Families and Households key terms Flashcards
Birth rate
The number of live births per 1,000 people per year
Cereal packet family (Leach)
The Functionalist term for the way in which the nuclear family is idealised and portrayed as the norm in the media.
Cohabitation
This refers to when a couple live together in one household but are not legally married.
Cult of private life (Zaretsky)
The Marxist belief that the family provide a distraction for the proletariat from the exploitation they’re facing by making the family seem ‘private’ and separate from the working world.
Death rate
The number of deaths per 1,000 people per year
Dependency culture (Murray)
The New Right belief that working-class individuals are now relying on the welfare state for support rather than seeking employment and supporting themselves without state help.
Dependency ratio
The relationship between the size of the working population and the non-working (dependent) population.
Dual burden (Feri and Smith)
The notion that women partake in unpaid domestic tasks around the house as well as their paid work.
Expressive roles (Parsons)
The Functionalist belief that women are the homemakers of the family who provide emotional support, care for the children and play a part in personality stabilisation for other members of the family.
Information hierarchy (Postman)
The division between adult’s and children’s knowledge, e.g. adults used to be the only members of society who could read and thus mature topics were kept separate from children.
Instrumental role (Parson)
The Functionalist belief that men are the breadwinners of the family whose role is to provide economic support for the family.
Lone-parent families
A family unit where one parent is the sole provider and caregiver, e.g. if a mother is the lone-parent then it is classed as a matrifocal family.
March of progress (Liberal feminists)
The view that society is slowly reaching equality.
New man
This refers to men who are in touch with their feminine side and emotions, embracing equality and domestic life.
Nuclear family
A family unit consisting of a married, heterosexual couple and their children.
Political lesbianism (Greer)
The radical feminist solution to patriarchy which involves actively avoiding romantic relationships with men to achieve emancipation.
Primary socialisation (Murdock)
The functionalist belief that the family teaches individuals the particularistic values, beliefs and attitudes of their culture.
Proletariat
The Marxist term for the less dominant social class in society, typically working-class.
Pure relationship (Giddens)
A type of relationship where individuals decide to carry on maintaining their relationship if it meets their emotional and sexual needs. If the relationship carries on meeting the individual’s partner’s needs, then the relationship will continue to be successful.
Secularisation
The process in which society moves away from religious values.
Serial monogamy
A pattern of quickly moving from one relationship to another.
Symmetrical family
A family unit in where all responsibilities are divided equally, regardless of gender.
Toxic childhood (Palmer)
This refers to how the rise in technology has led to a generation of inadequately socialised children.
Triple shift (Duncombe and Marsden)
The notion that women must partake in unpaid domestic tasks around the home, paid work and provide emotional support to members of the family.
