sociology - families and households

• Social Policy


  The plans and actions of government agencies.
• Net Migration


  The difference between the numbers immigrating and the numbers emigrating
• Household


  A group of people living together
• The Organic Analogy


  Refers to the comparison made by functionalists to the human body and society. As organs are essential to the smooth-running of the body, institutions are essential to the smooth-running of society
• Ideological State Apparatus


  (Althusser - Marxist) Institutions that spread bourgeois ideology and ensure that the proletariat is in a state of false class consciousness.
• Dual Burden


  When a person is responsible for two jobs - paid work and domestic labour
• Values


  Things that people consider important to them, for example, marriage or education
• Bean-pole family


  A multi-generational family that is long and thin with few aunts, uncles and grandparents. This is a result of extended life expectancy and fewer children being born.
• False-class consciousness


  The proletariat (working-class) do not recognise that they are being exploited by the bourgeoisie (ruling class) and indeed contribute to their own exploitation. Bourgeois ideology persuades them to think that the interests of the ruling class are in fact the interests of all.
• Divorce


  This is a judicial declaration dissolving a marriage in whole or in part, especially one that releases the marriage partners from all matrimonial obligation.
• Warm Bath


  (Parsons - Functionalist) When a man came home from a hard day at work, he could relax into his family like a _______ _______ and it would take away the stress and refresh him for the next day's work.
• Cohabitation


  A couple who are in a sexual relationship and live together but are not married.
• Secularisation


  The decline of religion in society
• Ideology


  A word to describe a set of ideas and beliefs that are dominant in society and are used to justify the power and privilege of the ruling class.
• Family Diversity


  A broad range of characteristics or dimensions on which families vary, along with a recognition that there are a multitude of different family types that function effectively.
• Capitalism


  An economic system in which there is private ownership (as opposed to state ownership) and where there is an impetus to produce profit, and thereby wealth.
• Difference Feminism


  Argues that other strands of feminists ignore the role that ethnicity, gender, age and culture plays in gender inequality.
• Personal Life Perspective


  A sociological perspective which believes we should understand family life from the perspective of the individuals who make up the family, focusing on the diverse ways in which different individuals within the family define and perceive their own experiences of family life.
• Symmetrical Family


  Where a family divides all responsibilities equally between partners
• Segregated Conjugal Roles


  Refers to the separation of roles within the household based on the individuals gender.
• Means Of Production


  The ruling class own these. This is includes factories, businesses, and land.
• Boomerang Family


  A family made up of parents with an adult child (of any age) who has returned to live in their family home.
• Liberal Feminism


  Have an optimistic view on the family, they focus on the increased equality that exists between men and women and the fact that many couples see their relationship as an equal partnership.
• Childhood as a social construct

  The idea that the norms and values and social roles associated with childhood are influenced by society, rather than being determined by the biological age of a child.
• Unit of Consumption


  Marxists argue that the nuclear family performs ideological functions for capitalism, so the family acts as a _____ __ _____________ and teaches passive acceptance of hierarchy.
• new man'


  A man who takes an active role in housework and childcare and is in touch with his 'feminine side'.
• Toxic Childhood


  (Sue Palmer) Where social changes, especially the invention of new technologies, does increasing amounts of harm to children. For example, the internet and mobile phone results in screen saturation which increases anxiety and reduces attention spans.
• Triple Shift


  Women in paid employment bear the burden of working a ______ ______. In addition to their paid employment, they are engaged in domestic and 'emotional work' as mother in a male dominated society.
• Patriarchy


  The combination of systems, ideologies and cultural practices which make sure that men have power.
• Social norms


  Rules or expectations that are socially enforced.
• Matrifocal


  A family where the mother is head of the household and is a type of lone parent family.
• Reconstituted family


  Where two nuclear families that have split up merge (or blend) to form a new family (i.e. with step-parents and step-brothers or sisters).
• Migration


  Includes movement in and movement out of the country.
• Dependency Ratio


  This is the ratio of the working population to the non-working part of the population.
• Death rate


  The number of deaths per 1000 population in a year
• under-class


  (Introduced by New Right theorist, Charles Murray): The lowest social stratum/class in a country or community, consisting of the poor and long term unemployed.
• Instrumental Role


  The provider or breadwinner role which involves going out to work and earning money for the family - the traditional male role within the family.
• Hegemony


  The dominance of one group over another, often supported by legitimating norms and ideas.
• Stigma


  This is the disapproval of an individual or group based on perceivable social characteristics.
• Marriage


  Refers to the formal and legal recognition of two people as partners in an intimate relationship.