ABSTRACT
This chapter talks about Talcott Parsons and the synthesis of social theory. Talcott Parsons began studies at Amherst College in 1920. The school had become an important center of liberal education under the leadership of its president Alexander Meiklejohn. In London, Talcott Parsons also met another American student named Helen Walker, who later, in 1927, became his wife. His study at Heidelberg was to become one of the most pronounced influences upon the thinking of Talcott Parsons. Several characteristics of Weber's work were to have an especially strong influence on Parsons. Another feature of Weber's approach was the assumption that the fundamental stuff of human society has an inherently subjective nature. Parsons went to Harvard in 1927 as much to study as to teach. He was among the most junior of faculty members when he began to work there, first as an instructor in economics and later as a teacher of sociology.
