Ideology and Social Knowledge

Taylor & Francis

Ideology and Social KnowledgeAuthor(s): Harold J. Bershady\nFormat: Hardback\nPublisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd, United Kingdom\nImprint: Routledge\nISBN-13: 9781138525672, 978-1138525672\nSynopsis\nThis book analyzes Talcott Parsons' largest-scale effort to overcome the relativism and subjectivism of the social sciences. Harold J. Bershady sets forth Parsons' version of the characteristics desirable for social knowledge, showing that Parsons deems the relativistic and subjectivistic arguments as powerful challenges to the validity of social knowledge. Bershady maintains that all Parsons' intellectual labors exhibit a deep and abiding concern for social knowledge. From his first major work in the 1930s to his later writings on social evolution, Parsons' theoretical aim has been to provide an unassailable answer to the question, \""how is social knowledge possible?\""\n\nIdeological criticisms of Parsons' work, Bershady argues, not only miss his awareness of ideological influences upo.