The decision to marry is a major life step. Contemporary Americans do so with certain cultural expectations: that our partner will love and care for us, will share the duties of managing a household (nowadays, fairly equally and regardless of gender), and will support us in our lives when problems arise at work or with other family members. These expectations of a spouse are an example of
a.) status.
b.) gender division.
c.) sexism.
d.) roles.
Answer: d.) roles.
FEEDBACK: Robert Merton's role theory provides a language about social interaction. Roles refer to duties and behaviors associated with a particular status. For marriage, we learn the expected status and role while growing up from parents and others, and when we marry, those expectations have predefined those same things in our partner.
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What will be an ideal response?
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