Agency and Freedom in Neo-Functionalist Action

ACTION THEORY 777

Parsons's early work, The Structu I am departing from the pr writings of Parsons, which incl functional prerequisites and p system and the network of subsystems. This is a reflecti Structure of Social Action ove preference contrary to that o early work of Parsons is the firs voluntaristic theory of action, recent neofunctionalism. This masterpiece in sociological the analytical realism7 and Halévy's century British utilitarianis philosophical radicalism), Pars which analyzes the structure of the aggregation of the unit acts complexity. According to Par four analytical elements. In his By a theory of action is here m reference of which is to a con considered to be composed of the acts." In a unit act there are identifiable as minimum characteristics the following: (1) an end, (2) a situat analyzable in turn into (a) means and (b) conditions, and ( least one selective standard in terms of which the end is related to the situation.9 As Parsons points out, alternative social theories can be classified in terms of their concept of the unit act and the interrelationships among the elements of the unit act. In this way Parsons distinguishes two grand action theories in the history of modern social and political thought which he calls 6 Talco« Parsons, The Structure of Social Action (New York: Free Press, 1949). 7 Alfred N. Whitehead, Science and the Modern World (New York: Macmillan, 1962). 8 Elie Halévy, The Growth of Philosophical Radicalism (London: Faber & Faber, 1928). 9 Parsons, Structure, p. 77.

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