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Talcott Parsons: Works
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Talcott Parsons was one of the most influential American sociologists of the postwar period, but he has ... been widely criticized for, among other things, the alleged conservatism of his structural functionalist theory. Bryan Turner's selections from Parsons' work provide a comprehensive overview of the controversial scholar's principal contributions to his field.
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Talcott Parsons has been one of the most influential American sociologists of the postwar period. Bryan Turner's selections from Parsons' work provide a comprehensive overview of his principal contributions and are grouped under the following subdivisions: religion and modern society; life, sex, and death; sociological theory; and American society and the world order.
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Talcott Parsons was not only the most influential American sociologist of his time, but ... one of the key social scientists of the twentieth century. Interestingly, he was also one of the most criticized and rejected figures in the social sciences. It was not until his death in 1979 that a worldwide renaissance of interest in Parsonian sociology emerged. In Talcott Parsons, renowned social theorists offer a complete reappraisal of his writing. Parsons' own work is represented by a previously neglected essay on American values that is central to understanding his analysis of modernization. The contributors place Parsonian theories in the central realm of current debates over modernity, postmodernity, and globalization.
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Talcott Parsons (1902-1979) developed his social theory of actionsystems throughout his career. In "Action Systems and SocialSystems,'' his summary of that theory as he worked it between 1961and 1971, two of the most distinctive features of Parsons's socialtheory are illustrated. First, he understands the social system to bea distinct entity, different from but interdependent with three otheraction systems: culture, personality, and the behavioral organism.Second, Parsons makes explicit reference to Durkheim in his view thatsocial systems are sui generis things in which values serve tomaintain the patterned integrity of the system. Some have argued thatthese theoretical convictions were traceable to the Golden Ageculture, in which it was widely believed America was theexemplification of society itself because of the power of its values.
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This paper argues for a normative conception of medical professionalism based on the work of sociologist Talcott Parsons. Such a conception grounds medical professionalism on the expert authority of the physician; the concept of “authority” is therefore discussed at length. Parsons’ view ... lays much stress on the fact that the proper exercise of medical authority nearly always involves aligning the interests of individual patients with those of society at large. Parsonian professionalism looks to professional institutions such as medical schools, societies and journals to secure the competence and ethical behavior of professionals, and to help ensure that professionals’ exercise of authority is never biased by private financial interests or by public political power. Professional institutions should encourage professionals to develop a set of preferences and desires (e.g., for respect of their peers, and not for power or financial gain) that will tend to make them trustworthy authorities.
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In his extensive introduction to this volume, Leon H. Mayhew brings a new focus and clarity to Talcott Parsons's work. Explicating Parsons on his own terms, Mayhew discusses the basic tools of Parsonian analysis and interprets the larger themes of his work. He provides a chronological account of the development of Parsons's thought, his presuppositions, and his position on the ideological spectrum of social thought.
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