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Talcott Parsons
Theorist of Modernity
Edited by:
- Roland Robertson - University of Aberdeen, UK
- Bryan S Turner - City University of New York, USA
July 1991 | 272 pages | SAGE Publications Ltd
Talcott Parsons was not only the most influential American sociologist of his time, but also one of the key social scientists of the twentieth century. Interestingly, he was also one of the most criticized and rejected figures in the social sciences. It was not until his death in 1979 that a worldwide renaissance of interest in Parsonian sociology emerged.
In Talcott Parsons, renowned social theorists offer a complete reappraisal of his writing. Parsons' own work is represented by a previously neglected essay on American values that is central to understanding his analysis of modernization. The contributors place Parsonian theories in the central realm of current debates over modernity, postmodernity, and globalization. They evaluate Parsons' value commitments and his position in American social theory, the problems of interpreting his work today, his conception of world history, and the contemporary neofunctionalist movement.
Talcott Parsons is essential reading for all teachers and students of sociology and social theory, and for anyone else interested in cultural theory and modernity.
Roland Robertson and Bryan S Turner
An Introduction to Talcott Parsons
Victor Lidz
The American Value System
Talcott Parsons
A Tentative Outline of American Values
Harold J Bershady
Practice Against Theory in American Sociology
Mark Gould
The Structure of Social Action
Victor Lidz
Influence and Solidarity
Roland Robertson
The Central Significance of 'Religion' in Social Theory
Frank J Lechner
Parsons and Modernity
Donald N Levine
Simmel and Parsons Reconsidered
Arthur W Frank
From Sick Role to Health Role
Jens Kaalhauge Nielsen
The Political Orientation of Talcott Parsons
Bryan S Turner
Neo-functionalism and the 'New Theoretical Movement'
Bryan S Turner and Roland Robertson
How to Read Parsons
`It is a compendium of thirteen original papers, including some unpublished work by Parson's himself, which goes well beyond providinga coda to his work. The authors reopen a new postfunctionalist phase in which Parsons is put into perspective as new emendations are constructed on the basis provided by his work...For those interested in sociocultural dimensions of the group process and the integration of group members outside society, the book provides considerable food for thought' - Group Analysis
