Parsons' aim was nothing less than to provide a conceptual structure for the whole of sociology which would serve also to integrate all the social sciences. This was to be accomplished by a synthesis between the analysis of individual action and analysis of large-scale social systems. His starting point is the theory of social action , the essential feature of which is the relationship between actors and features of their environment, social and natural, to which they give meaning. The most important features of the environment are other people, which suggests further that social interaction , in which actors have to take notice of the actions, wishes and aims of others, should be the focus of inquiry. In these interactions, norms and values are critical as they regulate and make predictable the behaviour of others.
Socialization ensures that individuals internalize norms and values as they grow up.
Parsons treats personality and social systems as complementary, though in his analysis the latter ultimately determine the former. Parsons notes that social interaction has a systematic character, hence his use of the term social system . The concept that bridges social action and social system is that of pattern variables . He defines these as the fundamental dilemmas that face actors. Social systems may be characterized by the combinations of solutions offered to these dilemmas.