text: Action theory Talcott Parsons, a major figure in sociology and the main originator of action theory in the early 20th century, based his sociological theory of action system is built up around a general theory of society, which is codified within a cybernetic model featuring four functional imperatives: adaptation, goal-attainment, integration, and pattern maintenance. The hierarchy of systems is, from least to most encompassing system, respectively, behavioral organism, personality system, social system, and cultural system as well. Ritzer and Goodman (2004) summarize Parsons' view, "Parsons saw these action systems acting at different levels of analysis, starting with the behavioral organism and building to the cultural system. He saw these levels hierarchically, with each of the lower levels providing the impetus for the higher levels, with the higher levels controlling the lower levels." In an article, late in life, Parsons maintained that the term "functionalism" was an inappropriate characterization of his theory.
  System and social integration
  The British Sociologist David Lockwood argued for a contrast between social content and social transmission in his work on social structure and agency. Noting that social systems were distinct in structure and transmission. Lockwood's conceptual distinction influenced Jürgen Habermas' discussion in the classic Legitimation Crises, who made the now famous distinction between system integration and social integration of the lifeworld.