This study focuses on one of the possible moments of origin of the phrase “contemporary social theory”: the Parsons and Schutz debate. The correspondence of these two sociologists, who belonged to the period of classical sociology in terms of the age in which they lived and the education they received, represents a milestone of sorts for the theoretical tensions that contemporary sociology would experience in the future. While Parsons argued for a pro-systems approach that saw social phenomena as the predictable outcomes of meta-systems, Schutz was a major founder of the actor- centered approaches that see those phenomena as interpersonal activities. In this study, which aims to bring a historical sociological perspective to the possibilities and tensions of contemporary social theory, which has attracted serious attention in Turkey in recent years, the scientific writings and private mutual correspondence of Parsons and Schutz are subjected to critical discourse analysis. First, the objective history of correspondence and polemics is described. Secondly, the relevant texts are analyzed thematically and formally. Finally, their correspondence is examined as a dispositif of social action discourse and the discursive factors that caused changes in the institutional positions within Parsons and Schutz’s discourses in the discipline of contemporary sociology are discussed.