Parsons’s Economic Sociology and its Extension to the Global Economy

This essay pursues three topics emanating from the economic sociology of Talcott Parsons. The first section summarizes the essentials of this sociology, tracing its development from his early works on capitalism through the publication of Economy and Society in 1956. Special attention is given to the transition from a focus on causal ‘factors’ to a focus on the economy and society as social systems. The second section summarizes and analyzes a chapter on class, markets and the economy, written in 1978-9, a short time before his death, and intended for a never-published book on the American societal community. Continuities and discontinuities between his earlier work and his final ideas on the subject are noted. In addition, a number of my own criticisms, also written in 1979, are elaborated. The third section identifies some threads of Parsonian theory - found both in his economic sociology and in his more general writings - that have relevance for the economics and politics of a globalized world. In particular, both the applicability and limitations of Parsons’s ideas on the dimension of solidarity in the international system are addressed.