Editing Talcott Parsons (section)

===Sick role theory===
Parsons had worked intensively with questions of [[medical sociology]], the medical profession, [[psychiatry]], [[psychosomatic]] problems, and the questions of health and illness. Most of all Parsons had become known for his concept of "the [[Sick role]]". The last field of social research was an issue that Parsons constantly developed through elaboration and self-criticism. Parsons participated at the World Congress of Sociology in [[Toronto]] in August 1974 at which he presented a paper, "The Sick Role Revisited: A Response to Critics and an Updating in Terms of the Theory of Action", which was published under a slightly different title, "The Sick Role and the Role of the Physician Reconsidered", in 1975.<ref>Talcott Parsons, "The Sick Role and the Role of the Physician Reconsidered". ''Millbank Memorial Fund Quarterly'' vol.53.no.3. Summer 1975. pp. 257–278.</ref> In this essay, Parsons highlighted that his concept of "sick role" never was meant to be confined to "deviant behavior", but "its negative valuation should not be forgotten". It was also important to keep a certain focus on the "motivatedness" of illness, since there is always a factor of unconscious motivation in the therapeutic aspects of the sick role.