For 10 points, name this author of The Social System who described the "unit act" and "action systems" in his text The Structure of Social Action.
In one work this man notes that the idea of a unit of matter that has mass but cannot be located in space is nonsensical before defining a key concept in terms of conditions and means, an end, and an agent. In another work, he asserted that medical professionals are responsible for policing the "sanctioned deviance" allowed to people in the "sick role". He emphasized the importance of interpenetration between the physical environment, ultimate reality, and certain entities whose primary functions are adaptation, integration, goal-attainment and pattern maintenance, or latent functions. Major examples of those entities posited by this sociologist include behavioral organisms, personality, culture, and social systems. For 10 points, name this author of The Social System who described the "unit act" and "action systems" in his text The Structure of Social Action.
In one work this man notes that the idea of a unit of matter that has mass but cannot be located in space is nonsensical before defining a key concept in terms of conditions and means, an end, and an agent.
Talcott Parsons