Talcott Parsons and the Social Image of Man (Routledge Library Editions: Social Theory) - Softcover

Menzies, Ken

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1138983535 ISBN 13: 9781138983533

Publisher: Routledge, 2016

Synopsis

This account of Talcott Parsons’s work clarifies his basic concepts and sets out their correlation. Dr Menzies believes that the philosophy of science working within the confines of the analytic-synthetic distinction tends to provide a rigid, static and sterile account of theories. He presents a more dynamic account of the scientific enterprise in order to come to grips with the amorphous nature of theory, and to provide the basic framework for his analysis of Parsons. Menzies argues that Parsons’s central problematic in The Structure of Social Action is utilitarianism in general and the classical economists’ account of the rise of capitalism in particular, and as such the book is not a reconciliation of positivistic and idealistic elements and these run throughout his subsequent work. Two major strands in Parsons’s work – the social action theory and the systems theory (structural-functionalism) – are separated and examined individually.

About this edition

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1138983535
• ISBN 13: 9781138983533
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 204