Values of American Society : Manuscripts From the American Society Project I

The material in Values of American Society remains the principal resource for understanding Parsons' conception of value systems. His treatment of value systems has been much debated, although poorly understood, in considerable part because Parsons never published his full conception, developed only in these manuscripts. They continue to hold interest for social scientists, both for their carefully developed analytical scheme and for the resulting discussion of American culture and society. The materials in Values of American Society remain the principal resource for understanding Parsons'conception of value systems. His treatment of value systems has been much debated, although poorly understood, in considerable part because Parsons never published his full conception, developed only in these manuscripts. They continue to hold interest for social scientists, both for the carefully developed analytical scheme and for the resulting discussion of American culture and society. Acknowledgments 6 Contents 8 Editorial Introduction 10 1. The Cultural Background and Premises of American Values 54 2. The Values of American Society 138 3. The Unity of the Societal Value-System 178 Appendix 1: The Societal Value System 262 Appendix 2: The Cultural Grounding of American Values 292 Name Index 312