Talcott Parsons

Talcott Parsons was born in 1902, and died in 1979, of his time he was considered the most admired American sociologist. Parsons was bread into a well-to do family and was given a strong educational foundation as a child. His father was an American Midwest preacher and very academic. As a student Parsons studied philosophy and biology, he felt out of place though so transferred to sociology and economics. As he excelled in these fields, he began …

…sociology. Overall, I think that Parsons work is extremely useful, while studying sociology. Parson covers almost every aspect of social life and many of the alternative approaches that were developed have functionalist aspects to them. So as a result the sociology of Talcott Parsons must be studied in order to understand the development of sociological thought. In addition some of Parsons ideas have proved to be very useful to the study of the contemporary world.