Sociology of Families Final Exam Review

Most people think of class as a ladder, but sociologist conceptualize social class as

Which of the following helps explain the mid-twentieth-century baby boom?

• World War II ended and soldiers returned to their families

Which of the following statements is more likely true for a high-income, high-education family than for a low-income, low-education family?

The household has a computer or other device always available for educational use in their home

Which of the following scenarios is an example of familism?

• A teenager misses several days from school to look after a sick relative

Archaeologists’ discovery of Stone Age family burials in Europe was sociologically significant because it showed that

• different family arrangements were honored, not just the nuclear family.

Which of the following is a circumstance facing Black families that likely makes them appear more matriarchal- that is, mother-dominated- than White families?

• a lack of job opportunities for Black men

There has been a nationwide count of people in the United States population every ten years since 1790. This periodic count is known as a

• census

The aggressive approach to parenting that stresses assertiveness and interactions with adults, and involves filling children’s schedules, is called

• concerted cultivation

Which of the following is a tread in poverty in the United States?

• It is common for families to move in and out of poverty over time.

Families are groups of related people, bound by

• biological, legal, or emotional connections

Yousif immigrated to New York where he was 25 years old. He found a job and began attending law school part-time. What immigrant generation would Yousif be considered?

• first generation

Which of the following supported the idea that the institution of marriage remains very important in U.S. society?

• the fight for access to marriage by gay and lesbian people

The research on Black families in the United States has centered on two important aspects of their lives. These are

• the impact of slavery and family resilience

How did the first major group of Latinos become Americans?

• The United States claimed more than Ralf of Mexico in what is now the American Southwest (after the Mexican-American War).

The process of families deciding who will do the dust, grocery shopping, and cooking is an example of

• division of labor

Between 1920 and 1965, as families acquired new household technologies such as dishwasher and microwave ovens, household labor changed in what way?

• Women experienced only a modest change in the hours of housework they did.

A family system in which people are considered descendants of their mother is called

• Matrilineal Descent

Which of the following statements partially explains why older Americans are less likely to be poor now compared to the 1960s?

• The Social Security program has distributed money to retired persons

How did ideas about children change during the 19th century?

• Children were now considered to be fundamentally innocent

Which of the following is the most accurate example of a split-household family?

• A Chinese man works on U.S. railroad, leaving his wife behind in China

The rapid growth of the American Indian population over the last century- and the last 50 years in particular- is mostly due to

• A greater desire, or willingness, of those with mixed ancestry to identify as American Indian

A young adult who can provide letter of recommendation from respected community leaders who are friends with his parents is often more likely to get a desired position or admission. These outcomes stem from the young adult’s

• social capital

For White families in the nineteenth century, what was a central reason from a dramatic decrease in the number of children born?

• Couples leaned how to prevent pregnancy

The difference between one’s class origins and class destination is known as

• social mobility

The practice of setting tax rates so that rich families usually pay higher taxes than poor families is called

• Progressive Taxation

Members of the upper class often marry each other, maintaining the deep pool of social capital available to them. This mate selection practice is called

• endogamy

The tendency of people of people to stay in the same social class throughout their lives is characteristic of

• class persistence

James grew up in a low-income family in a disadvantaged neighborhood. Despite the challenges he faced, he worked hard in school and went on to attend a prestigious university, where earned a degree in engineering. He then landed a high-paying job at a top technology company. Which term best describes Jame’s experience?

• upward social mobility

A family consisting of two parents and their children, whose priorities are personal fulfillment and common affection, would be considered a

• companionship family

One myth about families is that they were better in the past than they are today. What is misleading about this statement?

• Most families were not better in the past. Most people are romanticizing the past, because it defined a “nuclear family” structure.

Family life was fundamentally changed when the US economic system moved from __________ to ______

• agricultural to industrialization

Even though companionate marriages were based on principles of equality, husbands still had more power in most marriages in the 20th century. Why was this?

• Because men made more money than women

What is true about family income inequality in America since the 1960s?

• Family income inequality in America has increased since the 1960s.

Separating families has been used as a method of coercion and control in the United States. Gives 2 examples of family separation practices/ policies over history and provide some details based on what we learned in class.

• One separation practice is slavery among black women. If a black slave gave birth to a baby, it was not considered hers, but her slave owner. To control black women slave, slave owners would threaten to sell her baby. Next is the Native American Adoption Agency. During colonization, the government put out an advertisement about Native Americans in need. This adoption agency went to reservations, and coerced Native Americans to give up their children for adoption. Putting these children in white homes was a way of assimilation.

We have seen big changes in U.S. families over time. Why have these changes occurred, according to sociologists? In your answer, give at least one concrete example.

• Overtime, we have seen families go from “nuclear family” to companionship families. Meaning families have shifted from husband working and wife at home. To husband and wife working outside of the home. These changes occurred become of the economic, political, and social situations in life.

Policy solutions are constructed based on how people understand socia problems. what does this mean in terms of anti-poverty Olivier’s? Give two different examples of how people understand the problem and the different solution they therefore support.

Anti-poverty means the government is helping with poverty by creating programs to help relief poverty. First is to think of it as cultural, you question what has happened in the pass and has caused one to be in poverty. To solve this problem, you create solutions like Food Stamps, or WIC for women. Some people think of poverty as an individual problem. This means that they think people are in poverty because they are not working hard enough and they are lazy. They support people going out looking for a job to alleviate their poverty.

Barbara is a 35-year old executive at a banking firm. What is the opportunity cost of her decision to have children?

• She risks halting or losing her standing within the company or industry

After five years of marriage, Michelle and Barack Obama decided to undergo in vitro fertilization to try to have a baby. Headlines and references to the married couple “starting a family” indicate that

• couples without children are often considered less than a family.

If a country has a fertility rate of more than 2.1, the population will usually

• grow

Over the last 40 years, the average minutes per day that fathers engage in developmental activities with their children has

• increased

Why do many children have more that two parents involved in their lives?

• A growing number of families include stepparents and siblings from parents’ previous relationships

Since 2004, the number of international adoptions has dropped dramatically as the flow of children from certain countries shrank. What has caused this decline?

• International adoption was more closely scrutinized for ethical and legal violations

Sex and gender are different in that

• Gender refers to the social realization of biological sex

A commonly understood pattern of interaction that serves as a model of behavior in familiar situations is called

• social script

One of the reasons the number of employed women increased rapidly after World War was that

• Women obtained more education and wanted to use their degrees.

Why might a new mother not put her infant son on his back to sleep, despite abundant evidence that infants who do not sleep on their backs are at risk for SIDS?

• The national effort to educate parents of the risk has mostly highly educated mothers

Since the 1980s, divorce rates have

• decrease steadily

Which decisions legalized same-sex marriage?

• Obergefell v. Hodges

Marriage rates have

• fallen by more than half since 1970.

According to the next, ______ are more likely than _______ to report happier marriages.

• men; women

Many previously divorced couples over 50 choose cohabitation

• as a substitute for marriage

The greatest expenses in raising children tend to come from

• housing

Why might Latinx Americans descended from relatively recent immigrants groups have higher fertility rates?

• They moved from countries with a higher fertility rate and. Where having children is a cultural expectation

Which of the following is a potential factor affecting children’s reaction to divorce, as discussed in the text?

• residential moves and school transitions

What type of love drives people to carefully consider the pros and cons of different partners and then look within themselves, trying to identify what they really want from a relationship?

• Utilitarian love

Which of the following is true about racial-ethnic intermarriage in the United States?

• The intermarriage rate is still low compared with the potential for intermarriage.

The notion that sexual orientation is not the same as behavior means that

• sometimes people who identify as gay or lesbian have heterosexual romantic relationships

Lucia was concerned about the well-being of her 11-year-old, who seems increasingly anxious. What is a child well-being expert likely to prescribe for Lucia’s daughter?

• more play time

Studies of abstinence-only education have shown that

• it is not effective at influencing student behavior

After divorce, _________ are more than twice as likely to live in poverty than before the divorce.

• women and their children

What is the sexual double standard?

• Putting stricter controls on women’s sexual behavior than on men’s

What is gender socialization? Give an example.

What is the relationship between women’s employment and divorce from a husband? Be specific.

• Women who are employed and have economic freedom are more likely to divorce their husbands if they are in an unhappy marriage.

Most young adults see marriage as a sign of greater responsibility. How does this shape their behavior and decision making?

• Some young adults wait later on to get married, or some do get married, but they don’t engage in daring things. They become more responsible, take softer precautions, and they they about their family.

What is “snowplow” parenting and what is one critique of it?

• Snowplow parenting is where the parent does everything for the child, they remove every obstacle that might be in the child’s way. One critique of this is that it does not allow the child to be independent, make their own decisions, nor fail.

What does thinking sociologically show us about the decision to get married, a choice that to many feels very personal and private? Be sure to provide as much evidence from our course as you can in your response.

• When thinking sociologically about “why people get married”, most people marry people in the social spheres. When people get married something is being gained, whether it is an incentive or intimation. Also, getting married may be a social thing, showing people that your are established in society. So, yes choosing to get married may feel personal and private, however, socially, a person do it for many other reasons.

There is a lot of discussion about the current birth rate in the U.S. Explain what you have learned about this topic.

• The birth rate in the U.S. has declined, however it is not that people are not having children, it is because people are waiting until they are older to have children. In society, there has been a decrease in teenage pregnancy, and teenagers having babies, which is due to birth control, and other safe-sex choices. Many people are concerned about birth rates decreasing because, having children mean you have people to work in society.

What does the government used to count families in the U.S.

• census

What are the 3 institutional arenas?

• Family, state, and market