Talcott Parsons (1902-1979)

Presentation by :Paul Richardson

Primary Analysis

Strengths (7 mins) Weaknesses (7 mins) How improves understanding (7 mins)

How (process description) improves understanding (learning) I will describe the way (process) we learn from this article Section Title: Learning Process Description

How author presents findings (7 mins) The method, the format, and the strategy of argument. Section Title: Presentation Methodology

What is learned about ed. phil. (7 mins) Description of the knowledge, it's type & contents Section Title: Epistemological Characteristics

Discussion Questions (10 minutes)

Additional Materials

Following slides only covered if time permits

(all following slide materials “ripped” off the internet)

Biographical Background

Youngest of five children. (Gordon Allport)

His father was a congregational minister and professor at Colorado College.

His mother was a progressivist and a suffragist.

Background

His father was dismissed from Colorado College, he moved family to New York City (shifting around)

Began his career as a biologist and later became interested in economics and sociology.

Talcott graduated from Amherst in 1924 and a year later entered the London School of Economic.

Background

He studied with Bronislaw Malinowski, L.T. Hobhouse, and Morris Ginsberg in London

Received scholarship from the University of Heidelberg (Germany)

He was greatly influenced by Weber. After doctorate: taught at Amherst and

then Harvard University

Harvard

Worked with Gordon Allport, Henry Murray, and Clyde Kluckhohn in 1945 to establish the Department of Social Relations.

Department became famous Talcott: chair for first ten years, then

still active in the department until its dissolution in 1972.

A year later he retired as Emeritus Proffesor.

Major Works - Timeframe

The Structure of Social Action (1937) The Social System and Toward a General

Theory of Action (1951) Essay in Sociological Theory (1949, 1954) Working Papers in the Theory of Acton

(1953) Structure and Process in Modern Society

(1960) Most prolific during 1950’s & 1960’s This current article:

Evolutionary Universals in Society (1964)

Functionalism Background

In 1950s and 1960 Functionalism reigned as the dominant theoretical perspective in sociology.

Is often referred to as structural functionalism because of its dual focus on the structural forces that shape human behavior and the attention given to system needs.

Intellectual Influences

London School of Economics Hobhouse

Evolution of Morality Ginsberg

Economic institutions of preliterate societies Malinowski

Structural-functional analysis in anthropology Parsons’ integration of all social sciences into one

of human action Strong European influence

Two particular influences Max Weber Emile Durkheim

Intellectual Influences

Max Weber Greatest influence on Parsons Dissertation, “Concept of Capitalism”,

based primarily on Weber’s work Marx’s Reductionist Approach

Tied strictly to economics Overly simplistic and unrealistic First major link of value systems and social

structures

Philosophy- Talcott Parsons Realism v. Idealism

Idealist - An act is always a process in time, and that the concept “end” always implies a future reference to a state or situation that does not exist yet

Realism v. Nominalism Realism – The relations between actors are

essentially the structure of the social system Idealism v. Materialism

Materialist – Interrelated parts contribute to the functioning of the whole system