The fundamental theoretical convergence between the Keynesian economic thought and the sociological structural-functionalism of Talcott Parsons

Abstract

This research aims to demonstrate the fundamental theoretical convergence between the contributions from the keynesian economic thought and the sociological structural-functionalism of Talcott Parsons. To this end, we proceed to group and compare those contributions into three categories: teleology, epistemology and methodology. In view of the results, we conclude that, although the parsonian structural-functionalism shares the practical interest of understanding defended by both Keynes and postkeynesians economists, also it develops a hybrid epistemology, the "analytical realism", that is halfway between the "critical realism" that they defend and the "analytical formalism" advocated by neokeynesian authors. However, this situation is not transferred to the methodological field because Parsons is inclined, as Keynes and Post Keynesians, to rely on a logical-deductive methodology