Parson

1
Parsons critics Mills and Merton

• Sociological theory in the 1980s and 1990s

2
Science

• Probably the decisive issue was who was the best
  scientist the conservative Harvard professor
  (Parsons) or the liberal/radical Columbia
  scholars.
• Lieberson posed his 1991 ASA presidential address
  in terms of one of the most exiting and decisive
  empirical tests in all of science Einsteins
  general relativity.
• He argued that if and only if we can do that, are
  we a science.

3
The test of General Relativity

• However, the test of general relativity theory
  was not a direct test.
• When a theoretical disagreement is in an
  important one, a direct test is rarely possible.
• But being able to do indirect, empirical tests is
  the difference between science and astrology.

4
Scientific development

• After the fact, scientific development appears as
  a series of discoveries.
• E.g. is space curved?
• Before the fact, it appears a series of debates
  about what is the most useful way of looking at
  things.
• E.g. is power zero-sum?

5
Review reasons for Parsons importance

• Norms are important.
• Social structures are systemic.
• Many social processes are functional I.e. jobs
  have to get done, children have to get raised,
  etc.
• General theory is essential if the discipline is
  going to avoid fragmenting.
• Universalism and achievement are very important
  components of the US value system,
• And increasingly there is development of the
  world value-system.

6
The two fundamental failures of the Parsonian
system

• The methodological criticism was that Parsonian
  theory was too separated from actual research.
• This problem was consolidated in the criticisms
  of grand theory by Merton and Mills.
• The substantive criticism was that Parsonian
  theory failed to take serious account of the
  dynamic of inequalities, power and privilege.
• Both critics suggested that Parsons
  underestimated positive feedback structure of
  privilege.
• His answer to the question?, Who gets what?
  and Why? are not plausible today.

7
Mills Sociological Imagination

• One of the sociological best sellers of all time
• Translations of Parsons
• Concepts of norm, value, sanction,
  institutionalization, interaction, anomie,
  etc. are important,
• and abstracted empiricism is sterile,
• but

8
1) A conceptual scheme is just a language

• The ideas of the grand theorists when translated
  are more or less standard ones, available in many
  textbooks.
• Sometimes a formalized conceptual framework can
  be useful, or even indispensable.
• But putting ideas into an abstruse jargon to
  avoid real debate is just a shoddy trick.

9
2) It is a language that tends to neglect power
and privilege

• To what is translated we must add that the roles
  making up an institution are not just one big
  complementarity of \shared expectations.
  Have you ever been in an army, a factory or for
  that matter a family. Well those are
  institutions. Within them the expectations of
  some men seem just a little bit more urgent than
  those of anyone else.
• The whole Parsonian analysis tends to obscure
  domination and privilege.

10
Mills analysis of the Power Elite
interlocking
directorate Power elite pentagon old wealth
Middle e.g. congress levels of any
issue that comes power up in congress is likely
to be unimportant
Powerless mass
11
Mills plain Marxism

• The analysis of a power elite has affinities both
  with Weber and with Marx.
• Until The Marxists, Mills never said he was one
  or the other, and didnt make general claims
  about power structures or their change.
• But at the very least, he believed that one has
  to see whether inequality is functional and
  structures reflect norms,
• not assume those ideas, as Parsons did.
• He did argue, empirically, that class, gender and
  race structures were unfair and undemocratic.

12
Some books by Mills on the concentration of power

• White Collar
• The New Men of Power
• The Power Elite
• Listen Yankee
• The Causes of World War III
• All were hot, topical, liberal/radical and
  somewhat muck-raking.

13
Current Theory similar to Mills in its
assumptions

• Feagin Racist America and Liberation Sociology
• Massey An American Apartheid
• Reskin The Realities of Affirmative Action in
  Employment.
• Each addressed major political issues of our
  time.
• Each emphasizes self-reinforcing structures of
  privilege.
• These privileges are rationalized as functional
  and as achievement values, but these authors
  claim that they really contradict values such as
  equal opportunity.

14
Mertons Criticisms of Parsons

• Both his methodological and his substantive
  criticisms of Parsons were milder than Mills
• Instead of grand theory, Merton said one should
  work on theories of the middle range.
• Instead of universal functionalism, one should
  analyze the balance of functions and dysfunctions
  in social structures.
• His theory of anomie stressed the structural
  strain between the norm of equal opportunity and
  the availability of legitimate means of success.

15
Theories of the middle range

• Merton wrote three important papers that
  consolidated the conventional wisdom about the
  relation of theory to research
• Theories of the Middle range,
• The Bearing of Sociological Theory on Empirical
  Research.
• The Bearing of Empirical Research on Sociological
  Theory.

16
All three papers maintained the conventional view
is too simple
Operationalize hypotheses
Research
Theories
Test hypotheses to accept or reject theories.
It is good to test theories, when one can do it,
but there are many other reasons that productive
theory must be in close contact with empirical
research.
17
A middle range theory

• Differs from an empirical generalization.
• It is an empirical generalization that all the
  coins in my pocket are quarters.
• I would have a theory if I could claim that if
  there were another coin in my pocket, it would
  have to be a quarter.
• I.e. that there is some general mechanism
  operating.

18
The bearing of sociological theory on research

• A theory must suggest testable empirical
  generalizations, or it is sterile.
• There are three other key tasks of theory
• It also shapes the over-all methodology,
• the conceptualization of the variables,
• and the interpretation of the findings.

19
The bearing of empirical research on theory

• Research findings often suggest entirely
  unanticipated theories.
• They often lead to pressure to extend, modify or
  clarify theories.
• Whenever one replicates or applies a theory to
  some data,
• one makes modifications in the theory in order to
  apply it,
• And the data often requires further
  modifications, that cannot be anticipated.

20
A Procrustian bed

• One usually has to stretch or foreshorten a
  theory in order to apply it.
• Learning how to make a theory flexible in this
  way is a central aspect of contemporary theory.