The Routledge International Handbook of Talcott Parsons Studies

Talcott Parsons was the leading theorist in American sociology-and perhaps in world sociology-from the 1940s to the 1970s. He created the dominant school of thought that made "Parsonian" a standard description of a theoretical attempt to unify social science, as reflected in the fact that his contributions to the discipline cover a range of issues, including medicine, the family, religion, law, the economy, race relations, and politics-to name but a few. This volume brings together leading scholars working in the field of "Parsonian Studies" to explore the background of Parsons's work, the content of his oeuvre, and his subsequent influence. Thematically organized, it covers Parsons's contributions and impacts in areas including the philosophy and methodology of the social sciences; cultural sociology; personality, mental illness, and psychoanalysis; and economics and political and economic sociology. In addition, it considers his influence in different areas of the world and on particular students, and offers insights into the Parsonian tradition's practical application to contemporary social issues. An authoritative, comprehensive, and in-depth critical assessment of the Parsonian legacy, The Routledge International Handbook of Talcott Parsons Studies will appeal to scholars across the social sciences and in sociology and social theory in particular, with interests in the history of sociology and the enduring relevance of Talcott Parsons.

A. Javier Treviño is Professor of Sociology at Wheaton College, U.S.A. He is the author of The Social Thought of C. Wright Mills; C. Wright Mills and the Cuban Revolution: An Exercise in the Art of Sociological Imagination; and The Emerald Guide to C. Wright Mills. He is the editor of Talcott Parsons on Law and the Legal System; Talcott Parsons Today: His Theory and Legacy in Contemporary Sociology; and The Anthem Companion to Talcott Parsons. Helmut Staubmann is Professor of Social Theory and Cultural Sociology at the University of Innsbruck, Austria. He is the editor of The Rolling Stones: Sociological Perspectives and Action Theory: Methodological Studies, and the co-editor of Rationality in the Social Sciences: The Schumpeter-Parsons Seminar 1939-40 and Current Perspectives (with Victor Lidz) and Georg Simmel: Rembrandt: An Essay in the Philosophy of Art (with Alan Scott).

1. Introduction: The Scope and Significance of Talcott Parsons Studies; Part I: Methodology and Philosophy of the Social Sciences; 2. Backstage with the Parsons circle: Charisma, Dialogue, and Dissent in the Formation of a Theory School; 3. Interpreting and Critiquing Talcott Parsons's Human Condition Paradigm; 4. The Theory of Action and the Analysis of Culture; 5. The "Cognitive Complex" and Globalization: Conclusions for the Future of Higher Education and Research; 6. Parsons/Habermas, Scientific Sociology/Critical Theory, and a Natural Law Theory of Morality; 7. The Analytical Realism of Talcott Parsons: A Sketch of the Theorist as Essay Writer; Part II: Illness, Personality, and Psychoanalysis; 8. Double-Deviance: The Case of Drug Offenders; 9. Towards a Codification of Parsons's Theory of Psychopathology; 10. Durkheim and Freud: Parsons and the Diaglogue between Sociology and Psychoanalysis; 11. The Sociological Reception of Psychoanalysis within Parsons's "The Superego and the Theory of Social Systems"; Part III: Economics and Politics; 12. Parsons and Sociological Economics; 13. Parsons, the Symbolic Media, and Weber's View of Power and Stratification; 14. Norms, Interests, and Desirable Futures: Exploring Contemporary Political Upheavals through the Voluntaristic Theory of Action; 15. Parsons on the International System and Global Society; 16. The Problem of "Race" in Talcott Parsons's Account of the Citizenship Complex; 17. Parsons and the "Problem" of Ethnicity and Race in Modern Society; Part IV: Parsons and His Students; 18. A Revolutionary Science and its Carriers: On Talcott Parsons, Robert N. Bellah, and Teacher-Pupil Chains in Scholarly Fields; 19. Talcott Parsons and Harold Garfinkel: The Development of Culture as Interaction; 20. Talcott Parsons and Clifford Geertz: Modernization, Functionalism, and Interpretive Social Science; 21. Niklas Luhmann and Talcott Parsons; 22. Talcott Parsons and Robert K. Merton: A Bibliometric Assessment of their Intellectual Impact; Part V: Parsons's Influence in Various Countries and World Regions; 23. Talcott Parsons and the Tradition of Max Weber: Influence on German-Speaking Sociology; 24. Evolutionary Universals in Czechoslovak Society: Talcott Parsons, the Prague Spring, and Structures of Interest; 25. Talcott Parsons in Brazil; 26. Talcott Parsons and Italian Sociology: A Complex and (Perhaps) Surprising Story