Agency and Freedom /
in Neofunctionalist /
Action Theory: /
A Critique
/ BY NADER SAIEDI
1 he recent resurgence of interest in Parsonian function
theory in what is called neofunctionalism has created con
dictory responses. For some theorists, neofunctionalism rep
sents an ultimate and foundational discovery of the trans
dental presuppositions of the problems of order and rationa
in action theory. In contrast, for most conflict theo
neofunctionalism is merely a restatement of the conserv
and idealist political standpoint which cannot make any seri
claim to theoretical novelty and complexity. An alterna
strategy is to compare and contrast neofunctionalism w
neo-Marxism and try to come up with a new and nondeter
nistic synthesis. The author believes that neo-Marxism
learn from neofunctionalist emphasis on the concept
multidimensional determination of human actions. In this
sense neofunctionalism can provide a further challenge against
the reductionistic and economistic stances of orthodox Marxist
and neo-Marxist theories. It is true that neo-Marxism has
usually criticized the economistic and unidimensional interpre-
tations of Marxism, and in various forms has emphasized th
relative autonomy of cultural and ideological structures an
processes from economic institutions. But the ghost o
materialism in the last analysis has been so overwhelming i
the neo-Marxist tradition that the concept of multidimension-
ality has remained largely a negative and residual categor
SOCIAL RESEARCH, Vol. 55, No. 4 (Winter 1988)
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