Families

Family

A group connected by blood, sexual relationship, or the law.

Kinship

The most basic form of human relationships, defined by blood, affinity (affection), or adoption.

Marriage

Socially-sanctioned union that includes rights and responsibilities of the spouses to each other, their children, and the larger society.

Adoption

Process of parents voluntarily choosing to have a legal parent-child relationship with a child that is not related by blood.

Blended family

Family with a step-parent, step-sibling or half-sibling.

Matrilineal society

Determines kinship, names, property, and titles through the female line.

Patrilineal society

Determines kinship, names, property, and titles through the male line.

Universal norm

A norm that exists in virtually every society.

Incest taboo

Cultural prohibition against sexual relations between people who are related to one another.

Longitudinal data

Data gathered at different points in time.

Polygamy

Having multiple spouses at the same time.

Polygyny

One man has multiple wives at the same time.

Polyandry

One woman has multiple husbands at the same time.

Nuclear family

A married couple and their dependent children.

May-December relationship

Relationship in which there is a large age gap between partners.

Companionate affection

Deep emotional commitment.

Divorce

Legally-recognized termination of a marriage.

No-fault divorce

Marriage dissolutions in which neither spouse is required to prove the fault of the other.

Gray divorce

Divorce over the age of 50.

Social integration

Degree to which people in a community have connections to one another’s daily lives.

Thin market

A market where the difficulty of finding potential partners creates a barrier to forming relationships.

Hook-up

A sexual encounter without a longstanding commitment.

Double standard for sexual behavior

Women are judged more harshly than men for the same sexual behavior.

Cohabitation

Unmarried couples living together.

Cohabitation effect

Phenomenon in which couples who cohabit before marriage are more likely to divorce.

Relationship inertia

When cohabitation makes marriage seem like an obvious next step rather than a carefully thought-out decision.

Wedding industrial complex

Merging of capitalist industries with social and cultural marriage rituals.

Commoditized

When a social ritual is turned into a product or service that we purchase.

Consumer rites

Elaborations of older customs as businesses attempted to create new markets for their goods and services.

Heteronormativity

Assumption or attitude that heterosexuality is the normal and natural form of sexuality.

Childfree

Term preferred by some individuals who do not have children.

Fertility rate

Births per woman.

Breadwinner-homemaker model

One partner (usually the man) worked outside the home to earn money, while another partner (usually the woman) stayed at home to do the housework, child care, and other household labor.

Dual-earner arrangement

Both partners have wage-earning jobs outside the home.

Ethnographic research

A type of research based on spending time with people and closely observing their daily interactions.

The second shift

The extra amount of household work a woman does when returning home from her wage-earning job.

Leisure gap

Differences in leisure time between men and women in a household.

Cognitive labor (aka the mental load)

Describes the often invisible intellectual and planning work involved in running a household.

Parental leave

Leave for both or either parent(s), depending upon the country.

Maternity leave

Leave for women who have just given birth (or adopted children, in some countries).

Paternity leave

Leave for new fathers.

Social democracies

Countries where the government provides a substantial set of social programs to support families.

Intimate-partner violence

Physical violence, sexual violence, stalking, and psychological aggression (including coercive acts) by a current or former intimate partner.

Public health crisis

Complex health-related problem that affects people over broad geographical areas.

Financial abuse

Preventing a person from working or having access to money.

Entrenched inequality

Inequality deeply ingrained in social, economic, and political institutions.

First-generation immigrants

The first generation in a family to move to another country.

Second-generation immigrants

The U.S.-born children of immigrant parents.

Obergefell v. Hodges (2015)

Supreme Court ruling that legalized same-sex marriage.

Multi-generational households

Multiple generations live under the same roof.

Sandwich generation

People responsible for the care of both their children and their elderly parents.