Parsons, Talcott, 1902–79, American sociologist, b. Colorado
Springs, Colo., educated at Amherst College (B.A., 1924), London
School of Economics, and Univ. of Heidelberg (Ph.D., 1927). He
was on the faculty at Harvard from 1927 until his retirement in
1974. He is known for his attempt to construct a single
theoretical framework within which general and specific
characteristics of societies could be systematically classified;
it is known as structural-functional theory. Parsons was also
interested in medical sociology and the professions in general.
In recent years he has been criticized for understating the
importance of social conflict. Among his writings are The
Structure of Social Action (1937), The Social System (1951),
Structure and Process in Modern Societies (1960), Social
Structure and Personality (1964), Societies (1966), Sociological
Theory and Modern Society (1967), and Politics and Social
Structure (1969). See studies by W. C. Mitchell (1967), H. Turk
and R. L. Simpson, ed. (1971), and J. Alexand