The Neglected Element of Human Emotion in Talcott Parsons's The Structure of Social Action

Bibliographic Data

ID2404506
AuthorsJonathan S Fish (University of Leeds, corresponding author)
Year2004
Volume4
Issue1
Pages115-134
Publication date2004-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Classical Sociology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1468-795X • E-ISSN: 1741-2897
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/1468795x04040654
OpenAlexW1998426073
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited36

Little has been written about the importance of human emotion in Talcott Parsons's early writings on normative values. This article attempts to remedy this by re-reading The Structure of Social Action (1968 [1937]) alongside other texts, so as to uncover the key role of emotion in both Parsons's exegesis of Durkheim and his related voluntaristic theory of action. This discussion will provide the basis for constructing a new set of thematic defences against those critics who have, for so long, pigeon-holed Parsons as a thinker who was only concerned with the rational aspects of human action. If Parsons's early action scheme is to be properly understood, critics must incorporate this emotional dimension into their existing accounts of his work. A deeper and more comprehensive understanding of Parsons's work that takes into account his interest in both rational and non-rational human elements is therefore needed before these interpretational weaknesses can be overcome

Epistemology · Normative · Political science · Sociology · Critical Realism in Sociology · Emile Durkheim and Sociology · Law · Philosophy · Weber, Simmel, Sociological Theory