Chapter 1

Question 1

Define: household

Answer 1

People who occupy the same dwelling and can consist of one or more families, a single person, a group of related or unrelated people, ex. siblings, a live-in nanny, roommates

Question 2

Define: communal living

Answer 2

Although family ties are recognized, community takes precedence over the family unit, a group of people who may or may not be related by birth or marriage, sharing financial resources and living arrangements, ex. Hutterites

Question 3

Define: nuclear family

Answer 3

A family consisting of a husband, a wife, and their children. Forms the basis for what advocates call “traditional family values”. Often called the “Standard North American family” aka SNAF.

Question 4

Define: extended family

Answer 4

Encompasses a nuclear family and all other relatives.

Question 5

Define: joint family

Answer 5

Multiple, related nuclear families that live together with a single household, ex. Matrilineal Iroquois communities, matrifocal (2 sisters and their children).

Question 6

Define: stem family

Answer 6

A mom, dad, an adult child, their spouse, their children.

Question 7

Define: family of orientation

Answer 7

The one we are born into and raised in, the family that socializes you.

Question 8

Define: family of procreation

Answer 8

The one formed through marriage or cohabitation.

Question 9

What are some situations in which people have personal/individual views of who constitutes their family?

Answer 9

Counting a close friend as family, parents disowning a child, marital abandonment without a formal divorce, godparents.

Question 10

Define: intentional family

Answer 10

A family whose members, though not related by blood or marriage, call themselves a family, deliberately chosen familial relationships, may share residences and a common lifestyle, form due to human need for companionship and emotional connection that comes from shared experiences, ex. moving to a new country for work.

Question 11

In the eyes of Structural Functionalism, what are the societal functions of the family?

Answer 11

• reproduction
• socialization; produces and shapes new individuals who will be prepared to take their place in society as adults through the passing on of cultural knowledge of how to survive and participate in social life , changes overtime with social and cultural changes in what is appropriate social behaviour
• social placement; puts people in categories and gives them roles that enable them to know how to interact with people in other roles
• economic support; one or more members must provide income in order to support the family
• emotional support

Question 12

Define: social scripts (SF)

Answer 12

Cultural rules that outline what, where, when, how, and why we should do something, people who don’t follow these rules leave themselves open to criticism and subtle pressure to conform.

Question 13

Define: role (SF)

Answer 13

A function expected of a person who has a particular status.

Question 14

What are the four systems in the Ecological Theory of the family?

Answer 14

1. The Microsystem
2. The Mesosystem
3. The Exosystem
4. The Macrosystem

Question 15

Define: microsystem

Answer 15

Consists of small groups in which people interact face-to-face, most directly affects the quality of life through relationships with individuals, different for each family member, ex. for small children it might include daytime caregivers.

Question 16

Define: mesosystem

Answer 16

The daily/ regular social interactions and relationships between 2 or more groups of which the individual is a member, the quality of the connections can be weak/strong, positive/negative.

Question 17

Define: exosystem (Eco)

Answer 17

A setting in which individuals do not take an active part, but which has an effect on them through the mesosystem and microsystem, these external pressures and forces are made up of large scale social institutions, ex. for children this could be decisions made by their school board.

Question 18

Define: macrosystem (Eco)

Answer 18

A society’s ideology and culture, the shared beliefs and ways of doings things that are the basis on which policy decisions are made.

Question 19

Define/explain: family systems theory

Answer 19

• a family as a set of interrelated and interacting parts, anything that affects one part of the system will affect all parts, ex, if one parent loses their jobs all members will have to do with less money
• a family is made up of complementary roles, ex. for someone to be considered a parent there must exist a complementary child, roles are clearly defined (spouse, sibling etc.), society expects certain patterns of behaviour from a person in a particular role
• boundaries; mark who is/not a member within systems & subsystems
• have explicit and implicit rules, ex. curfew, rules governing how fights are resolved

Question 20

Define: morphogenesis (family systems)

Answer 20

Development of new forms of behaviour based upon need, ex. when children are maturing, chronic illness, job loss.

Question 21

Explain how Symbolic Interactionists see/study the family?

Answer 21

• feel that the best way of understanding relations between family members is to examine family members’ interpretations of the meaning of each other’s words and actions
• interpretations develop in this way out of ongoing interactions between family members
• behaviour and objects gain meaning, or become symbols, through this process of interaction

Question 22

Define/explain: role theory (SI)

Answer 22

Individuals develop a sense of self, status, and role through the attitudes of others and their relationships with others. As they interact with others, individuals learn to anticipate the behaviours of other and tailor their behaviours to match.

Question 23

Define: role-taking (SI)

Answer 23

Putting oneself in another’s place.

Question 24

Define: role-strain (SI)

Answer 24

A sense of discomfort felt when one has difficulty meeting role expectations, ex. stereotypes of mother and stepmother.

Question 25

Explain how Exchange Theorists see/study the family?

Answer 25

• family life & interactions can be viewed in terms of costs (factors that discourage certain behaviours) and benefits (a person’s pleasures)
• people expect to get the best return on what they provide in their relationships, at the least cost to them
• when we give/receive favours they must be repaid

Question 26

Explain how Developmental Models explain the family.

Answer 26

• looks at entire life cycle of the family from its formation to its end, divide the cycle into stages based on child & adult development
• idea that at each stage families change in predictable ways

Question 27

Define: social time clock (developmental models)

Answer 27

A socially approved timetable for certain life events, individuals who are significantly off-schedule may experience difficulties, ex. our society is not geared to provide for adolescent mothers.

Question 28

Define: developmental tasks (developmental models)

Answer 28

A task that an individual is expected to achieve at a particular stage in development, failure brings unhappiness, social disapproval and difficulty completing later tasks, ex. having a baby call for parents to develop parenting skills.