Exam1: Marriages & Families Flashcards
the requirement that marriage must occur outside a group (think exit)
ex: a couple with differing social classes, nationality, or religion
exogamy
the requirement that marriage occur within a group
ex: a couple with same social class, nationality, religion
endogamy
a broad category that generally refers to heterosexual marriage in which one person of one sex is married to several ppl of other sex
polygamy
a form of polygamy, in which one male has 2 or more wives
polygyny
a form of polygamy, in which one female has two or more husbands
polyandry
regulation of sexual behavior, reproduction, social placement, socialization, economic cooperation, care, protection, and intimacy
Social Functions of Families
cultural guidelines and rules of conduct that guide behavior, governing of sexual behavior vary among societies, no known society allows one to have sexual relations with whomever they please
norms
sexual relations between blood or close relatives
incest taboo
sexual behavior is regulated to reinforce the social order, every society concerned about its members sexual behavior, sexual behavior regulated and enforced within the context of the family
Regulation of Sexual Behavior
a society must produce new members to replace those who die or move away
Reproduction
when new members are born into society, they must be placed within the social structure w/ a minimum of confusion and in a way that preserves order and stability
Social Placement
refers to the recurrent, patterned ways ppl relate to one another, consists of statuses and roles
social structure
a position in a group or society
status
set of behaviors associated w/ a particular status
roles
Human babies born w/ non knowledge of the norms, values and role expectations of their society; however they soon learn what their society considers appropriate in ways of acting, thinking, and feeling. This process is a lifetime of social interaction through which people learn those elements of culture essential for effective participation in social life.
Socialization
providing for the needs of the family is the basic economic function of families, women’s economic contribution generally greater.
changing structures of families notwithstanding, most continue to divide essential tasks among their members & cooperate economically to meet each one’s physical, social, and economic needs
Economic Cooperation
in addition to necessities of life, infants need warmth and affection. Adults need intimacy and often other human beings for care and protection during periods of illness, disability or other dependencies. Ideally families function to provide an intimate atmosphere and an economic unit in which these needs can be met.
Care, Protection, and Intimacy
a false, fictitious, imaginary, or exaggerated belief about someone or something
myth
1) the universal nuclear family
2) the self-reliant traditional family
3) the naturalness of different spheres for wives and husbands
4) the unstable African American family
4 myths about the family
the idea that there is a universal, or single marriage nd family pattern of mother, father, children, or husband, wife and children blinds us to the historical reality and legitimacy of diverse marriage and family arrangements
Myth1: The Universal Nuclear Family
evidence: divorce trends began in 19th century, recent changes in marriage and family life only considered deviant because the marriage rates for postwar generation re-presented an all time high for the US
assumes that families in the past were held together by hard work, family loyalty, and a fierce determination not to be beholden to anyone-especially the state
Myth2: The Self-Reliant Traditional Family
evidence: This tendency to overestimate the self-reliance of earlier families ignores the fact that external support for families has been the rule-and not the exception- in US family history. Families need assistance at some time- because of recessions, unemployment, outsourced jobs, increasing medical costs, and home foreclosures
fatherhood included domestic skills, provisioning, hospitality and childrearing. fathers provide economic support, protection, and represented their families to the outside world
motherhood meant being caregiver and moral guardian of family,
Myth3: The naturalness of different spheres for wives and husbands
evidence: far from natural and have not always existed
African American families pointed out as least stable and functional
Myth4: The unstable African American family
evidence: there is not and never has been a single model family, all families are different
the systematic discrimination against a racial group by the institutions within society
institutional racism
to grasp history and biography and the relations btw the two in society, allows us to distinguish btw “personal troubles of milieu” and the “public issues of social structure”
sociological imagination
a private matter occurring within the character of the individual and within range of his/her relationship with others
“trouble”
public matter that transcends the local environment of the individual
“issue”
1) What is the structure and how does it differ from other varieties of social order?
2) Where does this society stand in human history and what are its essential features?
3) What varieties of women and men live in this society and in this period, and what is happening to them?
3 questions of the sociological imagination
1) Allows us to take a new and critical look at what we have always taken for granted or assumed to be true
2) allows us to see the vast range of human diversity
3) allows us to understand the constraints and opportunities that affect our lives and those of other people
4) enables us to participate more actively in society
four benefits of using the sociological imagination
White, African, and Native families
Families of early America
nuclear families (wife, husband and children),patriarchy, high child death rates
1) servants (orphans, apprentices, hired laborers, unmarried individuals, children from other families) criminal and poor ppl,
2) women, men, children combined labor to meet needs of family
3) functions of family and larger community deeply intertwined
Colonial families
excluded from participation in major institutions of US society, laws prohibited marriages but some able to marry with permission from slaveholder, fear of separation, maintained families and live din two parent households before and after slavery
African American families under slavery
structured around 2 parent households, inadequate income, high unemployment levels, illness, and early death places strain on families, 1/3 female headed-households
Free African American Families
dispersed throughout locations, kinship system, social life centered around extended family in southeast, for ppl in California was reversed and wife moved in w/ husbands family after marriage (married early)
Native American Families
kinship or family descent and inheritance come through father
patrilineal
kinship and inheritance come through mother
matrilineal
