Description: This volume offers a reappraisal of Parsons′ work by leading social theorists, who place his writing at the centre of current controversies over modernity, postmodernity and globalization. The wide-ranging discussion encompasses Parsons′ value commitments and his place in American social theory, the problems of interpreting his work today, his conception of world history, and the contemporary neofunctionalist movement. Parsons′ own work is represented by a previously neglected essay on American values that is central to an understanding of his analysis of modernization.
Brief description: Roland Robertson is Professor of Sociology at the University of Pittsburgh. His books include International Systems and the Modernization of Societies (with J P Nettl, 1968) The Sociological Interpretation of Religion (1970) Meaning and Change: Explorations in the Cultural Sociology of Modern Societies (1978), Religion and Global Order (co-edited with William R Garrett, 1991) and Talcott Parsons: Theorist of Modernity (co-edited with Bryan S Turner
Review Quotes: `It is a compendium of thirteen original papers, including some unpublished work by Parson′s himself, which goes well beyond providinga coda to his work. The authors reopen a new postfunctionalist phase in which Parsons is put into perspective as new emendations are constructed on the basis provided by his work...For those interested in sociocultural dimensions of the group process and the integration of group members outside society, the book provides considerable food for thought′ - Group Analysis