persistence are associated with lower levels of environmental degradation, as measured by global CO 2 and CFC emissions.
Abstract: The world environmental regime has encouraged nations to adopt new environmental policies and laws worldwide. But, scholars question the impact on the environment, suggesting that national policies may be 'decoupled' from outcomes. We fill a gap in neo-institutional theory by specifying the circumstances in which institutions will affect outcomes - namely, when institutions are: 1) highly structured; 2) when they penetrate actors at multiple levels of the social system; and 3) when they are persistent over time. We explore these ideas using the case of global environmentalism. Longitudinal world-level analyses find that measures of structure, penetration, and persistence are associated with lower levels of environmental degradation, as measured by global CO 2 and CFC emissions. Additionally, cross-national analyses find that penetration is associated with improved outcomes. In this case, international institutions have generated substantive social change.

312 citations


Network Information
Related Topics (5)
Empirical research
51.3K papers, 1.9M citations
84% related
Globalization
81.8K papers, 1.7M citations
82% related
Politics
263.7K papers, 5.3M citations
81% related
Democracy
108.6K papers, 2.3M citations
79% related
Higher education
244.3K papers, 3.5M citations
78% related
Performance
Metrics
No. of papers in the topic in previous years
YearPapers
202316
202237
2021111
2020115
2019117
2018122