The Structure of Social Action. A Study in Social Theory with Special Reference to a Group of Recent European Writers.

First edition, first impression, of the author's "first and most celebrated treatise" (ANB). "In The Structure of Social Action, Parsons tried to demonstrate that the bare 'utilitarian' framework of orthodox economics - assumptions regarding the autonomy of the sovereign individual, the unanalyzed 'randomness' of the ends or goals individuals pursued, and the primacy of rational efficiency as a standard in human behavior - could not adequately explain the phenomenon of social order. Citing 'nonrational' and collective forces at work, Parsons concluded that societies cohered in large part due to 'common value integration', or the existence of certain ultimate values shared by human actors and knit together in an organized system of sanctioned ends and norms. The object of sociology was to study how these common values were made concrete in social institutions and how they structured behavior in accepted roles" (ibid.). Octavo. Original dark blue cloth, spine lettered in gilt. Ownership signature to front pastedown. Rubbing to rear cover and short split at foot of front joint, spine lettering bright, contents unmarked; a very good copy.…