Sociology of the Family

• Genealogy: study of ancestry and family history. Used for family links, connections- both genetic and symbolic
• Family: group of related people by biological, legal, and emotional connections
• Personal Family: people who we feel related to and who we expect us to call family as well. Includes blended families- the inclusion of stepchildren, step parents, informal/formal adoptions
• Legal Families: group of individuals related by birth, marriage, or adoption. Legal definition carries rights and responsibilities overseen by government. Definition unchanged since 1930.
• Institutional Arena: social space where relations between people in common positions are governed by accepted rules of interaction. ex) father, sister, child. Formal and informal rules of interaction, rules differ from place to place and evolves over time.
• 3 institutional arenas: family, state, market
• Family: where they practice intimacy, childbearing socialization, and caring work. rules/obligations- parents provide for child, child obeys parent. Role conformity influences this arena.
• State: through political means, behavior is regulated, violence in controlled, and resources are redistributed. Regulation is established through laws. ex) marriage licenses, divorce petitions, resource redistributions
• Market: where labor for pay, economic exchange, and wealth accumulation take place. State has direct interactions with market through regulation of economic organizations and tax/fee collections
• Consensus perspective: perspective that projects an image of society as the collective expression of shared norms and values. Operates under consensus and harmony
• Structural functionalism is a dominant sociological consensus theory. ex) Breadwinner-homemaker family: employed father, nonemployed mother, and children
• Conflict perspective: view that opposition and conflict define a give society and are necessary for social evolution
• Feminist theory: seeks to understand and ultimately reduce inequality between men and women. Falls under conflict perspective.
• Socialization: Process by which individuals internalize elements of the social structure in their own personalities. How girls learn to be girls and boys, boys
• Exchange theory: individuals and groups with different resources, strengths, and weaknesses enter into mutual relationships to maximize own gains. Offers positive interpretation of unequal partnerships where each party considers cost and benefits. Partnerships are rational and deliberate.
• Symbolic Interactionism: concerned with the ability of humans to see themselves through the eyes of others and to enact social roles based on other's expectations. Ideal for studying behavior in the family.
• Modernity Theory: theory of the historical emergence of the individual as an actor in society and how individuality changed personal and institutional relations. State arena- individual is constructed as a citizen. Market Arena- individual becomes a worker and consumer. Family Arena- individual becomes social actor with free will. 2 periods- first modernity and second modernity.
• Second modernity emphasized focus on the person as an individual, not as a member of a family
• Family wage: amount necessary for male workers to provide for their families without them having to work or pay
• Demographic Perspective: Study of how family behavior and household structures contribute to larger population processes. Looks for patterns and what is "normal". ex) birth, death, migration, childbirth
• Life Course Perspective: study of family trajectories of individuals and groups as they progress through their lives in a social and historical context
• Cohort: group of people who experience an event together at the same time
• Difficulties of studying family includes understanding the context of the data and possibility of bias
• Ways to study family include sample surveys, longitudinal surveys, in-depth interviews and observation, and time use studies
• The granting of marriage licenses is an example of which institutional arenas interacting? The state and family.
• According to conflict theories, who benefits from family structures wherewomen stay home and men work for pay? Men and employers
• Rosa thinks of her mother’s best friend, Maria, as her aunt, and Maria treats Rosa as her niece. Rosa and Maria could be labeled a(n) personal family
• According to recent feminist family theorists, Family types are socially constructed
• Which theory sees people as individuals entering into mutual relationships to maximize their own gains? Exchange Theory
• For the purposes of the contemporary U.S. Census, a family must occupy the same household