Talcott Parsons

Parsons is considered to be the most important American sociological theorist. He believed that we need to analyze non-rational as well as rational action and that we need to look toward institutional common values for the source of social order. Parsons shaped the structure of a large portion of American sociological theory, having many of the most important American theorists as his students.

In 1937, Parsons wrote "The Structure of Social Action," where he introduced the work of European classical theorists such as Weber and Durkheim. In 1951, Parsons wrote "The Social System," where he explained that all entities within an organization represent social systems, and that social systems had four basic characteristics: adaptation; goal attainment; integration; and latent pattern maintenance. His written works have been widely cited and used by sociologists and others to explain interactions within organizational system