Talcott Parsons

Erscheinungsjahr 2011
ISBN: 978-0-7546-7817-5
Verlag: Routledge

Buch, Englisch, 200 Seiten, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm, Gewicht: 1548 g

Talcott Parsons (1902-1979) was the foremost sociological theorist of the decades spanning the middle of the 20th century. In his early work, Parsons integrated ideas derived from the writings of Max Weber, Emile Durkheim, Vilfredo Pareto, and others into a comprehensive but elementary conceptual scheme that he termed the "voluntaristic theory of action." In his later work, he elaborated this schema into a highly technical theory of four functionally defined subsystems of society, which remains a generation after his death the most thoroughly detailed theory of the overall organization of modern societies. In addition to his several volumes of general theory, Parsons wrote more than a hundred insightful essays addressing a wide range of empirical topics. Both Parsons' general theory and many of his empirical essays were controversial when written and remain so today. This collection includes articles by major interpreters of and contributors to the theory of action, including works by Neil J. Smelser, Robert N. Bellah, S. N. Eisenstadt, Renee C. Fox, Roland Robertson, Hans Joas, Mark Gould, Victor Lidz, and others whose writings have sustained the Parsonian tradition that combines a voluntaristic conception of social action with function analysis of social systems. As editor, Victor Lidz has provided a broad introduction to Parsons’ theory of action, the controversies it has engendered, and key trends of thought about its revision and updating.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Best, Shaun

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziologie Allgemein

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Contents: Introduction; Part I Parsons as Person, Teacher and Scholar: Some remarks on Talcott Parsons's family, Charles Parsons; Talcott Parsons, my teacher, Renée C. Fox; Worlds come apart: systems theory versus critical theory. Drama in the history of sociology in the 20th century, Uta Gerhardt. Part II The Structure of Social Action and Parsons' Theory Programme: The Structure of Social Action: at least 60 years ahead of its time, Mark Gould; Convergence as method in theory construction, Victor M. Lidz and Harold J. Bershady; Action and order: Parsons and Whitehead, Harald Wenzel; Simmel and Parsons reconsidered, Donald N. Levine. Part III Social Change and Evolution: Religious evolution, Robert N. Bellah; Social change, differentiation and evolution, S.N. Eisenstadt. Part IV Social Process and the Theory of the Generalized Symbolic Media: A comparative view of exchange systems, Neil J. Smelser; Parsons' concept of 'generalized media of social interaction' and its relevance for social anthropology, Terence S. Turner; The system of solidarities (a working paper in general action analysis), Rainer C. Baum; Influence and solidarity: defining a conceptual core for sociology, Victor Lidz; Structure and creativity: the use of transformational-generative models in action theory, Adrian C. Hayes. Part V The Sociology of Religion: Parsons on the evolutionary significance of American religion, Roland Robertson; The gift of life: the sociology of religion in Talcott Parsons' late work, Hans Joas; A sociologist's encounter with the Jamaa, Willy De Craemer. Part VI The Sociology Of Medicine: The medicalization and demedicalization of American society, Renée C. Fox; Psychoanalytic sociology and the medical encounter: Parsons and beyond, Deborah Lupton. Part VII Responses to Other Aspects of the Theory: The rational and the ambivalent in the social sciences, Neil J. Smelser; Expressiveness reevaluated, Miriam M. Johnson, Jean Stockard, Joan Acker and Claudeen Naffziger; The body, expressive culture and social interaction: integrating art history and action theory, Jeremy Tanner. Part VIII Conclusion: Post-Parsonian sociology, Edward A. Tiryakian; Name index.

Über Autor(innen)

Victor Lidz was taught by Talcott Parsons at Harvard and after graduation in 1962 entered the Department of Social Relations at Harvard to continue his studies in sociological theory. He was Parsons' research assistant from 1963 to 1968 and in the 1970s he taught seminars on new developments in the theory of social action with Parsons at the University of Chicago and the University of Pennsylvania. Lidz received his doctorate from Harvard in 1976. He is presently Associate Professor and Director of Programs for Addictive Disorders at Drexel University College of Medicine in Philadelphia, USA. He has published both with Parsons and on Parsons' work, including After Parsons: A Theory of Social Action for the Twenty-First Century co-edited with Renee C. Fox and Harold J. Bershady and the chapter on Parsons for The Blackwell Companion to Major Classical Social Theorists edited by George Ritzer.