Key Concepts Flashcards
Families
Groups of people related by kinship ties - relations of blood, marriage, civil partnerships/ adoption
Households
1 person living alone/ group of people who live at same address
Share living arrangements (bills, meals, chores etc.)
Nuclear Family
2 generation family
2 heterosexual adults + their dependent children (own/ adopted)
Traditional (conventional) Nuclear Family
2 generation family
2 heterosexual adults (married)
Gender roles = segregated
Extended Family
2+ generations of family members
With additions beyond TNF
Horizontal Extended Family
Same generation
e.g aunties, uncles, cousins
Vertical Extended Family
Older/ younger generations
e.g grandparents
Classic Extended Family
Kin who live in same household/ close proximity
Modified Extended Family
Kin who = geographically dispersed
Maintain regular contact via technology
Beanpole Family
Multi-generational family (3+ generations)
Few people in each
Due to increased life expectancy;
Grandparents play important role in care of (great) grandchildren
Matrifocal Family
Female headed families
No adult males
e.g. African Caribbean families have a high proportion of matrifocal families (50%)
Patriarchal Family
Male headed/ dominant family
Same Sex Family
Headed by lesbian/ gay couples
With(out) children
Single/ Lone Parent Families
SPF
Headed by 1 adult
90% = headed by women
LAT Family
Living Apart Together
Families/ couples who don’t live together
Usually for work reasons
Empty Shell Family
Couple living together
Not emotionally committed to one another
Empty Nest Family
Family where children have left home Just parent(s)
Single/ Lone Person Household
Person living alone through choice, divorce or bereavement
Reconstituted Family
Family where 1+ of parents bring children from another relationship
(Step-family)
Symmetrical Family
Nuclear family with joint conjugal roles
Husband/ wife or co-habiting couples share domestic labour, childcare and leisure activities
Relationship = egalitarian
Neo-Conventional Family
Contemporary version of NF
Both parents work + share domestic work
Parents may be married/ co-habiting
Children = their biological/ adopted offspring
CHESTER believes this = most families are like
Cult of Childhood
S become obsessed with childhood
Child-centered
Children = focal point of family + wider S
Economic Asset
Children = perceived as financially +ve
Bringing in £, contributing to economy
Social Construct
Created by society
WAGG says this about childhood
Toxic Childhood
PALMER argues technology benefit adults
Damage children
Used to replace trad. parenting techniques
March of Progress
Wider S, family + therefore childhood = improving as time goes on
Age Patriarchy
Adults have power + control over children
GITTINS
Disappearance of Chidhood
POSTMAN’S view that childhood is no longer a distinct stage
Cross Cultural
Approach compares childhood in 1 S with another
Golden Age of Childhood
Childhood = time of happiness + innocence
PILCHER
Factory Acts
Law that removed children from workplace
Mini-adults
Described children in middle ages
ARIES’
Functional Fit
Nuclear structure of family emerged to meet needs of industrial society
PARSONS
Structural differentiation
Transfer of responsibilities/ function from one social institution to another
Nayar
S in south-west India (19th cent)
Used to criticise Murdock
Geographical mobility
Movement of people + families from 1 place to another
Loss of functions
Process where family becomes responsible for fewer functions
Through structural differentiation
SOAP
Adults can release tensions
Enables them to return to work the next day, ready to meet it’s demands
Functional for economic efficiency
Home-centred
Idea that as the standards of living are rise, families become more privatised
W+Y
Primary socialisation of children
1st stage in process of learning culture of S
Takes place within the fam
Industrialisation
Economic changes from farming to factories
Social mobility
Movement of groups/ individuals up or down social hierarchy
Achieved status
Social position based on individual effort, ability + reward
Conservative
Ideology which emphasises traditional values + dislikes social change
Overgenerous welfare state
Describes the state as too interfering in the lives of individuals
Privatisation
NR social policy of transferring an enterprise/ industry from the social sector (NHS) to the private sector
Free markets
NR economic system in which parties are determined by unrestricted competition between privately owned businesses
Abolition of welfare benefits
NR policy aimed at removing the underclass and their perceived culture of dependency
Underclass
Social class said by the NR to have carted an ‘overgenerous’ welfare state
Dependency culture
A shared way of life viewed negatively in which members are said to depend on state benefits rather than working for a living
Decline of the family
NR ideology which maintains that family values + traditional moral beliefs are breaking down and must be reversed
Nanny state
NR view of the welfare state
Moral decay
NR belief that S is in decline cause by a breakdown in traditional n+v
Capitalism
Economic system of production for profit
1 class = means of production, other = their labour
Proletariat
Social class of workers Have to work for wages; don't have means of production
Infrastructure
Economic base of S
Communism
Equal society without social classes/ class conflict Means of production = common property of all
Social class
Social group who share a similar economic situation e.g income and wealth
Bourgeoisie
Social class of owners of the means of production
Private property
Land + belongings owned by a social group/ individual
Kept for their exclusive use
Buffer zone
Idea families provide a space which appears to protect workers form the full-force of misery caused by C
ZARETSKY
ISA
Ideologica Sete Apparatus
Part of the superstructure that brainwash people into accepting inequalities
ALTHUSSER
Policing families
Describes social control of poor families by state professionals to ‘improve’ and change them
DONZELOT
Pester powers
Children demand the latest faction items/ gadgets from parents
contributes to the family as a unit of consumption
Superstructure
Parts of S which = based on the economic infrastructure including social institutions (fam, Ed)
Gender scripts
Expects norms that set out the different gender roles men and women play in a heterosexual household
Housewife role
Socially constructed role expected of women as a result of the industrial revolution
Gender role socialisation
Process of learning different roles associated with gender
Gender roles
Patterns of behaviour that are expected of individuals according to gender
DDOL
Division of roles, responsibilities + tasks within the home
Conjugal roles
Roles played by men + women in a marriage/ cohabitation relationship
