quality:corruption
Social evolutionism

Parsons contributed to social evolutionism and neoevolutionism. He divided evolution into four sub-processes:

Furthermore, Parsons explored the sub-processes within three stages of evolution:

Parsons viewed Western civilization as the pinnacle of modern societies and the United States as the one that is most dynamically developed.

Parsons' late work focused on a new theoretical synthesis around four functions that he claimed are common to all systems of action, from the behavioral to the cultural, and a set of symbolic media that enables communication across them. His attempt to structure the world of action according to a scheme that focused on order was unacceptable for American sociologists, who were retreating from the grand pretensions of the 1960s to a more empirical, grounded approach.