SOC112S

• Family


  A social institution found in all societies that unites people in cooperative groups to care for one another, including any children
• Kinship


  A social bond based on common ancestry, marriage, or adoption
• Marriage


  A legal, emotional, and financial relationship usually involving economic cooperation, sexual activity, and childbearing
• Endogamy


  A marriage between people of the same social category
• Exogamy

  A marriage between people of different social categories
• Monogamy


  A marriage that unites two partners
• Polygamy


  A marriage that unites three or more spouses
• Polygyny


  A marriage that unites one man and two or more women
• Polyandry


  A marriage that unites one woman and two or more men
• Descent


  A system by which members of a society trace kinship over generations, for matters like property inheritance
• Patrilineal descent


  A system tracing kinship through men
• Matrilineal descent


  A system tracing kinship through women
• Bilateral descent


  A system tracing kinship through both men and women
• Courtship


  The process of developing a romantic relationship with someone with the intention of marriage
• Arranged marriages


  Alliances between two extended families of similar social standing, usually involving an exchange of children, wealth, and favors
• Romantic love


  Affection and sexual passion for another person as the basis for marriage
• Infidelity


  Sexual activity outside one's marriage
• Family violence/Domestic violence


  Emotional, physical, or sexual abuse of one family member by another, usually between spouses or married couples
• Nowadays, parenting is a very expensive, lifelong commitment. Most adults have to juggle parental and job responsibilities. Despite the demands children make on us, adults in this country overwhelmingly identify raising children as one of life's greatest joys.
• Blended families


  Families created by remarriage, composed of children and some combination of biological parents and stepparents
• Sandwich generation


  Adults with at least one living parent age 65 or older and who are either raising a child younger than 18 or providing financial support to a grown child age 18 or older
• Empty nest marriage


  The marriage that requires adjustment due to the departure of adult children from home and the return to living with only a spouse
• Structural-functional theories


  Theories that view the family as a social institution that performs vital tasks and is the "backbone of society"
• Family is a social institution because it shapes norms, beliefs and practices, reflects societal values, and fulfills basic needs.
• Social-conflict theories


  Theories that point out the ways families perpetuate social inequality based on social class, gender, and race
• Friedrich Engels traced the origin of the family to men's need (especially in the higher classes) to identify heirs so that they could hand down property to their sons. Families thus concentrate wealth and reproduce the class structure in each new generation.
• Feminists link the family to patriarchy. To know their heirs, men must control the sexuality of women. Families therefore transform women into the economic and sexual property of men.
• Racial and ethnic categories persist over generations because most people marry others like themselves. Endogamous marriage supports racial and ethnic inequality.
• Symbolic-interaction theories


  Theories that view family living as an opportunity for intimacy, where family members share many activities over time, identify with each other, and build emotional bonds
• Racial and ethnic categories


  Persist over generations because most people marry others like themselves
• Endogamous marriage


  Supports racial and ethnic inequality
• Intimacy


  Sharing fear (Latin roots)
• Family living


  Offers an opportunity for intimacy
• As family members share many activities over time

  They identify with each other and build emotional bonds
• Parents act as authority figures


  Often limits their closeness with younger children
• As children approach adulthood


  Kinship ties typically open up to include sharing confidences with greater intimacy
• Courtship and marriage


  Forms of negotiation
• Dating


  Allows each person to assess the advantages and disadvantages of a potential spouse
• Exchange theory


  Suggests people "shop around" for partners to make the best "deal" they can
• Gender roles


  Dictate the elements of exchange in patriarchal society