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This new edition introduces the social science audiences of a new century to one of the classic highlights of the mid-twentieth century. This is the most general statement of the general theory of action as it was developed by its principle exponent, Talcott Parsons, and his close collaborators who formed the core of the fabled department of social relations at Harvard University. Toward a General Theory of Action is an extremely ambitious formulation of the ingredients, dimensions, and ranges that determine human behavior. Parsons and Shils enunciate principles that are at the core of contemporary social science preoccupations-including the precarious balance between social integration and conflict. The volume is at once universal in intent and highly personal, an expression of Parsons' thought, one of the most notable sociological theorists of the century. Finally, the book symbolizes the interdisciplinary impulse that typified a widespread belief in the unity of the sciences. This edition includes the collaborative group's introductory statement, Richard Sheldon's essay on the theoretical and philosophical status of the general theory of action, and "Values, Motives and Systems of Action" by Parsons and Shils. Guy Swanson, writing in the The American Sociological Review, noted that "Parsons and Shils have performed a major service in clearing away many old controversies, in showing the reasonableness of a behavioral foundation for general theory in social science as a whole and in sociology in particular, in clarifying the interrelations among many concepts, and in the insightful interpretation of particular pieces of data." It is testimony to this book's continuing significance that it continues to generate new lines of research and writings.

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 and much more. 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 U.S. society and a creative approach to social theory.

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 and much more. 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 U.S. society and a creative approach to social theory.

This new edition introduces the social science audiences of a new century to one of the classic highlights of the mid-twentieth century. This is the most general statement of the general theory of action as it was developed by its principle exponent, Talcott Parsons, and his close collaborators who formed the core of the fabled department of social relations at Harvard University. Toward a General Theory of Action is an extremely ambitious formulation of the ingredients, dimensions, and ranges that determine human behavior.

Parsons and Shils enunciate principles that are at the core of contemporary social science preoccupations-including the precarious balance between social integration and conflict. The volume is at once universal in intent and highly personal, an expression of Parsons' thought, one of the most notable sociological theorists of the century. Finally, the book symbolizes the interdisciplinary impulse that typified a widespread belief in the unity of the sciences. This edition includes the collaborative group's introductory statement, Richard Sheldon's essay on the theoretical and philosophical status of the general theory of action, and "Values, Motives and Systems of Action" by Parsons and Shils.

Guy Swanson, writing in the The American Sociological Review, noted that "Parsons and Shils have performed a major service in clearing away many old controversies, in showing the reasonableness of a behavioral foundation for general theory in social science as a whole and in sociology in particular, in clarifying the interrelations among many concepts, and in the insightful interpretation of particular pieces of data." It is testimony to this book's continuing significance that it continues to generate new lines of research and writings.

During the years between the publication of the first of his two major works, The Structure of Social Action (1937), and the writing of his second, The Social System (1951), Talcott Parsons was primarily engaged in political activity through the Office of Strategic Services in its efforts to bring about the defeat of the Third Reich and to set the stage for a democratic reconstruction of postwar Germany. Beyond Parsons' analytic skills the essays reveal a dedicated liberal scholar, far removed from the stereotypes with which he came to be pilloried by later critics. The essays in this collection are the by-products of that special period of intense commitment. They reflect a single dominant theme: National Socialist Germany is seen as a tragically flawed social system but one requiring the same rigorous analysis Parsons brought to more normal and normative systems. Since virulent authoritarianism and even more virulent anti-Semitism were the dominant traits of that system as he saw it, Parsons dedicated many pages to each aspect. While he did not know the full horror of the Nazi "war against the Jews" he was able to develop a theoretical framework that continues to be a foundation stone for the analysis of national socialism. Gerhardt's editorial labors in the Parsons archive at Harvard have yielded nothing less than a "new book" by the foremost American sociological theorist of his time. This collection of both published and unpublished writings conveys Parsons' cohesive intent. To these otherwise fugitive and neglected essays Gerhardt contributes an introductory essay of her own: in part biography, in part intellectual and social history. She discovered Parsons work on National Socialism while studying his sociology of the professions and his use of medical practice to demonstrate how social science could become an antidote for fascism and authoritarianism. Uta Gerhardt is director of the Medical Sociology Unit at Justus Liebig University, Giessen. She has taught sociology at the Free University of Berlin, the University of Konstanz, the University of California at Berkeley, the San Francisco Medical School, the University of London, and the University of Wisconsin at Madison. The present volume comes out of her sabbatical year as Research Affiliate of the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, of Harvard University.

Dieser Band vereinigt grundlegende Texte von Talcott Parsons zur Theorie sozialer Systeme. Sie bilden den Ausgangspunkt der systemtheoretisch orientierten Soziologie und sind nach wie vor „eine bleibende Herausforderung für alle weitere Arbeit an soziologischer Theorie“ (Niklas Luhmann).

During the years between the publication of the first of his two major works, "The Structure of Social Action "(1937), and the writing of his second, "The Social System "(1951), Talcott Parsons was primarily engaged in political activity through the Office of Strategic Services in its efforts to bring about the defeat of the Third Reich and to set the stage for a democratic reconstruction of postwar Germany. Beyond Parsons' analytic skills the essays reveal a dedicated liberal scholar, far removed from the stereotypes with which he came to be pilloried by later critics.
The essays in this collection are the by-products of that special period of intense commitment. They reflect a single dominant theme: National Socialist Germany is seen as a tragically flawed social system but one requiring the same rigorous analysis Parsons brought to more normal and normative systems. Since virulent authoritarianism and even more virulent anti-Semitism were the dominant traits of that system as he saw it, Parsons dedicated many pages to each aspect. While he did not know the full horror of the Nazi "war against the Jews" he was able to develop a theoretical framework that continues to be a foundation stone for the analysis of national socialism.
Gerhardt's editorial labors in the Parsons archive at Harvard have yielded nothing less than a "new book" by the foremost American sociological theorist of his time. This collection of both published and unpublished writings conveys Parsons' cohesive intent. To these otherwise fugitive and neglected essays Gerhardt contributes an introductory essay of her own: in part biography, in part intellectual and social history. She discovered Parsons work on National Socialism while studying his sociology of the professions and his use of medical practice to demonstrate how social science could become an antidote for fascism and authoritarianism.
"Uta Gerhardt" is director of the Medical Sociology Unit at Justus Liebig University, Giessen. She has taught sociology at the Free University of Berlin, the University of Konstanz, the University of California at Berkeley, the San Francisco Medical School, the University of London, and the University of Wisconsin at Madison. The present volume comes out of her sabbatical year as Research Affiliate of the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, of Harvard University.

This book brings together, in systematic and generalized form, the main outlines of a conceptual scheme for the analysis of the structure and processes of social systems. It carries out Pareto's intention by using the "structural-functional" level of analysis.

Talcott Parsons is regarded, by admirers and critics alike, as a major creator of the sociological thought of our time. Despite the universal recognition of his influence, however, Parsons's thought is not well understood, in part because his work presents the reader with almost legendary difficulties. Most of his important essays and books presume that the reader is familiar with his rather specialized vocabulary, and even when Parsons begins by defining basic terms, his special uses for words and his style of exposition strike many readers as forbidding.
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.
Mayhew then presents twenty of Parsons's essays, touching on each of the major aspects of his work, including "action" theory and the celebrated four-function scheme. Other topics covered include the role of theory in social research, evolutionary universals in society, influence, control, and the mass media.
"Talcott Parsons on Institutions and Social Evolution will become a standard reference for those studying that development of his sociological ideas."--Martin Bulmer, "The Times Higher Education Supplement
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2010 Reprint of 1930 First English edition.Considered a founding text in economic sociology and sociology in general, Weber's book was translated into English for the first time by Talcott Parsons and appeared in 1930. We reprint this 1930 Edition. Weber believed that capitalism in northern Europe evolved when the Protestant (particularly Calvinist) ethic influenced large numbers of people to engage in work in the secular world, developing their own enterprises and engaging in trade and the accumulation of wealth for investment. In other words, the Protestant ethic was a force behind an unplanned and uncoordinated mass action that influenced the development of capitalism. This idea is also known as "the Weber thesis." Weber, however, rejected deterministic approaches, and presented the Protestant Ethic as merely one in a number of 'elective affinities' leading toward capitalist modernity. Weber's term Protestant work ethic has become very widely known. The work relates significantly to the cultural "rationalization" and so-called "disenchantment" which Weber associated with the modern West.

Die Theorie der sozialen Interaktionsmedien gilt als einer der bedeutendsten Beitrage zur sozialwissenschaftlichen Theoriebildung. In Analogie zu Geld als spezifischem Medium des oekonomischen Tausches interpretiert Parsons zunachst Macht als symbolisch generalisiertes Medium mit der spezifischen politischen Funktion der Festlegung und Umsetzung kollektiver Ziele, womit er sich in Gegensatz zur utilitaristischen Tradition stellt, fur die Macht ein Mittel zur Durchsetzung individueller Interessen ist. Dies impliziert auch eine qualitative Unterschiedlichkeit von Geld und Macht, die einen zentralen Gedanken in der weiteren Ausarbeitung von sozialen Medien wie Einfluss und kulturellen Commitments darstellt.

1. Vorbemerkung Dieser Band bildet den Anschlug an die vorangegangene Aufsatz 1 Sammlung Talcott Parsons' zur Theorie sozialer Systeme . Wahrend es sich bei dem friiheren Band urn einige der wichtigsten Beitrage Parsons' zur soziologischen Systemtheorie handelt, stellen die folgen den vier Aufsatze den theoretisch originarsten und bedeutsamsten Beitrag zur sozialwissenschaftlichen Theoriebildung iiberhaupt dar, den Parsons in den letzten fiinfzehn J ahren entwickelt hat? Worum handelt es sich bei diesen "sozialen Interaktions-Me dien"? Auf den ersten Blick geht es urn die Analyse der Phanomene "Geld," "Macht," "Einflug" und "Wertbindung." Diese Phanomene - vor allem Geld und Macht - bilden jedoch nur die auffalligsten Elemente einer ganzen Klasse von sozialen Mechanismen, die die Interaktion von Menschen in der Gesellschaft steuern. In der Analyse dieser sozialen Steuerungsmechanismen - der sozialen Interaktions Medien - geht es Parsons also nicht nur urn die Behandlung der genannten Phanomene, sondern urn den paradigmatischen Aufbau eines Theorieschemas fiir derartige Mechanismen iiberhaupt. Auf den ersten Blick konnte es scheinen, als habe Parsons damit seinen bisherigen Arbeitsbereich - die Theorie der Sozialsystem- verlassen und sich einem neuen Feld zugewandt, namlich der Theorie der sozialen Interaktion. Tatsachlich kann aber von einer Verlage rung des Arbeitsinteresses Parsons' gar keine Rede sein. Nach wie vor geht es ihm darum, die Theorie der Sozialsysteme so zu vervoll kommnen, dag sie eine umfassende und brauchbare Theorie aller sozialen Phanomene wird. Bei diesem Vorhaben lassen sich drei Hauptphasen unterscheiden. 7 1."

1. Vorbemerkung Dieser Band vereinigt eine Reihe von grundlegenden Aufsatzen Tal- cott Parsons' zur Theorie der Sozialsysteme. Diese Aufsatze geben zwar nur einen kleinen Ausschnitt aus dem Gesamtwerk von Parsons wieder. Dabei handelt es sich allerdings urn den wichtigsten und grundlegendsten Teil, ohne dessen Kenntnis eine Beurteilung der Theorie Parsons' iiberhaupt nicht moglich ist. Diesem Band wird in Kiirze ein zweiter folgen, der einige Beitrage Parsons zur Theorie der Interaktionsmedien sowie einen Beitrag von Niklas Luhmann zu diesem Thema enthalt (1). Die Herausgabe der beiden Bande zur Theorie der Sozialsysteme und der Theorie der Interaktionsmedien ist ein Versuch, die Auseinandersetzungen mit der gesellschaftlichen Systemtheorie (2) auf der Grundlagen- ebene zu erganzen. Dieses Buch und seine Einleitung wendet sich vor aHem an Stud en- ten und andere Leser, die Parsons noch nicht oder nur wenig kennen. Man konnte freilich - iiberspitzt - sagen, d kaum jemand Parsons wirklich kennt. Einer der Hauptgriinde dafiir liegt in dem Umfang seiner Arbeiten, ein anderer in der Schwierigkeit jedes Versuchs, Parsons' theoretische Argumente im ersten Anlauf zu begreifen. Daher sind viele Argumente verkiirzt oder aufgrund von Rezeptionen aus zweiter oder dritter Hand zur Kenntnis genommen worden. Dabei haben sie sich mit zahlreichen Vorurteilen vermischt (3), so d vielfach die bestehenden Kenntnisse iiber Parsons ein Konglo- merat aus theoretischen und ideologischen Argumenten darstellen.