Chapter Eight- Sociology

Family

a set of people related by blood, marriage (or some agreed-upon relationship), or adoption who share the primary responsibility for reproduction and caring for members of society.

Extended Family

a family in which grandparents, aunts, or uncles live in the same home as parents and their children
-Death
-Divorce
-Illness
That puts a financial strain on family members

Family of Orientation

the family into which one is born and where childhood socialization occurs

Family of Procreation

is a family one forms, often with another adult, by adopting or having children

Monogamy

The form of marriage that is allowed in the United States. One husband and one wife at a time.

Serial Monogamy

several spouses in a lifetime, but only one spouse at a time

Polygamy

Marriage that unites three or more people

Polygyny

one man to multiple wives

Polyandry

when a woman is married to two or more men

Endogamy

is the practice of marriage within the group or social category

Exogamy

is the practice of marriage outside the group. Most commonly, exogamy directs people to look outside their immediate kinship group.

Homogamy

most people in the US practice homogamy. This is the practice of marrying those with whom one shares similar characteristics and interests with, such as age, education, race or ethnicity, religious and political views, and/or social class.

Patrilineal Descent

is the practice of tracing kinship through men. This is characteristic of preindustrial societies and is found in industrial societies as well. Inheritance typically passes from father to son(s) in patrilineal descent.

Matrilineal Descent

the practice of tracing kinship and passing along inheritance through women is termed.

Bilateral descent

the tracing of kinship through both women and men-is quite common.

Patriarchy

if a society expects males to dominate in all family decision making. Frequently in these types of societies, the oldest male holds the greatest power.

Matriarchal Family

where authority resides in the eldest female, usually the mother, who holds power over other family members.

Egalitarian families

In countries such as the United States however, there is a growing trend toward egalitarian family, where both partners share power and authority equally.

Functionalist Perspective

Functionalists view the family as performing several important functions that contribute to the stability of society and to the health of individuals. There are seven key functions that families perform.
1. Reproduction
2. Socialization
3. Sexual Regulati

Reproduction

for a society to survive, it must replace its dying members. In this sense, the family contributes to human survival through the function of reproduction.

Socialization

the family is the first arena in which newborn socialization occurs, and it has a profound impact on the social, cultural, and psychological development of children.

Sexual Regulation

Standards of sexual behavior are most clearly defined within the family circle. Families serve to regulate the sexual activity of its members so that it occurs in certain areas and not others. The incest taboo is a cultural norm that forbids sexual relati

Social Status

We inherit a social position because of our family background and reputation of our parents and grandparents. Families also confer statuses upon their children in terms of race, ethnicity, religion, and social class. These statuses in turn influence the s

Protection

Unlike the young of other animal species, human infants need constant care and economic security. The extremely long period of dependency for human infants places special demands on older family members

Socialization

Parents and other family members monitor a child's behavior and transmit the norms, values, and language of a culture to the child.

Affection and Companionship

Ideally, the family provides members with warm and intimate relationships and helps them feel safe and secure. The family is obligated to serve the emotional needs of its members.

Functionalist Perspective Critics

Critics also note that this model ignores both the negative aspects of family life, such as domestic abuse, as well as ignoring the wide diversity of family configurations found in the United States.

The Conflict Perspective

the family serves to perpetuate social inequality. Families are seen as the primary source of inequality. The practice of endogamy directs people to marry within their racial or ethnic group as well as their social class, thereby contributing to the perpe

The Conflict Perspective Critics

Critics point out that the family performs functions not easily performed by other social institutions, such as social placement and the provision of emotional support.

Symbolic Interactionist Perspective

Families are negotiated relationships, members of them develop a shared reality through communication with each other.
When a couple first marries, one of their immediate tasks is to negotiate the roles of husband and wife, including what types and respon

Symbolic Interactionist Perspective Critics

Critics of this view point out that it ignores the influence of the larger societal context on the family and on the manner in which this context influences the way subjective meanings are constructed.

Same-Sex Parents

One study of American homosexual couples (Blumstein and Schwartz, 1983) discovered that gay and lesbian couples living together with children, either from previous marriages or born to one partner, face many of the same problems as heterosexual couples wi

Cohabitation

This is about 11% of all couples and 4.2% of all households cohabitate.
Cohabitating couples that eventually marry have the highest divorce rate. This may reflect the fact that they have become accustomed to low-commitment relationships and find it diffic

Blended Families

Blended families are formed when one or both people in a marriage have been previously marriage or widowed and have one or more children from the previous marriage.
Nearly 40% of American families include biologically unrelated individuals

Financial Problems

Arise because of legal obligations of husbands and wives toward their former spouses and children from previous marriages.

Stepchildren Antagonism

Where stepchildren may attempt to break up the new marriage in hopes their biological parents might reunite. Even five years after divorce, about a third of stepchildren continue to strongly disapprove of their original parents' divorce.

Unclear Statuses and Roles

The roles of stepparents are often vague and ambiguous. There are new power relationships, and new methods of control and discipline.

Family Violence

Family violence is defined as all types of violent crime committed by an offender who is related to the victim and includes spouse abuse, parental violence against a child and violence among other family members.

The root cause of violence in the family is

role confusion on the part of both men and women. In many societies husbands have traditionally had the legal right to physically punish wives who challenge male authority. Husbands' abuse of wives was sanctioned throughout much of American history partic

Child abuse includes

physical injury; however, abusive adults can misuse power and trust to harm a child's emotional and psychological health.