Neofunctionalism is the perspective that all integration is the result of past integration. The term may also be used to literally describe a social theory that is "post" traditional structural functionalism. Whereas theorists such as Jeffrey C. Alexander openly appropriated the term, others, such as the post-structuralist philosopher Michel Foucault, have been categorized as contemporary functionalists by their critics. History Functionalism in international relations theory was developed by David Mitrany. International relations neofunctionalism was developed by Ernst Haas in the 1960s to give a formal explanation to the work of Jean Monnet (1888–1979). Parsonian thinking In sociology, neofunctionalism represents a revival of the thought of Talcott Parsons by Jeffrey C. Alexander, who sees neofunctionalism as having five central tendencies: to create a form of structural functionalism that is multidimensional and includes micro as well as macro levels of analysis to push functionalism to the left and reject Parsons's optimism about modernity to argue for an implicit democratic thrust in functional analysis to incorporate a conflict orientation, and to emphasize uncertainty and interactional creativity. While Parsons consistently viewed actors as analytical concepts, Alexander defines action as the movement of concrete, living, breathing persons as they make their way through time and space. In addition he argues that every action contains a dimension of free will, by which he is expanding functionalism to include some of the concerns of symbolic interactionism. Neil J. Smelser sets out to establish the concept of ambivalence as an essential element of understanding individual behaviour and social institutions. His approach, based on Sigmund Freud's theory, takes intrapsychic processes rather than roles at the starting point. He sees ambivalence (to hold opposing affective orientations toward the same person object or symbol) as most applicable in situations where persons are dependent on one another. The common element of dependency is in his opinion that freedom to leave is restricted because it is costly either politically, ideologically or emotionally. Thus dependence entails entrapment. Following his views on ambivalence, Smelser argues that attitude surveys should be seen as distorted structures of reality that minimize and delegitimizes ambiguity and ambivalence. Niklas Luhmann's objection Niklas Luhmann sees Parsons' theory as missing the concepts of self-reference and complexity. Self-reference is a condition for the efficient functioning of systems. It means that a system is able to observe itself, can reflect on itself and can make decisions as a result of this reflection. In Luhmann's