This paper explores the writings of twentieth-century sociologist Talcott Parsons. Parsons was an action theorist, and on a basic level, action theorists are structural functionalists who believe that all human activity is goal-oriented. This means that all human activity is aimed at achieving particular goals. Parsons seeks to explain the concept of action systems. To begin, Parsons compares action systems to basic mechanical systems. Just as mechanical systems are comprised of smaller units, so too is the action system. The mechanical system can be broken down as far as particles, which would serve as the basic unit of the system.
             According to Parsons, the basic unit of the action system is the unit act. Parsons continues to go further with his comparison of action systems to physical, mechanical systems. He states that in the same way that tangible things can only be defined by their properties, for example, their weights, sizes and positions, the same holds for unit acts. However, unit acts and basic mechanical units cannot be defined by the same properties. According to Parsons, there are four necessary properties which a unit act must have to be defined. The first of the necessary properties, according to Parsons, is that there must be an actor. This actor must be motivated by some force to achieve a particular goal, which serves as the second necessary property of unit acts. These goals can also be referred to as ends, and are the ultimate reason for the action taken by the actor. The third necessary element of unit acts is more of a necessary condition. The requirement is that the state out of which the action originated must differ in some important way from the situation which the act is directed towards (the end).
             As Parsons states, the concept of an end refers to a state sometime in the future that is not yet in existence which would not come into existence unless some action was taken to do so. This original state ...