Book Reviews : The Invention of the American Political Parties. By ROY F. NICHOLS. (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1967. Pp. xii, 416. $8.95.)

• Author: William L. Strauss
• DOI: 10.1177/106591296702000437
• Published date: 01 December 1967
• Date: 01 December 1967
• Subject Matter: Articles

1014
lationships that are critical to an understanding of the reciprocal influence of struc-
ture and function on political parties, of the roles they play in the operation of the
political system, and of the contribution that the political system makes to the inte-
gration and perpetuation of the larger social system.&dquo;
The articles are grouped in five chapters. The editors have written an introduc-
tion for each chapter to point out to the reader the manner in which the articles
which follow implement the theoretical framework outlined in the introductory ar-
ticle. The articles themselves are excellent and are well chosen. However, the ques-
tion which remains is the validity of the editors’ approach to political parties.
The structural-functional approach of the editors is borrowed or adapted from
Talcott Parsons’ Toward a Theory of Social Action. This theory assumes that the so-
cial system and the sub-system within it are seeking equilibrium. Parsons’ theory has
not been unanimously accepted. For example, the industrial sociologist, Wilbur
Moore, is of the opinion that...