3.1 Perspectives on the role of the family

Question 1

household

Answer 1

Residential unit of people living together in one home (often used more specifically when people aren’t related to each other)

Question 2

monogamy

Answer 2

Having a single sexual or marriage partner at any given time

Question 3

Marriage

Answer 3

Union between two people, recognized by law

Question 4

Polygamy

Answer 4

Having more than one sexual or marriage partner at the same time

Question 5

Polygyny

Answer 5

When one man is married to a number of women

Question 6

Polyandry

Answer 6

When one woman is married to a number of men

Question 7

George Peter Murdock’s (1949) functionalist definition of a family

Answer 7

• common residence
• economic co-operation and reproduction
• adults of both sexes
• one or more children, owned or adopted

Question 8

flaws of Murdock’s definition

Answer 8

The definition is exclusive because it’s based on the idea that families have characteristics that make them different from other social groups, such as schools. This definition is flexible enough to accommodate different types of family relationships and organization.

Question 9

Giddens’s (2006) definition of family