Family and Households: key terms Flashcards
Absent parent
In a situation where a lone-parent family is raising a child, the absent parent is the one with limited or no contact with the child
Achieved status
A position in society which individuals gain through their own efforts, rather than being born with it
Anti-social Family
Ideas, attitudes and values in society (ideology) which results in people who do not live in a stereotypical NF, being judged as inferior, eg single working mum who leaves child alone at home, a “latch-key kid”, child less families etc
Agenda setting
Deciding which issues will be placed on the agenda to be decided upon
Age Patriarchy
Inequalities between adults and children. Adult domination and child dependency. Power rests with the adults, particularly males
Ageing population
In an ageing population, the proportion of the population over retirement age is gradually increasing. The figures show that old people are living longer and will carry on increasing in the years to come
Ascribed status
A position in society which is the result of a fixed characteristic given at birth, such as gender or class origin
Asymmetrical family
Term used by Willmott and Young to describe the fourth stage of the family where the men become more work orientated, spending less leisure time at home while the women take the major responsibility for the home and children
Beanpole families
Families where 3 or 4 generations survive with only 1 or 2 children in each generation, hence the family is vertically extended but not horizontally extended, thus long and thin
Bigamy
The illegal practice in a monogamous society of having more than one spouse at one time
Birth rate
The number of live births per 1000 of the population per year
Breadwinner
The person in the household who is the main income earner
Broken Britain
The idea by the New Right that youth crime, school failure, long-term unemployment, poverty and teenage pregnancies occur more often where fathers are absent
Burden of dependency
A burden is a major responsibility. In Britain the working age population has the responsibility of supporting all the dependent people. As the numbers of old people increase we have to pay more to help support them, but there are fewer people to pay. This is because the birth rate is dropping
Care in the community
A policy of deinstitutionalisation introduced during ’90s, removing certain groups of people from institutional care into the care of the family and wider community
Cereal packet family
A NF idealised by the media where there is a father, mother, two children (girl and boy) and the father is the breadwinner whilst the mother stays at home
Chaos of love
Beck and Beck-Gernsheim argue that the characteristics of the modern world (stress, multiple roles etc) have led to personal relationships between men and women becoming a battleground as evidenced by rising divorce rates
Childfree
The idea that some people feel happy about not having children because they are free to do what they want
Childless
When people are unhappy about not having children because they unable to have them an is not a matter of choice
Child bearing
Having children
Child Labour Acts
Controlled hours worked by children, excluding them from the workplace
Child rearing
The way in which children are primary socialised and cared for in the family. Many sociologists are interested in class differences in how children are ‘reared’ as this impacts on the health and shape of future generations of society
Child Support Agency (CSA)
Est in 1993 by conservative gov to help reduce growing cost to the taxpayer of providing finacial support for lone parent families. Main task of the CSA was tracing absent parents who were not contributing to the upkeep of their children, assessing maintenance and ensuring payment
Child-centredness
It is argued that familes are more child focused and less on adults. It developed with the NF. More attention, money and status is given to the child
Childhood
A socially constructed and biological state, usually a period before adult status and referring to a set of beliefs about what is to be a ‘child’
Chosen families
Weeks sees gays as creating families based on the idea of “friendship as kinship” where friendships become a type of kinship network. Close friends, ex-partners and others, who are not related by blood or marriage
Civil partnerships
The term used to describe ‘gay marriages’, a legal recognition of a gay relationship which gives couple the same rights as straight married couples. Introduced Dec 2005
Cohabitation
A situation in which a couple lives together although not legally married
Commune
A form of family living in which groups of individuals, related or not, live together and share poverty
Compulsory schooling
Legislation introduced whereby every child must attend school. From Sep 2014 every child must attend school or training until 18
Confluent love
A term used by Giddens to describe a form of intimate relationships which is dependent on both partners finding fulfilment and satisfaction in the relationship
Conjugal roles
The roles played by a husband and wife within marriage, particularly when referring to the domestic division of labour
Consumption cleavage
Linked to post-modernists who have described how we can construct or “buy” ourselves a positive identity. Consumerism is key to how we make a positive identity
Co-parenting/ joint parenting
Parents who continue to share repsponsibility for raisng their children after they have separated or divorced
Cottage industry
The production of goods in the home
Creative singlehood
The idea that some people choose to be single in order to live a life filled with hobbies, friends and positivity. They may reject long-term committed relationships because they feel they will become responsible for another’s welfare which will lessen their enjoyment of life
Culture
The values and norms of a society, its a whole way of life
Dark side of the family
In opposition to the view that the family is a ‘good’ thing, this concept suggests that for some individuals the family may be harmful
Dark figure of crime
Term used to describe problems with the accuracy of official statistics. For example, the figures for domestic violence are likely to be much higher than the statistics suggest, maybe as individuals’ do not report the offence to the police
Death of the family
An expression used to indicate that the family as an institution is ‘dying’. Evidence for this is seen as the increase in divorce and cohabitation, rise in births outside of marriage and greater numbers of single parent families
Death rate
The number of deaths per 1000 of the live population per year
Dependency ratio
This means the number of working population to the number of non working/ dependant population
Dependant children
Children either under 16 or 16-19 and undertaking full time education
Deterministic
Used as a criticism of more structural theories such as Marxism, Functionalism as they assume that individuals’ have no free will, so that society determines/controls their behaviour
Demography
The study of population and population movement including birth rates, fertility rates, mortality rates and migration
DINKY
‘dual income no kids yet’. This term usually refers to a young couple; both in well-paid employment who have a high disposable income to spend on themselves and their home
Divorce
The legal termination of a marriage which allows the couple to remarry
Divorce Law Reform Act 1971
This act may divorce far easier to access for most couples because it widened the grounds for terminating a marriage. Before the only instances a couple could divorce were proving the following: unreasonable behaviour, adultery, cruelty and desertion. Brought in ‘irretrievable breakdown’
Divorce rate
The number of divorces per 1000 married couples in the population per year
Domestic division of labour
Refers to the way in which household and childcare tasks are divided between members of the family, particularly the adult male and female partners
Domestic labour
Unpaid work such as housework and childcare within the home and family
Domestic abuse
The abuse of a spouse or partner or a child by an adult family member. Most adult victims are women; feminists argue this is a result of a patriarchal system
Domestic violence
Usually refers to the physical abuse of a spouse or child by an adult family member. Most adult victims are women; feminists argue this is a result of a patriarchal society
Dual burden
The double burden of paid employment and domestic labour
Dual career family
Both parents in a NF are employed in professional occupations
Dual-worker families
Both parents in a NF are employed
Dysfunctional family
Idea that some families are ‘broken’ or do not ‘work properly’ perhaps by failing to socialise children adequately or there being a lack of stability for relationships
Economic dependence
Feminists argue that marriage is patriarchal partly because it encourages women to rely financially on husbands either in part time, low wage occupations or not at all by assuming traditional housewife role
Emotional work
The emotional input (caring, nurturing, supporting) a mother/wife or father/husband puts into their family. It is the invisible aspect of the conjugal role relationship
Empty nest families
Families where the children have grown up and moved out of the parental home, leaving the adult partners as a couple by themselves
Emigration
This is when people move out of an area or country
Ethnic diversity
The way in which families differ from each other depending on their specific cultural norms/values. African Caribbean families are more matrifocal and single-mothers, while Asian families are more extended and nuclear
Ethnocentric
To assume that western culture notion of childhood is superior to others
Expressive role
Parsons: played by the woman within marriage and the caring, nurturing, supportive role. Many functionalists believe women carry out this role as a result of biology and feminists believe women are socialised to this role
Extended family
A family unit that lives together/keeps in close contact and which includes a wider range of kin than the nuclear family
