Agency and Freedom in Neo-Functionalist Action

784 SOCIAL RESEARCH

nineteenth-century social theory fact that after the romantic idealistic reaction to the rationalis- tic theory of the Enlightenment,21 subsequent systems of social theory have been characterized by different forms of combination and integration of the rationalistic and idealistic theories.22 With the exception of Jeremy Bentham23 one can hardly find a positivist like the eighteenth-century Enlighten- ment philosophers in nineteenth-century social theory. Al- though a historical critique may also pose questions about the novelty of Parsons's voluntaristic and multidimensional action general and transcendental presuppositional categories o action theory and for that reason does not imply any specific political standpoint. That is why Alexander finds the debat between conflict and consensus theorists with their correspond- ing politics outside the realm of a general action theory24 Thi implies that the analysis of power and domination considered to be a negative and residual issue in neofunction alism. However, neofunctionalism talks about instrumental and physical coercion in its theoretical framework. In fact, as noted, it is precisely the inadequacy of basing order upon coercion which leads voluntaristic theory to the affirmation o a collective and normative foundation of social order. One might ask why the analysis of physical domination belongs to the general level of action theory while the question of ideological domination is explicitly defined as lacking the generality of the categories of action theory. This is particu- larly surprising when we find the question of freedom and agency of actors the heart of both Parsonian voluntaristic theory, this paper does not aim at an historical analysis. Neofunctionalism in Alexander's sense deals with the 21 A representative work of romantic political theory is Friedrich von Schlegel, The Philosophy of History (London: Bohn, 1852). 22 Examples of the syntheses are Marxism, positivism, liberalism, and nihilism. 23 Jeremy Bentham, An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation (London: Methuen, 1982). 24 Alexander, Positivism, pp. 50-55.

This content downloaded from 128.97.156.83 on Thu, 29 Dec 2016 18:18:10 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms