Thinker
Talcott Parsons
Talcott Parsons is central to 44 previous-year questions, spanning 2009 to 2025 across Paper I and Paper II. Everything below is drawn from the official papers — the questions themselves, the concepts they test, and where they sit in the syllabus.
44Questions
2009–25Years tested
I & IIPaper
10Syllabus topics
Concepts asked alongside Talcott Parsons
What the examiner actually wants you to know when this name appears.
pattern variables 8structural differentiation 8individualisation 6structural functionalism 6social system 5cultural reproduction 4family diversity 4functional prerequisites 4nuclear family 4nuclearisation 4social mobility 4value consensus 4agil functional prerequisites 3functionalism 3meritocracy 3social equilibrium 3agil scheme 2cohabitation 2
Where Talcott Parsons appears in the syllabus
Every question on Talcott Parsons
Each links to a full breakdown — how to approach it, a model answer, and the examiner’s perspective.
2025
2024
2022
2020
2018
2017
2016
- “Education is a major source of social mobility in contemporary society.” Explain.
- Describe the functional prerequisites of social system as given by Talcott Parsons. Examine in the context of a university as a social system.
- Discuss the contemporary trends in family as a response to social change in modern society.
- Examine the impact of industrialization and urbanization on family structure.
2014
- “Power is not a zero-sum game.” Discuss with reference to Weber's and Parsons' views.
- Critically examine the functionalist views on the institution of family. How do those help us in understanding family in the present times?
- Education is often viewed as an agency of social change. However in reality it could also reinforce inequalities and conservatism. Discuss.
- How did the emergence of industrial society change the family life in Western Europe?
2013
2012
2011
2010
2009
- Comment on the changes in the household dimensions of family under modern economic reforms.
- Comment on the responses of the functionalist-school to Karl Marx's views on social change.
- Discuss the emerging forms of marriage and family with examples from the West and the East. Can there be family without marriage? Examine.
- Industrialization and changes in the family's functions
- Talcott Parsons' idea of ‘moving equilibrium’
- What are the main principles of the structural-functional perspective? Comment on the suitability of applying this perspective to the study of Indian society.
- What are the reasons for calling Kingsley Davis and Wilbert Moore's theory of social stratification a functional theory?
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