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Sociology Optional PYQ Solutions · Model answer

Give conceptual meaning of social system. What is cognitive consonance between ‘pattern variables’ and ‘paradigm’?

  • UPSC 2011
  • Sociological Thinkers

Talcott Parsons built two conceptual tools in close succession: the pattern variables (1951), which classify the choices actors make, and the four-function (AGIL) paradigm (1953), which classifies the problems every system must solve. The question asks how he made the two fit together logically.

You are reading the opening of the model answer. The full answer is part of Sociology Optional PYQ Solutions.

What the full answer covers

  • Conceptual meaning of social system
  • Pattern variables meet the paradigm
  • Why it matters
  • Limits
  • Conclusion

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