Virtually all the principles developed by Parsons are at variance with the previously discussed principles of Simmel. The main thing to note here is that Parsons in many ways follows the same logic as Park did. Although Parsons starts with "action," Park with "interaction," both find the central sociological problem to be that of explaining concerted action. Once one defines the phenomenon of consensually maintained moral restraints as the essential ingredient of social order, one can dispense with looking at social order, as Simmel had, as the complex resultant of a great number of variously shaped transactions.

XREF: Connects Parsons and Park's shared logic against Simmel's transactional view of social order.

XREF: Contrasts Parsons/Park's consensus-and-order framing with Simmel's transactional, process-oriented view of social order.

Georg Simmel, on individuality and social…, loc. 141