Key terms

• what is a beanpole family A family whose living members come from many generations, but with only few members in each generation.
• what is cohabiting Living together – usually refers to partners who live together without getting married.
• what is an extended family Parents, their children and other more distant relatives, e.g. grandparents, aunts and uncles.
• what is a family A group of two or more people linked by birth, marriage, adoption or cohabitation based on a long-term relationship.
• what are lone parent families A family with only a mother or father as a consequence of death, divorce or individual choice.
• what is a nuclear family A family group consisting of parents and their 2 children.
• what is a reconstituted family When two adults with children from previous relationships remarry (or cohabit) to form a new family.
• what is a divorce The legal (and formal) ending of a marriage.
• what is an empty nest family A stage in the life cycle of a family when children have reached adulthood and have left the parental home.
• what is a marriage A legal status of a union between two partners and any children they may produce.
• what is a commune A group of people living together and sharing possessions and responsibilities.
• what is kibbutz A collective community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture.
• what is the expressive role A woman’s role within the family to provide care and emotional support to other family members (according to Parsons)
• what is the instrumental role The family provider usually associated with the traditional role of the male (aka Breadwinner)
• what is the stabiliastion of adult personalities The family is like a ‘warm bath’. The nuclear family supports and relaxes all its members, keeping them stable and steady.
• what is primary socialisation Parents socialise their babies and children into the shared norms and values of society, e.g. talking / wait for your turn
• what is a patriarchal family A male dominated family group
• what is an arranged marriage A marriage in which parents choose a bride or groom for their child with consent
• what is monogamy The practice of being married to one person at a time.
• what is serial monogamy A pattern of divorce and remarriage where an individual marries several times but only one partner at a time
• what are conjugal roles The roles typically associated with husbands and wives.
• what are joint conjugal roles Household tasks divided between husband and wife
• what is the double shift Work of women who continue to perform the bulk of domestic labour whilst in paid employment.
• what are segregated conjugal roles Husband and wife perform different and clearly defined activities
• what is the triple shift The three types of work that create a burden for women: paid work, domestic work and emotional work.
• what is a symmetrical family Willmott and Young - a dual worker family where responsibilities are equally shared between husband and wife.
• what is domestic violence Behaviour in a family that is unwanted and unwarranted, can be physical, sexual, emotional, financial or psychological.
• what is a convectional family Oakley – a family like the nuclear family that is seen as the ‘norm’
• what is a dual-worker family A family in which both parents are in paid employment (any job)
• what is a dual-career family A family in which two adults have careers - a focused, long term, line of work where experience, education and promotion are common. E.g., doctors, teachers, architect. More common in middle class families.
• what is polygamy A form of marriage in which an individual has more than one husband or wife at the same time (illegal in the UK).
• what is bigamy The crime in the UK and many other countries of marrying someone when already married