Chapter 10: Family Groups and Systems Flashcards
Institution
Area of social life that contributes to goals while following patterns
Smallest unit of a family - families consisting of a husband and wife with or w/o children
Conjugal
Nuclear Family
families where two or more persons are related by blood, marriage or adoption and live together
The nuclear family formed by marriage
Family of procreation
Modified-extended family structure
Individual nuclear families retain considerable autonomy yet maintain in other nuclear families in their extended family
The web of relationships among people linked by common ancestry, adoption or marriage
Kinship
Serial/sequential monogamy
marriage to more than one person through one’s life through divorce and remarriage
A man has multiple marriages at the same time
Polygyny
A woman has multiple husbands at the same time
Polyandry
Many men married to many women
Group marriage
Fraternal polyandry
A form of polyandry where brothers are co-husbands
A family norm that newly married couples should live separate from their parents
Neolocal
A family norm that newly wed couples should live with the husband’s family
Patrilocal
Bilateral lineage
A descent system in which influence, wealth and power are assigned to both sides of the family
Egalitarian model
Decisions are equally divided by husband and wife
Malinowski’s idea that every society has a rule that every child should have a legitimate father to act as child’s protector/guardian in society
Principle of legitimacy
Families composed of at least one formerly married spouse and the children of the previous marriage(s) and new marriage
Blended families
Where does conflict in families stem from?
Unequal distribution of resources - inequality/male dominance because of physical strength and limitations of childbirth
Complementary needs
A theory of mate selection based on the idea that people marry those who provide need gratification when needs tend to be complementary rather than similar
An intimate arrangement in which two unmarried, unrelated adults live together
Non-marital cohabitation
Family of orientation
The nuclear family into which one was born and in which one was reared
A family system in which descent and inheritance are traced through the father’s line
Patrilineal
Exchange perspective on families
Rewards and costs determine norms in mate selection.
Factors like money, prestige, family position or power (most of the world) vs. love, affection, emotional support, beauty, personality, fulfillment of needs (U.S. and others)
Interactionist Perspective on families
Stresses the importance of analyzing marriages and other relationships in the context they occur. Role exceptions may differ depending on setting. Ex: Marital counseling analyzes how the spouses may react to each other in response to how they interpret their actions
A Development Perspective on Family
Families pass through a life cycle where failure in earlier tasks leads to increased difficulty in later tasks. Ex: first stage - marriage, second stage - birth of first child, etc.
U.S. divorce rates
one of the highest in the world
