The Theory and Scholarship of Talcott Parsons to 1951: A Critical Commentary

by Bruce C. Wearne

Overview

The most influential sociologist to have emerged in the United States, Talcott Parsons developed a distinctive theoretical synthesis which drew on Weber, Smobart, Durkheim and Marx. He was the moving spirit behind the interdisciplinary Department of Social Relations at Harvard, and he became a central figure in the development of the social sciences in post-war America. Interest in his theories is now reviving, after a period of neglect, and Bruce C. Wearne's study will help a generation of scholars to reassess his work. Drawing on unpublished papers, Wearne describes Parson's religious background and his education and traces the impact of German and other social theory on his development as a scholar. The book concludes with a thorough and fresh reading of his classic work, The Social System.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521125185
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	12/10/2009
Pages:	220
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.80(d)

Table of Contents

Preface; Part I. Unravelling Talcott Parsons' theoretical development: 1. Introduction; Part II. Talcott Parsons: the roots of his thought: 2. Talcott Parsons in relation to the thought of his time; 3. The Amherst papers; Part III. The Development of Theory: 4. Maz Weber and the vision of a unified social science; 5. The position and prospects of sociology at Harvard in the 1930s; 6. Convergence and its construction; Part IV. The Theory: 7. Conceptualising The Social System; 8. Developing The Social System; 9. Formulating The Social System; 10. The Social System; Part V. Parsons' Theory as it Stood at 1951: 11. Conclusion; Appendix; List of references; Indexes.