Sociology of the Family Final Exam Study Guide

Acculturation

The acquisition of a new culture and language.

Assimilation

The gradual reduction of ethnic distinction between immigrants and mainstream society.

Authoritarian style

a leadership approach characterized by strict control, limited input from subordinates, and a focus on obedience to authority.

Authoritative style

a leadership or parenting approach characterized by clear expectations, warmth, responsiveness, and encouragement of independence.

baby boom

The period of high birth rates in the United States was between 1946 and 1964.

blended family

Any family that includes stepparents, stepsiblings, or half-siblings.

Boundary ambiguity

The situation in which family members do not know or do not agree on who is in the family and what role each person plays.

care work

Work performed face-to-face to enhance the capabilities of another person.

cohabitation

Living together as a sexual or romantic couple without being married.

Companionship Blueprint

a structured approach or plan for cultivating and maintaining fulfilling relationships based on mutual understanding, communication, and support.

Conflict perspective

The view is that opposition and conflict define a given society and are necessary for social evolution.

Consensus perspective

A perspective that projects an image of society as the collective expression of shared norms and values.

Companionate marriage

A view of marriage as a companionship, a friendship, and a romance, rather than as a practical platform for cooperation and survival.

Concerted Cultivation

a parenting style characterized by active scheduling of children's activities, fostering of reasoning skills, and emphasis on verbal expression, often associated with middle-class families.

Courtship

The mate selection process in which couples begin a relationship with supervised contact in public, then proceed to additional dates in the woman’s home and then to marriage if the parents approve.

Culture

the shared set of beliefs, values, customs, and practices that shape the behavior and worldview of a particular group of people.

Endogamy

Marriage and reproduction within a distinct group

Exogamy

Marriage and reproduction outside one’s distinct group.

Family arena

The institutional arena where people practice intimacy, childbearing and socialization, and caring work.

family duty blueprint

outlines the roles, responsibilities, and expectations assigned to each family member within the household structure.

Family wage system

The amount necessary for a male earner to provide subsistence for his wife and children without their having to work for pay.

Feminist Theory

A theory that seeks to understand and ultimately reduce inequality between men and women.

Fertility

The number of children born in a society or among a particular group.

Gender-egalitarian marriage

a partnership where both partners share responsibilities, decision-making, and power equally regardless of traditional gender roles.

Gender identity

The identification with the social category boy/man or girl/woman.

Heteronormativity

The assumption that everyone is straight and that normal families are built around heterosexual relationships.

Homophily

The principle by which similar people have more of a given kind of contact than dissimilar people.

hooking up

A casual sexual or romantic encounter without explicit commitment or exclusivity.

Ideological work

the process of shaping and disseminating beliefs, values, and narratives to reinforce and legitimize certain social, political, or economic systems or agendas.

interdependence blueprint

emphasis on mutual dependence and commitment

Individualistic marriage

prioritizes personal fulfillment, autonomy, and self-expression within the marital relationship.

Infertility

The failure of a couple to have a successful pregnancy despite deliberately having sex without contraception.

Institutional marriage

a form of marriage characterized by its emphasis on social and economic stability, often involving traditional gender roles and responsibilities, and sanctioned by societal norms and institutions.

Intensive Mothering

a contemporary parenting ideology characterized by an emphasis on constant maternal involvement, child-centered activities, and high standards for nurturing and guiding children's development.

Involved father ideal

The father is an emotional, nurturing companion who bonds with his children as well as provides for them.

Labor force

comprises individuals who are actively employed or seeking employment within a particular economy.

Legal family

A group of individuals related by birth, marriage, or adoption.

Life chances

The practical opportunity to achieve desired material conditions and personal experiences.

LGBTQ pathways to parenting

adoption, surrogacy, assisted reproductive technologies, and co-parenting arrangements.

Male provider ideal

The father is an economic provider and authority figure for his children.

Market

The institutional arena where labor for pay, economic exchange, and wealth accumulation take place.

Marriage Market

The social space in which people search for potential marriage partners.

Mass incarceration

the widespread and disproportionate imprisonment of individuals, particularly from marginalized communities, within a society's criminal justice system.

Multipartner fertility

the occurrence of individuals having children with different partners throughout their reproductive lives.

“Mommy wars”

societal tensions and debates surrounding differing approaches to parenting and work-life balance, often characterized by judgment, criticism, and competition among mothers.

Modernity

A theory of the historical emergence of the individual as an actor in society and how individuality changed personal and institutional relations.

Nation

A socially constructed community characterized by a shared identity, culture, language, history, and territory, often possessing a collective sense of belonging and loyalty among its members.

Nation-state

A political entity characterized by a defined territory, a permanent population, a government, and the capacity to enter into relations with other states, often serving as a primary unit of analysis in sociological study.

Nonmarital birth ratio

refers to the proportion of births that occur to unmarried women within a given population or demographic group, indicating the prevalence of births outside of marriage.

Norm

a shared societal expectation or standard of behavior that guides and regulates individual actions within a particular culture or group.

Parenthood

the state or experience of being a parent, involving the responsibility, care, and nurturing of a child or children.

Permissive Style

involves low demands and high responsiveness from parents, often characterized by lenient discipline and a lack of structure or boundaries.

Poverty line

The level of income below which the federal government defines a family or individual as poor.

Separate spheres

The cultural doctrine under which women were to work at home, was to make it a sanctuary from the industrial world in which their husbands worked for pay.

Selection effect

The problem that occurs when the cause being studied has already been determined by the outcome that is under investigation.

Serial cohabition

the pattern of individuals engaging in successive cohabiting relationships with different partners over time, without necessarily progressing to marriage.

Serial monogamy

a pattern of having exclusive romantic or sexual relationships with one partner at a time, but sequentially over a lifetime.

Sexual identity

an individual's internal sense of their own sexual orientation, attraction, and preferences, which may encompass aspects such as heterosexuality, homosexuality, bisexuality, or asexuality.

Sexual double standard

The practice of applying stricter moral or legal controls to women’s sexual behavior than to men’s.

social capital

The access to resources one has by relationships and connections within a social network.

social class

a hierarchical system of categorizing individuals or groups based on their socioeconomic status, wealth, income, occupation, and access to resources and opportunities within a society.

Social Construction

the process through which individuals and societies create and assign meaning to concepts, identities, and phenomena through shared understandings and interactions.

Social mobility

The movement, up or down, between social classes.

Sociological imagination

the ability to understand personal troubles in the context of broader social structures and historical forces.

State

refers to the centralized political institution that exercises authority and control over a defined territory and population. It encompasses government institutions, laws, and administrative bodies that regulate society and maintain order, often reflecting power dynamics and interests within a society.

Stigma

A quality that is perceived as undesirable and that sets a person apart from others in his or her social category.

Structure

refers to the patterned arrangements of social relationships, institutions, and norms within a society, shaping human behavior. It examines how these elements interrelate to influence individuals' actions and life outcomes, emphasizing the role of social forces in constraining or enabling individual agency.

Symbolic interactionism

A theory concerned with the ability of humans to see themselves through the eyes of others and to enact social roles based on others’ expectations.

Total fertility rate

The number of children born to the average woman in her lifetime.

Wedding industrial complex

the commercialization and commodification of weddings, encompassing various industries profiting from societal expectations and traditions surrounding marriage ceremonies.