Sociology of Families Flashcards
Refers to a group of people who are connected by blood, a sexual relationship, or the law
Family
Includes relationships defined by blood, affinity (affection), and adoption
Kinship
A socially sanctioned union that includes legal rights and responsibilities of the spouses to each other, their children, and the larger society. (In Biblical law its the consummation of a union of two hearts made to one to become a marriage)
Marriage
The process of parents voluntarily choosing to have a legal parent-child relationship with a child who isn’t related to them by blood
Adoption
A family with a step-parent, step-sibling, or half-sibling
Blended families
Determining kinship between generations through the mother’s line
Matrilineal
Determining kinship, names, property, and titles though the father’s line
Patrilineal
Existing in virtually all societies
Universal
The cultural prohibition against sexual activity between relatives
Incest taboo
Data gathered at different points in time
Longitudinal data
Having multiple spouses at the same time
Polygamy
One man having multiple wives
Polygyny
One woman having multiple husbands
Polyandry
A married couple and their dependent children
Nuclear family
Affection based on a deep emotional commitment
Companionate affection
The legally recognized termination of a marriage
Divorce
Allowed couples to divorce without having to prove that one of them broke their marriage vows or acted irresponsibly
No-fault divorce
Among those over 50 years old, the divorce rate has doubled in the last 30 years
Gray divorce
The degree to which people are connected to each other and to social institutions
Social integration
The cost of finding potential partners presents a barrier to forming relationships
Thin market
A sexual encounter characterized by a lack of longstanding commitment
Hook-up
Women’s reputations still suffer more for engaging in hook-ups than men’s do
Double-standard for sexual behavior
Living together with a significant other (not married)
Cohabitation
Marriages that begin with cohabitation are more likely to end in divorce
Cohabitation effect
Cohabitation encourages people to “slide” into marriage, rather than “decide” to marry
Relationship inertia
The merging of industry with social rituals surrounding marriage
Wedding-industrial complex
Turning weddings into events that have economic value because of the products and services we purchase for them
Commoditization of the wedding
Elaborations of older customs as businesses attempted to create new markets for their services and products
Consumer rites
Reflecting the attitude and assumption that heterosexuality is normal and natural (technically it is)
Heteronormative
A term which some prefer because it does not imply that a life without children is necessarily sad, lonely or “less.” (this is the most “I’m catering to your feelings” sentence ever lol)
Childfree
Births per woman
Fertility rates
A gendered labor arrangement in which one partner (usually the man) worked outside the home to earn money, and another partner (usually the woman) stayed at home to do the housework, childcare, and other household labor
Breadwinner-homemaker model
In which both spouses have wage-earning jobs
Dual-earner arrangement
Obtaining permission from participants in a study to closely observe daily interactions with others and the environment
Ethnographic research
Once the husband and wife came home from their wage-earning jobs, the wife bore the brunt of performing the childcare and housework
Second shift
A dynamic in which working men were able to use after-work hours to rest, recharge and pursue hobbies, whereas their employed wives arrived home and immediately headed to the kitchen to begin the evening shift of dinner, dishes, and laundry
Leisure gap
Leave from work for a period of time that may be provided for both or either parent
Parental leave
Provides protected, paid leave for women who have just given birth (or adopted children, in some countries)
Maternity leave
Provides protected paid leave for new dads
Paternity leave
Taxes are higher but the government provides more social programs aimed at supporting families and reducing the gap between the rich and the poor
Social democracies
Physical violence, sexual violence, stalking, and psychological aggression (including coercive acts) by a current or former intimate partner
Intimate partner violence
A complex phenomenon that arises because of cultural norms and social policies around gender, inequality, and violence
Public health crisis
Inequality rooted in social and economic conditions such as income and wealth, social mobility, access to affordable health care and childcare, and other factors
Socioeconomic disparities
Deeply ingrained in our social institutions and thus unlikely to change without large-scale efforts
Entrenched ineqaulity
Tendency of American politics to focus on socioeconomic extremes, leaving out the middle class
Missing middle
Being forced to leave the country (non-citizens usually)
Deportation
Barred individuals from seven Muslin-majority nations (even those traveling on legal visas) from entering the US
Executive Order 13768
A 1972 ruling which held that US women had a constitutional right to abortion access in the first trimester of pregnancy
Roe v Wade
Families in which multiple generations live under the same roof
Multi-generational households
A group of people who are responsible for the care of both their children and their elderly parents
Sandwich generation
