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Talcott Parsons

Talcott Parsons
Born(1902-12-13)December 13, 1902
Colorado Springs, Colorado, US
DiedMay 8, 1979(1979-05-08) (aged 76)
Munich, West Germany
NationalityAmerican
Spouse
Helen Bancroft Walker
​
​
(m. 1927)​
Academic background
Alma mater
Doctoral advisorEdgar Salin[1]
Influences
Academic work
DisciplineSociology
School or traditionStructural functionalism
InstitutionsHarvard University
Doctoral students
Notable students
Notable works
Notable ideas
Influenced

Talcott Parsons (December 13, 1902 – May 8, 1979) was an American sociologist of the classical tradition, best known for his social action theory and structural functionalism. Parsons is considered one of the most influential figures in sociology in the 20th century.[17] After earning a PhD in economics, he served on the faculty at Harvard University from 1927 to 1973. In 1930, he was among the first professors in its new sociology department.[18] Later, he was instrumental in the establishment of the Department of Social Relations at Harvard.

Based on empirical data, Parsons' social action theory was the first broad, systematic, and generalizable theory of social systems developed in the United States and Europe.[19] Some of Parsons' largest contributions to sociology in the English-speaking world were his translations of Max Weber's work and his analyses of works by Max Weber, Émile Durkheim, and Vilfredo Pareto. Their work heavily influenced Parsons' view and was the foundation for his social action theory. Parsons viewed voluntaristic action through the lens of the cultural values and social structures that constrain choices and ultimately determine all social actions, as opposed to actions that are determined based on internal psychological processes.[19]

Although Parsons is generally considered a structural functionalist, towards the end of his career, in 1975, he published an article that stated that "functional" and "structural functionalist" were inappropriate ways to describe the character of his theory.[20]

From the 1970s on, a new generation of sociologists criticized Parsons' theories as socially conservative and his writings as unnecessarily complex. Sociology courses have placed less emphasis on his theories than at the peak of his popularity (from the 1940s to the 1970s). However, there has been a recent resurgence of interest in his ideas.[18]

Parsons was a strong advocate for the professionalization of sociology and its expansion in American academia. He was elected president of the American Sociological Association in 1949 and served as its secretary from 1960 to 1965.

  1. ^ Brick, Howard (2006). Transcending Capitalism: Visions of a New Society in Modern American Thought. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press. p. 125. ISBN 978-0-8014-2590-5.
  2. ^ a b Wearne, Bruce C. (1996). "The Amherst Essays: Talcott Parsons's Initial Foray into Sociology". The American Sociologist. 27 (4): 8–12. doi:10.1007/BF02692047. ISSN 1936-4784. JSTOR 27698795. S2CID 143988289.
  3. ^ Thomas J. Fararo, "On the Foundations of the Theory of Action in Whitehead and Parsons", in Explorations in General Theory in Social Science, ed. Jan J. Loubser et al. (New York: The Free Press, 1976), chapter 5.
  4. ^ "Robert Freed Bales". April 20, 2006. Archived from the original on February 12, 2019. Retrieved February 11, 2019.
  5. ^ Bortolini, Matteo (2011). "The 'Bellah Affair' at Princeton: Scholarly Excellence and Academic Freedom in America in the 1970s". The American Sociologist. 42 (1): 3–33. doi:10.1007/s12108-011-9120-7. ISSN 1936-4784. JSTOR 41485696. S2CID 142870775.
  6. ^ "PRdream Mourns the Passing of Frank Bonilla, 1925–2010". Puerto Rico and the American Dream. December 29, 2010. Archived from the original on February 15, 2019. Retrieved February 14, 2019.
  7. ^ Blad, Cory (2012). "Review of In the Field: A Sociologist's Journey, by Renée C. Fox". Contemporary Sociology. 41 (5): 629–630. doi:10.1177/0094306112457769j. ISSN 1939-8638. JSTOR 41722923. S2CID 147156391.
  8. ^ Rawls, Anne Warfield (2002). "Editor's Introduction". Ethnomethodology's Program: Working Out Durkheim's Aphorism. By Garfinkel, Harold. Rawls, Anne Warfield (ed.). Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. p. 4. ISBN 978-0-7425-7898-2.
  9. ^ Hess, David J. (1995). Science and Technology in a Multicultural World: The Cultural Politics of Facts and Artifacts. New York: Columbia University Press. p. 140. ISBN 978-0-231-10197-4.
  10. ^ Apter, Andrew (2014). "Modernization Theory and the Figure of Blindness: Filial Reflections". In Bloom, Peter J.; Miescher, Stephan F.; Manuh, Takyiwaa (eds.). Modernization as Spectacle in Africa. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press. p. 44. ISBN 978-0-253-01233-3.
  11. ^ Lipman-Blumen, Jean (2011). "Toxic Leadership: A Rejoinder". Representation. 47 (3): 334. doi:10.1080/00344893.2011.596444. ISSN 1749-4001. S2CID 153804354.
  12. ^ Lynch, Gordon; Sheldon, Ruth (2013). "The Sociology of the Sacred: A Conversation with Jeffrey Alexander". Culture and Religion. 14 (3): 254. doi:10.1080/14755610.2012.758163. ISSN 1475-5629. S2CID 5560412.
  13. ^ Moore, John H. (2013). "Kluckhohn, Clyde". In McGee, R. Jon; Warms, Richard L. (eds.). Theory in Social and Cultural Anthropology: An Encyclopedia. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Reference. p. 438. doi:10.4135/9781452276311. ISBN 978-1-4522-7631-1.
  14. ^ a b Rocher, Guy (1974). Talcott Parsons and American Sociology. Translated by Mennell, Barbara; Mennell, Stephen. London: Nelson. p. 154. ISBN 978-0-17-712119-7.
  15. ^ Ingram, David (1987). Habermas and the Dialectic of Reason. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press. p. 135. ISBN 978-0-300-04613-7.
  16. ^ "Content Pages of the Encyclopedia of Religion and Social Science". hirr.hartsem.edu. Archived from the original on September 10, 2018. Retrieved February 11, 2019.
  17. ^ Turner & Holton 2015, pp. 3–6.
  18. ^ a b Dillon, Michele (2013) [2009], "Chapter Four: Talcott Parsons and Robert Merton, Functionalism and Modernization", Introduction to Sociological Theory: Theorists, Concepts, and their Applicability to the Twenty-First Century, Wiley, pp. 156–157, ISBN 978-1-118-47190-6
  19. ^ a b Dillon 2013, pp. 158–159.
  20. ^ Parsons, Talcott (1975), "The Present Status of 'Structural-Functional' Theory in Sociology", Social Systems and The Evolution of Action Theory, New York: The Free Press

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