Sociological Trends, Concepts, and Theories in the Study of the Family

Question 1

What is a step family?

Answer 1

stepfamilies are families in which at least one of the children in the household is from a previous relationship of one of the parents;

OR a cohabiting or legal union of two adults with at least one member bringing a child or children from previous relationships

Question 2

What are blended families?

Answer 2

the marital union of two people at least one of whom was previously in a marriage or marriage-like union and is also a parent. A blended family is created when one parent of an established family marries or cohabits with another such partner, and all their children are considered members of the new family (involves two people with previous kids)

Question 3

What are transnational families?

Answer 3

also known as satellite families/kids –> includes immigrant families and foreign domestic workers, and separation from their children or spouses due to work (temporary)

Question 4

What is Delayed Child Launch/Boomerang children?

Answer 4

the term given to adult children who return to the “empty nest” alone or with a family, subsequently cluttering it again; young adults, particularly men are more likely to return for financial assistance and/or instrumental support (assistance w/ meals and cleaning and child care)

Question 5

What are bi-nuclear families?

Answer 5

a family consisting of children and their parents who live in two households, usually following a divorce

children often go back and forth between the house

Question 6

What are extended families?

Answer 6

also called multigenerational household –> a family in which two or more generations (like grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins) share a household

Question 7

What are the 2 main census family types to have the highest percentage of change from 2001-2011?

Answer 7

common law/cohabiting increased;

male lone parent-families increased

Question 8

what are the three important legal changes in Canada according to their date that had ramifications in the way families are structured?

Answer 8

1. 1968 –> Divorce Act; women had access to divorce
2. 1985 –> Divorce act was fine tuned
3. 2005 –> same sex marriage became legal

Question 9

What is a ‘household’?

Answer 9

a set of related and unrelated individuals who share a dwelling

Question 10

what is ‘kinship’?

Answer 10

kinship systems establish relationships between individuals and groups on the model of biological relationships between parents and children, between siblings and between marital partners

Question 11

what is ‘kin’?

Answer 11

kin are your relatives through “blood” (biologically), and marriage (i.e cousins, aunts, uncles, siblings, parents etc.)

Question 12

How is family a form of practice? what does it mean by saying ‘doing family’?

Answer 12

family is a form of social practice and something one does, and helps us transcend/surpass heteronormative (heterosexual being the norm), patriarchal (male centred), and Eurocentric; and its learned behaviour through genetics, family history, friendships etc..

Question 13

Describe the theory of Functionalism?

Answer 13

proposed by Talcott Parsons –> assumes that society is a living organism or machine, made up of serious interrelated parts working together for the good of the whole

• most conservative definitions of family is based on this theory
• looks at change as being bad and says that any alterations to family life is deemed deviant
• this was developed in the 50s and 60s where nuclear families were the norm

Question 14

What are the limitations of Functionalism

Answer 14

• often tautological/repetitive in application
• highly Eurocentric
• cannot account for social change because ‘all change is deviant’

Question 15

Describe Marxism?

Answer 15

• proposed by Friedrich Engels
• private property and accumulation of this property int he hands of.male patriarchs is the source of familial inequality
• therefore, said inequality within the family is NOT NATURAL or inevitable and that change is a normal part of social life
• historical materialism: looks at causes of developments and changes in human society in the means by which humans produce the necessities of life collectively
  inequality is not considered devaint

Question 16

what are some limitations to marxism?

Answer 16

• assumes conflict and contradiction

- can struggle to account of causes and effects outside of socio-economic (i.e. race, gender, ability)

Question 17

Describe Symbolic Interactionism theory?

Answer 17

• society is built from individuals and their immediate interactions
• if you want to understand social life in general and family life in particular, you should examine how individuals construct meaning through their daily interactions with others

Question 18

What are some limitations to symbolic interactionism?

Answer 18

1. struggles to account for large scale sociological, psychological and biological factors
2. overly individualized and ahistorical ‘lacks historical context or perspective’

Question 19

What is the Exchange theory?

Answer 19

Focuses on understanding balance between the costs and rewards that marital partners obtain when choosing to be and remain within a conjugal relationship

Question 20

what are some limitations of exchange theory?

Answer 20

1. assumes that human agents are rational actors with no personal history -> that humans just add everything up all the time in their heads and act according to how numbers add up
2. almost useless outside of micro interacts

Question 21

What is the Family Systems Theory?

Answer 21

theory that families are closed systems of interactions or site of interacting personalities

interactions between individuals and their micro (family environment), mesh (school), eco (parents workplace), macro *customs, clues, laws of a culture)

Question 22

what are some limitations with family systems theories?

Answer 22

1. focus on homeostasis which means its often working to prevent change that probably should happen - says family looks at everything from a systematic level
2. its a model - based on brofenbrenner and not really a theory
3. confuse the system for the “thing”

Question 23

What are developmental theories?

Answer 23

• mainly psychologically based
• families influenced by developmental stages/life cycles
• life-course develops these theories sociological implications

Question 24

what are limitations of developmental theories

Answer 24

• its a psychological study therefore makes use of a different object of study
• it struggles to account for sociological phenomena, especially those related to race, gender and class
• it is heteronormative and exclusionary

Question 25

What are feminist theories?

Answer 25

• when theory meets activism

- “private” matters are worth study and in need of change

Question 26

What are the 4 types of feminism?

Answer 26

1. liberal –> equality before the law
2. marxist –> SES equality for females
3. Radical –> tear apart entire system of gender and rebuild
4. post-structural –> power from below i.e. wearing heels to seem more assertive and authoritative
5. post-colonial -> feminism in terms of inequality with the colonization process

Question 27

what is queer theory?

Answer 27

queer theory is focuses on the mismatch between gender, sex and desire

Question 28

what are some limitations for feminist theory?

Answer 28

1. some feminist theories struggle to account for additional forms of systematic inequality
2. early forms of feminism were associated with some rather questionable movements, such as eugenics and prohibition
3. activism can comprise research

Question 29

what are the seven biases in theorizing about the family?

Answer 29

1. monolithic –> under represents diversity in family forms
2. conservative –> only provide view of nuclear family; change is considered bad
3. sexist –> assumption of natural division between sexes
4. ageist –> families consist of two middle aged adults and excludes children
5. micro-structural –> treats families as encapsulated units and ignores extraneous/external factors
6. racist –> ignored families of non-euro/white cultures
7. heterosexist –> treated heterosexual family as “natural” and denied gay and lesbian families

not all theories consisted of all of these but these were the top that was presented in some theories

Question 30

What are definitions of the two biases mentioned in class (classist and Ableist)?

Answer 30

1. Classist –> assumes that families are always middle class, excluding both the poor and wealthy from analysis
2. Ableist –> assumes that all family members are able bodied