The structural-functional version of the action theory: the first attempt at conceptualization

Now that the epistemological and methodological premises of Parsons’s action theory have been introduced, it is time to consider how he moves on from these premises to the level of conceptual theory. In his early publications we find little more than the first beginnings in this direction; in The Structure of Social Action, for instance, there is as yet no question of a balanced frame of reference. In fact there is nothing but a formulation of the requirements which such a framework should fulfil.