Talcott Parsons on building personality system theory via psychoanalysis
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4004416 |
|---|---|
| Authors | A Javier Trevino (0000-0001-5707-3540, Department of Sociology, Wheaton College Norton Massachusetts USA, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 59 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 417-432 |
| Publication date | 2023-10-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0022-5061 • E-ISSN: 1520-6696 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1002/jhbs.22257 |
| PMID | 37119535 |
| OpenAlex | W4367395500 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
| References cited | 33 |
This article examines Talcott Parsons's efforts at building the theory of personality system as a special case of his general theory of action and places those efforts in historical context. I demonstrate how, during the middle decades of the twentieth century, Parsons employed elements of classic Freudian thought to advance a new appreciation of the personality system and its relations to other action systems. I begin with an overview of the reception of psychoanalysis at the Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute, the Massachusetts General Hospital, and the Harvard Department of Social Relations, showing how Parsons's thinking on the personality system cannot be understood apart from his association with these three institutions. I then turn to how Parsons endeavored to integrate his particular brand of sociology with his own interpretation of Freud's writings to explain how the personality system functions and develops. I conclude by showing that while Parsons's involvements with psychoanalysis became more intermittent after the mid-1950s, to the end of his life he remained steadfast in his enthusiasm for Freud's theory of personality. In short, Parsons always believed that for sociological theory to progress, it needed to engage with psychoanalysis
Action (physics) · Action theory (sociology) · Context (archaeology) · Enthusiasm · Epistemology · Interpretation (philosophy) · Personality · Personality theory · Psychoanalysis · Psychoanalytic theory · Social science · Sociology · Academic and Historical Perspectives in Psychology · Contemporary Sociological Theory and Practice · Historical Studies on Reproduction, Gender, Health, and Societal Changes · Philosophy · Psychology · Social Psychology
The self in social interaction.
Family, socialization and interaction process
Social Theory Since Freud
Working Knowledge
Working papers in the theory of action
Social Structure and Personality
Structure of Social Action
Introduction to the Science of Sociology
Opening/Closing the Sociological Mind to Psychoanalysis
Psychology and Sociology
The Narcissism of Minor Differences
Sustaining an Unlikely Marriage
Psychoanalytic sociology and the medical encounter
Questions and worries
Psychoanalytic Sociology
Toward a General Theory of Action
The Influence of Sigmund Freud Upon Sociology in the United States
Producing Parsons' reputation
Essays in Sociological Theory
Action theory and the human condition
Theorist at Work
Modern Sociological Theory in Continuity and Change
Freud as a Social and Cultural Theorist
Psychoanalysis and Sociology
The Sociological Endeavor and Psychoanalytic Thought
Cooley and Sociological Analysis
| Unique citing works | 3 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 3 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2026 (2) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 3 |