HDFS302-Unit 1 Flashcards
Bilateral
Descent that can be traced through both male and female sides of the family
Companionate Family
A marriage based on mutual affection, sexual attraction, compatibility, and personal happiness
Conflict Theory
A theory that emphasizes issues surrounding social inequality, power, conflict, and social change.
Developmental Theory
A theory that suggests families, and individual family members, go through distinct stages over time, with each stage having its own set of tasks, roles, and responsibilities.
Egalitarian
The expectation that power and authority are vested in both men and women, equally.
Empirical Approach
An approach that answers questions through a systematic collection and analysis of data
Experiment
A controlled method for determining cause and effect.
Extended Family
A family comprised of parents, children, and other relatives such as grandparents.
Family
A relationship by blood, marriage, or affection, in which members may cooperate economically, may care for children, and may consider their identity to be intimately connected to the larger group.
Family of Orientation
The family that you are born into.
Family of Procreation
The family you make through marriage, partnering, and/or parenthood.
Feminist Theory
A theory in which gender is seen as the central concept for explaining family structure and family dynamics.
Fictive Kin
Non-relatives whose bonds are strong and intimate
Focus Group
A small group interview of people who are brought together to discuss a particular topic.
Human Agency
The ability of human beings to create viable lives even when they are constrained or limited by social forces.
In-depth interview
A research method that allows an interviewer to obtain detailed responses to questions.
Marriage
An institutional arrangement between persons to publicly recognize social and intimate bonds.
Master Status
The major defining status or statuses that a person occupies.
Matriarchy
A form of social organization in which the norm or expectation is that the power and authority in society would be vested in women.
Matrilineal
A descent pattern where lineage is traced exclusively or primarily within women’s families.
Matrilocal
The expectation that a newly married couple will live with the family of the wife.
Macro-level
Focus on the interconnectedness of marriage, families, and intimate relationships with the rest of society.
Microlevel
Focus on the individual and his or her interactions in specific settings.
Monogamy
Marriage between one man and one woman
Neolocal
The expectation that a newly married couple establishes a residence and lives there independently
Nuclear Family
A family comprised of adults and their children.
Observational Study
A research method that goes into the natural setting and observes people in action.
Patriarchy
A form of social organization in which the norm or expectation is that men have a natural right to be in positions of authority over women.
Patrilineal
A descent pattern where lineage is traced exclusively (or at least primarily) through the man’s family line.
Patrilocal
The expectation that a newly married couples will live with the husband’s family.
Polyandry
The marriage pattern in which wives are allowed to have more than one husband.
Polygamy
A system that allows for more than one spouse at a time (gender unspecified)
Polygyny
The marriage pattern in which husbands can have more than one wife.
Qualitative Reserach
Narrative description with words rather than numbers to analyze patterns and their underlying meanings.
Quantitative Reserach
Research that focuses on data that can be measured numerically.
Random Sample
A sample in which every “person of interest” has an equal chance of being selected into our research study
Secondary Analysis
A research method in which the data were collected for some other purpose but still but still are useful to the researcher.
Social Exchange Theory
A theory that draws upon a model of human behavior used by many economists. It assumes that individuals are rational beings, and their behavior reflects decisions evaluated on the basis of costs–both direct and opportunity costs–and benefits.
Social Institution
A major sphere of social life, with a test of beliefs and rules that is organized to meet basic human needs.
Social Structure
A stable framework of social relationships that guides our interactions with others.
Socialization
The lifelong process by which we learn the cultural values, rules, expectations, and skills needed to function as human beings and participate in society.
Status
The social position that a person occupies.
Symbolic Interaction Theory
A theory that emphasizes the symbols we use in everyday interactions–words, gestures, appearances–and how these are interpreted.
Survey
A form of research that gathers information about attitudes or behaviors through the answers that people give to questions.
Systems Theory
A theory that proposes that a family system–the family members and the roles that they play–is larger than the sum of its individual members.
Theory
A general framework, explanation, or tool used to understand and describe the real world.
Agents of Socialization
The primary groups responsible for gender socialization
Discrimination
Behaviors, actions, or practices based on racial or ethnic preferences that have harmful impacts.
Ethnicity
Shared cultural characteristics, such as language, place of origin, dress, food, religion, and other values.
Ethnic Group
A group of people who share specific cultural features.
Food Insecurity
A lack of available nourishing food on a regular basis.
Gender
Culturally and socially constructed differences between males and females found in the meanings, beliefs, and practices associated with “femininity” and “masculinity”
Gender Socialization
Teaching the cultural norms associated with being male or female.
Hidden Cirriculum
Gender socialization which is taught informally in school.
Individual Discrimination
One person exhibiting a negative behavior towards another person.
Minority Group
A category of people who have less power than the dominant group, and who are subject to unequal treatment.
Poverty Guidelines
Guidelines established in 1964 as a way to measure the number of people living in poverty; based on a thrifty food budget, multiplied by three (sometimes called the “poverty line”).
Prejudice
A negative attitude about members of selected racial and ethnic groups.
Race
A category describing people who shared real or perceived physical straits that society deems socially significant, such as skin color.
Sex
Biological differences between men and women, and their role in reproduction.
Social Capital
The goods and services that are by-products of social relationships, including connections, social support, information, or financial help.
Social Class
A social position based primarily on income and wealth, but occupational prestige and educational level may be relevant as well.
Social Mobility
Movement from one social class to another
Social Stratification
The hierarchical ranking of categories of people within society
Socioeconomic Status (SES)
Some combination of education, occupation, and income.
Sociological Imagination
The recognition that our personal experiences are, in large part, shaped by forces within the larger society.
Stereotypes
Oversimplified sets of beliefs about a group of people.
Adolescence
The period of life that occurs between childhood and adulthood.
Calling
A dating practice of the 18th and 19th centuries in which a young man would visit a young woman in her parents’ home.
Cohabitation
An arrangement in which two people live together without being married.
Cross-sex Friendships
A friendship between a man and a woman that is strictly platonic.
Dating Script
A set of expectations around dating that are somewhat different for men and women
Homogamous Relationships
Relationships in which we spend most of our time with people who are very similar to ourselves.
Involuntary Stable Singles
Unmarried adults who can expect to be single for life even though they may not want to be.
Involuntary Temporary Singles
Singles actively searching for a mate but unstable to find a suitable one.
Pool of Eligibles
The group from which we are likely to choose our mates.
Principle of Least Interest
The idea that unequal emotional involvement between romantic partners has implications for the quality and stability of relationships
Propinquity
Geographical closeness
Selection Effect (for cohabitation)
An explanation for the fact that people who cohabit tend to be the same ones who later divorce.
Spurious
When a relationship between two variables is actually caused by a third variable.
Voluntary Stable Singles
Unmarried adults desiring a single (unmarried) lifestyle.
Voluntary Temporary Singles
Unmarried adults who may be delaying marriage while pursuing education or establishing a career
