SOC 428 CSUN Sociology Scientific Theory on Family and Marriage Discussion

Label each of your responses using the number of the topic it addresses. Combine your responses in one document, save it as a .docx, or .doc or .rtf or .pdf file. Tailor the length of your responses to 1. the point-value of the topic and 2. the level of detail required by the topic; the resulting combined document may not exceed 10 double-spaced pages, using at least an 11 pt ‘regular’ font. Everything in BOLD is attached.

1. List and briefly discuss a. the basic characteristics and b. main elements of scientific theories, based on the Instructor’s Introduction and one of, or both, K.D. Allan (Chapter 1: Imagining Society ) and Appelrouth & Edles (STCoE, Ch. 1 or the Electronic Alternative) (50 points)

20. Summarize and briefly critically evaluate R.K. Merton’s middle-range theory of the “role-set” (RKM.3 esp. pp. 110-118). (150 points)

21. Use T. Parsons’ analytical framework for describing and analyzing the “American Family” (in STCoE: 55-59 and TP.2) 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” Parsons described and analyzed in the 1940s and 1950s. What are the contributions of contemporary families (qua “effective kinship units”) 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? [This Recommended reading may be helpful] (150 points)