Talcott Parsons : An Intellectual Biography

Talcott Parsons was often accused of being an overly abstract and even apolitical thinker, remote from politics in Harvard's ivory tower. Uta Gerhardt dispels this mistaken image in her fascinating account of the political nature of Parsons's life and scholarship. Parsons, she demonstrates, was involved in numerous political activities.

The American sociologist Talcott Parsons was often accused of being an overly abstract, even apolitical thinker, remote in Harvard's ivory tower. The controversial Parsons, in fact, emulated his mentor, the venerable Max Weber, in at least two respects: as a scholar he practised Wertfreiheit (scientific professionalism) and as a political activist he worked for the preservation and expansion of democracy. In this text, Uta Gerhardt traces this double commitment and links Parsons's scholarship to his politics. Utilizing rich archival material, she examines four periods in Parsons's intellectual life in the context of American history and society. From the New Deal and the rise of German fascism to the Second World War, through the McCarthy era and the Civil Rights movement, Parsons's overriding agenda was to develop both a sociological understanding and a defense of the development of modern democracy.