The document provides an overview of sociologist Talcott Parsons, including his educational and professional background, major works, and intellectual influences. It discusses how he helped establish structural functionalism as the dominant theoretical perspective in sociology in the 1950s-1960s by integrating insights from Weber, Durkheim, Hobhouse, and others. Parsons viewed social actions as real processes that both shape and are shaped by structural relations within a functioning social system.

1. Talcott Parsons (1902-1979) Presentation by : Paul Richardson

2. 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)

3. Additional Materials Following slides only covered if time permits (all following slide materials “ripped” off the internet)

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. 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

7. 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.

8. 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)

9. 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.

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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