Social Systems and the Evolution of Action Theory by Talcott Parsons

Social Systems and the Evolution of Action Theory Reviews

• 
  May Ling

  While the content of this book is brilliant, the writing is painfully dry even for a philosophy/sociology/political theory piece.
  
  The ideas of social system purpose to "adapt, integrate, attain goals and maintain patterns" indeed has interesting application for both the physical and social sciences. The diagrams provided are helpful to articulating why these concepts are revolutionary.
  
  However, the writing reviews works in such a manner as I would really rather read the original authors and drawn my own conclusions. Instead of references, Freud and Durkheim, just come out and say what you mean and use a footnote to reference the author!!
  
  Oh and Headers! I wish the book better employed headers! The topic is so interesting; and yet I struggled to stay awake. I would mention that the charts presented in the final chapters are helpful for those who must present this material for a class.
  
  If you must learn about structures, you should take a look at this book. If you have some background, focus on the latter chapters which are less repetitive and have better diagrams.