American Society: Toward a Theory of Societal Community (Yale Cultural Sociology Series) - Hardcover

Parsons, Talcott; Sciortino, Giuseppe

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1594512272 ISBN 13: 9781594512278

Publisher: Routledge, 2006

Synopsis

Never before published, American Society is the product of Talcott Parsons's last major theory-building project. During the 1970s, Parsons worked persistently to fulfill his earlier promise to produce "a general book on American society". The surviving manuscript, completed just a few weeks before his death, is just such a book. Beyond its rich reading of American society, it offers a systematic presentation and major revisions of his previous landmark theoretical positions: the attempt to elaborate a non-nostalgic theory of modernity, to link macro and micro perspectives, to defend the possibility of objective sociological knowledge, to analyze national specificities within the context of worldwide trends, to develop an adequate conception of societal integration grounded in fully pluralistic premises. Even after the passage of many years, the book imparts a remarkably provocative interpretation of US society and a creative approach to social theory.

About this title

About the Author:

Talcott Parsons (1902–1979) was the eminent Harvard sociologist who sought to integrate all the social sciences into a science of human action. Among his influential books are The Structure of Social Action and Politics and Social Structure.

Review:

“This book demonstrates how Parsons attempted to develop a framework applicable to concrete situations. ... [American Society] helps remind readers how Parsonian structural functional can be used to illuminate how social crisis can be overcome. Recommended.”
―CHOICE

About this edition

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 1594512272
• ISBN 13: 9781594512278
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 542