21. Use T. Parsons’ analytical framework for describing and analyzing the “American Family” to compare and contrast today’s “effective kinship unit” (its role structure, relationship to broader kinship structures, other institutions and institutional spheres, cultural patterns, etc.) to the “effective kinship unit” T. Parsons described and analyzed in the 1940s and 1950s. What are the contributions of contemporary families to meeting the functional requirements of today’s adults and minor children, and of non-family institutions in which today’s adults and minor children participate (at their current or later stage of their life cycle)? If those functional requirements are no longer primarily or exclusively met by, and in, families, how are they met and to what extent are they met?
20. Summarize and briefly critically evaluate R.K. Merton’s middle-range theory of the “role-set”.
4. List, define, and briefly discuss the five role-adaptations to the U.S.’s cultural and social structures according to R.K. Merton.