Talcott Parsons facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Talcott Parsons
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| Born | December 13, 1902 Colorado Springs, Colorado, US
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| Died | May 8, 1979 (aged 76) Munich, West Germany
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| Nationality | America |
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Notable work
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Helen Bancroft Walker
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| Institutions | Harvard University |
| Doctoral advisor | Edgar Salin |
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Talcott Parsons (December 13, 1902 – May 8, 1979) was an American sociologist. A sociologist studies how people live together in groups and societies. Parsons is known for his ideas about how society works, especially his "social action theory" and "structural functionalism." He is thought to be one of the most important sociologists of the 20th century.
Parsons taught at Harvard University from 1927 to 1973. In 1930, he helped start Harvard's new sociology department. Later, he was key in creating the Department of Social Relations there.
His social action theory was the first big, organized idea about how social systems work in the United States and Europe. Parsons also helped people in English-speaking countries understand the work of other important thinkers like Max Weber, Émile Durkheim, and Vilfredo Pareto. Their ideas greatly shaped Parsons' own theories. He believed that people's actions are guided by cultural values and social rules, not just by their inner thoughts.
Even though Parsons is often called a structural functionalist, he later said that these terms didn't fully describe his ideas.
After the 1970s, some new sociologists criticized Parsons' ideas. They said his theories were too old-fashioned and his writing was too hard to understand. Because of this, his theories were taught less in sociology classes. However, recently, more people have become interested in his ideas again.
Parsons strongly believed that sociology should be a recognized and important field in American universities. He was the president of the American Sociological Association in 1949.
Contents
Early life
Talcott Parsons was born on December 13, 1902, in Colorado Springs, Colorado. His father, Edward Smith Parsons, was a minister and later a professor and college president. His mother was Mary Augusta Ingersoll.
Parsons' family was one of the oldest in American history. His ancestors came from England in the 1600s.
Education
Amherst College
Parsons studied biology and philosophy at Amherst College. He earned his bachelor's degree in 1924. His father and uncle had also gone to Amherst. At first, Parsons wanted to be a doctor, like his older brother. He studied a lot of biology and even worked at a research center in Woods Hole.
His professors, Walton Hale Hamilton and Clarence Edwin Ayres, were "institutional economists." They taught him about social science. Parsons also studied philosophy, especially the ideas of Immanuel Kant.
Parsons wrote two important papers while at Amherst. These papers showed his early interest in how societies change over time. He believed that technology and moral progress were separate things.
London School of Economics
After Amherst, Parsons studied for a year at the London School of Economics (LSE). There, he learned from thinkers like Bronisław Malinowski and R. H. Tawney. He also made friends with other students who became famous anthropologists.
While at the LSE, he met Helen Bancroft Walker, an American. They got married on April 30, 1927. They had three children: Anne, Charles, and Susan.
University of Heidelberg
In 1927, Parsons earned his PhD in sociology and economics from the University of Heidelberg in Germany. He worked with Alfred Weber, the brother of the famous sociologist Max Weber.
Meeting Max Weber's ideas was very important for Parsons. Weber's work helped Parsons understand how culture and religion shape world history. Parsons became very interested in Weber's writings and later translated some of them into English.
Early academic career
Harvard University
In 1927, Parsons started teaching in the Economics Department at Harvard. He studied with important economists like Joseph Schumpeter. Parsons was interested in sociology, but Harvard didn't have a sociology department yet.
Harvard Sociology Department
In 1930, Harvard created a new Sociology Department. Parsons became one of its first teachers. He became good friends with Lawrence Joseph Henderson, a biochemist and sociologist. Parsons also joined Henderson's study group, where they discussed the ideas of Vilfredo Pareto. From Pareto, Parsons learned the idea of a "social system."
Parsons' relationship with the head of the department, Pitirim Sorokin, became difficult. Sorokin didn't like American society and became less scientific in his later years.
Some of Parsons' students who became famous sociologists include Robert K. Merton, Kingsley Davis, and Wilbert Moore. Parsons also started an informal study group for his students.
In 1932, Parsons bought a farmhouse in Acworth, New Hampshire. Many of his important writings were created in the quiet of this home.
In 1939–1940, Parsons and Joseph Schumpeter led a seminar at Harvard about the idea of "rationality."
Against Nazism
Parsons visited Germany in 1930 and saw the rise of the Nazi Party. He received updates about Nazism from his friend, Edward Y. Hartshorne. In the late 1930s, Parsons started warning Americans about the Nazi threat.
Many Americans at the time didn't think the Nazis were a threat to the US. Parsons wrote an article called "New Dark Age Seen If Nazis Should Win." He helped create the Harvard Defense Committee to encourage Americans to oppose the Nazis. Parsons spoke on the radio and at Harvard meetings against Nazism.
Second World War
During World War II, Parsons studied Japan and its growing power. He also worked on a project to educate administrators who would help govern occupied territories in Germany and the Pacific.
Important Discussions
Parsons had many discussions with other thinkers. He talked with Alfred Schütz about how people understand social actions. Parsons believed that human actions lead to historical change.
He also exchanged ideas with Eric Voegelin about capitalism and the rise of Nazism. They discussed how Calvinism, a type of Protestantism, influenced modern history. Parsons believed Calvinism led to important democratic changes.
Parsons also criticized the idea that Germany's national character was "destructive." He was against the very harsh Morgenthau Plan, which aimed to de-industrialize Germany after the war.
In 1945, Parsons was chosen as a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Leading at Harvard
In 1944, Parsons was offered a job at another university. To keep him, Harvard made him the head of his department and a full professor. They also agreed to create the new Department of Social Relations. This new department combined sociology, anthropology, and psychology. Parsons wanted to create a strong base for a unified social science.
Parsons also became very interested in systems theory and cybernetics, which study how systems work and communicate. He started using these ideas in social science.
After the war, many students came to the Department of Social Relations. Parsons also became interested in psychoanalysis and studied with a psychoanalyst. This influenced his later work on personality and how people learn to be part of society.
Postwar
Russian Research Center
In 1948, Parsons joined the Executive Committee of the new Russian Research Center at Harvard. He visited Germany and interviewed Russian refugees who had been involved in a movement against the Soviet government during the war.
Against Communism
Parsons saw communism as similar to fascism. He believed both were "totalitarian," meaning they tried to control every part of people's lives. Parsons thought American values were based on "instrumental activism," which came from Puritanism. This meant people were encouraged to work hard and improve the world. He believed this was the opposite of totalitarian ideas.
Parsons thought that the Protestant Reformation was a very important event in modern history. He believed that Calvinism, especially in England and America, led to important democratic changes over time.
American Values
Parsons believed that America was unique because of its history. He thought that Puritan values, like individuality and skepticism toward government power, became deeply rooted in American society. This led to a new kind of nation, which was clear during the American Revolution. He believed these values helped America succeed and become a leader in industrialization.
Believer in Progress
Parsons was a strong supporter of modern society. He believed that modern civilization, with its technology and changing institutions, was strong and generally improving. He thought that humanity had great potential. He said he was "basically optimistic about the human prospects in the long run."
The Social System
In the late 1940s and early 1950s, Parsons worked on big ideas for sociology. In 1951, he published two important books: The Social System and Toward a General Theory of Action.
The Social System was his first major attempt to explain his general theory of society. He talked about how people interact based on their needs and values. This book also introduced his famous "pattern variables," which describe different ways people can interact in society.
Later, Parsons developed the AGIL paradigm, a way to understand how any system, like a society, stays alive and works. This model helps explain how different parts of society, like the economy and government, work together.
Parsons was also very interested in symbolism and how symbols shape human action. He studied the ideas of Sigmund Freud and how they related to social systems and how children learn social rules.
Systems Theory
Parsons was one of the first to use systems theory in sociology. This theory looks at how different parts of a system work together. He was interested in how living systems, like the human body, maintain balance (homeostasis). He believed that society also tries to maintain balance.
He attended conferences on systems theory and met important scientists like Norbert Wiener. Parsons believed that the idea of "system" was essential for building theories in social science.
McCarthy Era
During the McCarthy era in the 1950s, Parsons was investigated by the FBI. An informant claimed he was a communist sympathizer. Parsons strongly denied these charges. He wrote that the accusation was "preposterous." He fought against these claims and was eventually cleared in 1955.
Family and Socialization
In 1956, Parsons published Family, Socialization and Interaction Process. This book looked at how psychology and psychoanalysis relate to how people are motivated and how they learn to be part of society. It also studied family structures.
The book included ideas about personality and how roles are different in society. Parsons worked with other researchers on these ideas.
Culture and Social Systems
From 1957 to 1958, Parsons spent time at a research center in California. There, he met Kenneth Burke, a writer, and Alfred L. Kroeber, a famous anthropologist. Parsons and Kroeber wrote an important article together called "The Concept of Culture and the Social System." They explained that culture and social systems are different but connected.
Later career
Public Discussions
In the mid-1950s, Parsons' ideas were discussed at Cornell University. These discussions led to a book called The Social Theories of Talcott Parsons: A Critical Examination. Parsons wrote an essay for the book, explaining his own views. In this essay, he also criticized "conflict theory," which focuses on disagreements in society.
Criticisms of His Theories
From the late 1950s, some scholars criticized Parsons' theories. They said his ideas were too conservative and didn't explain social change, poverty, or conflict well enough. Some also said his idea of the individual was too focused on people simply following rules.
Others, like Jürgen Habermas, thought Parsons' system theory was too "mechanical" and didn't allow for individual freedom. His ideas about how societies evolve were also criticized for being too simple or for supporting the existing power structures.
Political Views
Parsons supported the Democratic Party for most of his life. He voted for John F. Kennedy in 1960. He was especially interested in how Kennedy, as a Catholic, becoming president affected American society.
Modernization Theory
In the early 1960s, Parsons' ideas greatly influenced "modernization theory." This theory tried to explain how countries develop and become modern. Many scholars used his ideas, especially in political sociology.
Interest in Religion
Parsons had a strong interest in religion throughout his life. He corresponded with Robert N. Bellah, a scholar of religion. Parsons believed that the history of American values was deeply connected to its religious background, especially Calvinism.
He also interacted with Marie Augusta Neal, a Catholic nun who studied sociology. She was interested in improving women's roles in the Catholic Church.
Political Power and Social Influence
In 1963, Parsons published two important articles about political power and social influence. He developed the idea of "Generalized Symbolic Media." He compared these media to money in the economy. He believed that power in politics and influence in society worked in similar ways to money.
Contacts with Other Scholars
Parsons continued to work with many scholars. In 1964, he went to Germany to celebrate the 100th birthday of Max Weber. He discussed Weber's work with other thinkers like Jürgen Habermas.
Parsons was against the Vietnam War. However, he was concerned that student protests sometimes replaced serious discussion with simple slogans.
Ethnicity and Community
Parsons corresponded with his former student David M. Schneider, who studied American family systems. Schneider's work helped Parsons understand ethnicity and how communities are formed. Parsons used the idea of "diffuse enduring solidarity" from Schneider to describe how people in a community feel connected.
Parsons also discussed ideas with Daniel Bell about "post-industrial society," a society where knowledge and services are more important than manufacturing.
His interest in ethnicity and religion in communities influenced his student Edward Laumann. Laumann's work showed how ethnicity, religion, and social class shape social networks in communities.
Biological and Social Systems
In his later years, Parsons became more interested in how biological and social theories are connected. He helped organize conferences to discuss the relationship between living systems and social systems. He talked with famous biologists like Ernst Mayr and Edward O. Wilson.
Sociology of Law
In 1972, Parsons taught a seminar on "Law and Sociology" with legal philosopher Lon L. Fuller. This led him to write an important article called "Law as an Intellectual Stepchild."
Study of US University
In 1973, Parsons published The American University with Gerald M. Platt. This book explored how American universities work and how they contribute to modern society. It also looked at how learning and knowledge operate in society.
Retirement
Parsons officially retired from Harvard in 1973. However, he continued to write, teach, and stay active. He taught at other universities like the University of Pennsylvania and Brown University.
Brown Seminars
From 1973 to 1974, Parsons gave a series of seminars at Brown University. He talked about his life and work and answered questions from students and professors. He also gave lectures on "The Evolution of Society."
Refining the AGIL Model
Late in his life, Parsons continued to develop his AGIL paradigm. He called a new level of this model "A Paradigm of the Human Condition." This new model included the physical and biological systems, as well as what Parsons called the "telic system," which represents ultimate values.
Sick Role Theory
Parsons was well known for his idea of the "Sick role." This concept describes how society expects sick people to behave and how doctors treat them. He continued to develop and refine this idea throughout his career.
Symbolic Interactionism
In 1975, Parsons discussed how his "action theory" related to "symbolic interactionism." He believed that these two ideas, which study how people interact using symbols, could work together. He saw his action theory as a middle ground between theories that are too open-ended and those that are too rigid.
Review of Piaget
In 1976, Parsons wrote an essay for a book celebrating the 80th birthday of Jean Piaget, a famous child psychologist. Parsons praised Piaget's work on how people think and learn. He argued that studying thinking (cognition) should also include how it is shaped by social and cultural factors.
Lectures in Japan
Parsons had a long-standing interest in Japan. Many of his books were translated into Japanese. He visited Japan for the first time in 1972 and gave lectures to Japanese sociologists.
In 1978, he returned to Japan and gave weekly lectures at Kwansei Gakuin University. He spoke about the development of sociology and modern society. He also lectured at other universities in Japan. Kwansei Gakuin University gave him an honorary doctor degree.
Parsons was interested in Zen Buddhism during his time in Japan. He said his experiences there made him rethink some of his ideas about how modern civilizations began.
Death
Talcott Parsons died on May 8, 1979, in Munich, Germany. He was there to celebrate the 50th anniversary of his degree from Heidelberg. The day before he died, he gave a lecture to German thinkers.
Work
Parsons created a big system of ideas to study society, which he called "theory of action." He believed that we can understand objective reality through our ideas and theories. He often quoted Lawrence Joseph Henderson: "A fact is a statement about experience in terms of a conceptual scheme."
The Structure of Social Action
Parsons' most famous book is The Structure of Social Action (1937). In this book, he brought together the ideas of important thinkers like Émile Durkheim, Max Weber, and Vilfredo Pareto. This book is considered one of the most important sociology books of the 20th century.
Action Theory
Parsons' action theory tried to be scientific while also understanding that human actions have a "subjective dimension." This means that people's actions are influenced by their goals, purposes, and ideals. Parsons believed that social science must consider these factors. He thought that culture was a very important and independent factor in shaping human life.
Systems and Cybernetics
As Parsons developed his theory, it became more connected to cybernetics and systems theory. He believed that social systems are "open" and interact with their environment. He also thought that higher-level systems, like culture, guide social forms. He compared this to how DNA controls biological evolution.
Unified Social Science
Parsons dreamed of a unified social science. He believed that all social sciences should work together to understand human life. He thought that his theory could provide a common framework for this.
He also believed that modern societies are not perfectly harmonious. He pointed out that basic values like freedom and equality can often conflict with each other. He thought that the disagreements between "left" and "right" political views often come from defending different, but equally important, human values.
AGIL Paradigm
The AGIL paradigm is a tool Parsons used to analyze systems. AGIL stands for:
- Adaptation: How a system adjusts to its environment.
- Goal attainment: How a system reaches its goals.
- Integration: How the parts of a system work together.
- Latency (pattern maintenance): How a system keeps its basic cultural patterns.
Parsons applied this to society:
- The economy handles Adaptation.
- The government (polity) handles Goal attainment.
- The societal community handles Integration.
- The fiduciary system (cultural traditions) handles Latency.
He also believed that each of these parts of society has its own special way of communicating, like money in the economy, political power in government, and influence in the community.
Social Evolution
Parsons also studied how societies change and evolve over time. He saw four main steps in this evolution:
- Differentiation: When a system creates different parts with special jobs.
- Adaptation: When these parts become more efficient.
- Inclusion: When people or groups who were left out become part of the system.
- Generalization of values: When the system's values become more widely accepted.
He divided evolution into three stages: primitive, archaic, and modern. He saw Western civilization, especially the United States, as a leading example of modern societies.
Pattern Variables
Parsons believed there are different ways people interact in society. He called these "pattern variables." These are pairs of choices that describe how people behave in different situations:
- affectivity (showing emotions) – affective neutrality (being neutral)
- self-orientation (focusing on oneself) – collectivity-orientation (focusing on the group)
- universalism (applying rules to everyone) – particularism (treating people differently based on relationships)
- ascription (judging based on who someone is, like family) – achievement (judging based on what someone does)
- specificity (interacting for a specific reason) – diffusity (interacting in a broad, general way)
Legacy
From the 1940s to the 1970s, Parsons was a very famous and important sociologist. However, his later ideas were often criticized for being too complex or too old-fashioned.
Recently, more people have become interested in Parsons' ideas again. Scholars in Germany, Japan, Italy, and the United Kingdom are studying his work.
Parsons influenced many other important scholars, including Ralf Dahrendorf, Niklas Luhmann, and Jürgen Habermas. His most famous student was Robert K. Merton.
See also
In Spanish: Talcott Parsons para niños
