Summary Report He was born in Colorado Springs, USA. He was the son of Edward Smith Parsons and Mary Augusta Ingersoll. At the time of Parsons' birth, his father was a professor in English and vice-president at Colorado College. Education: Undergraduate: biology, sociology and philosophy at Amherst College and received his B.A. in 1924. After Amherst, he studied at the London School of Economics for a year. Parsons went on to the University of Heidelberg, where he received his Ph.D. in sociology and economics in 1927. Career: Sociologist who served on the faculty of Harvard University from 1927 to 1973. Publications: The Structure of Social Action (1937) || The Social System (1951) || Essays in Sociological Theory (1964) || Societies: Evolutionary and Comparative Perspective (1966) || Politics and Social Structure (1969) Contributions: In social science, he is considered as an antipositivist. Antipositivism proposes that social-science researchers first must be aware that the concepts, ideas, and language of research shape their perception of the social world under investigation. Because for them, social realm cannot be studied with the scientific method of investigation as applied to the natural world. He is also considered as a functionalist, he was concerned with how elements of society were functional for a society. He was also concerned with social order, but argued that order and stability in a society are the result of the influence of certain values in society, rather than in structure such as the economic system. In line with this, Parsons developed the AGIL paradigm. He considered AGIL (acronym for: Adaptation, Goal attainment, Integration and Latency) as essential elements for a society so that it can maintain its social order. He also argues that men and women simply have naturally different roles and that both are needed for the family to run in a smooth fashion. From this perspective, women should carry out expressive roles, providing care and security to children, while offering them emotional support. Men, on the other hand, would perform an instrumental role - more importantly, being the breadwinner for the family. In other words, women would take the role of managing the household and raising children, while men provide financial support by working outside the home. According to Parsons, this complementary division of labor would ensure stability of the family.