Sociology

Talcott Parsons

Name: Talcott Parsons
Author: Peter Hamilton
ISBN: 9780415037600

by Peter Hamilton

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Overview

Talcott Parsons (1904-79) is widely regarded as one of the most important sociologists of the twentieth century. His work has been influential both inside and outside the United States. He made major contributions to the history of sociology, the sociology of knowledge, medical sociology, and sociology of social institutions. His theoretical writing, although still the subject of much controversy, is recognized as reformulating the grounds of debate by giving a new direction to sociological inquiry.

The ninety-five articles assembled here are organized into eighty-five chapters, covering each of the major theoretical debates in which Parsons was involved. The work is divided into major sections beginning with the intellectual background to Parsons' distinctive contribution to functionalism, and ending with the work of the last twenty years of his life, in which his interests in expanding his theories across all domains of human action produced a wide range of important and influential ideas. These volumes provide an indispensable collection for Parsonian scholars and anyone interested in 20th century sociology.

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Booknews

Parsons (1904-1979) concerned himself almost whole-heartedly with sociological theory, in the belief that by doing so he could provide sociology with a coherent method of progressing as a science--presenting both a general theory of society and as a result the conceptualization of a distinctively sociological subject matter. The collection of journal articles reprinted here represents a cross- section of the critical literature on Parsons' work and his role in the development of American sociology. The collection is based on an organizing principle which treats the Parsonian oeuvre as progressing through four relatively well-defined phases. The first phase encompasses the intellectual formation and explorations of Parsons' early years as an economist and sociologist. The second phase comprises the initial maturation of Parson's work, and contains his gradual development of a voluntaristic theory of social action. The third phase contains Parson's movement away from the confines of social action theory in the direction of structural functionalism, while the fourth phase yields some important developments of these theories. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)