Study Guide for Chapter 14: Marriage and Family Key Terms and Concepts

These flashcards cover the essential concepts and key terms related to marriage and family in sociology.

Family

A socially recognized group (usually joined by blood, marriage, cohabitation, or adoption) that forms an emotional connection and serves as an economic unit of society.

Marriage

A legally recognized contract between two or more people in a sexual relationship who have an expectation of permanence about their relationship.

Nuclear Family

Two parents (traditionally a mother and a father) and children living in the same household.

Extended Family

A household that includes at least one parent and child as well as other relatives like grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins.

Monogamy

The practice of being married to one person at a time.

Polygamy

The state of being committed or married to more than one person at a time.

Patrilineal Descent

A type of unilateral descent that follows the father’s line only.

Matrilineal Descent

A type of unilateral descent that follows the mother’s line only.

Ambilineal Descent

A type of unilateral descent that follows either the father’s or the mother’s side exclusively.

Family Life Cycle

A set of predictable steps and patterns families experience over time.

Family Life Course

A sociological model of family that sees the progression of events as fluid rather than as occurring in strict stages.

Functionalism

Views the family as a social institution that performs essential functions for society, such as socializing children, providing emotional and practical support for its members, regulating sexual activity and reproduction, and providing its members with a social identity.

Conflict Theory

Focuses on the ways in which the family perpetuates social inequality and highlights how family structure can reinforce and support power dynamics and inequalities within society.

Symbolic Interactionism

Examines the family at a micro-level, focusing on daily interactions and meanings that family members create and maintain, emphasizing subjective experiences.

Endogamy

Marriage between people of the same social category.

Exogamy

Marriage between people of different social categories.

Homogamy

Marriage between individuals who are, in some culturally important way, similar to each other.

Heterogamy

Marriage between individuals who are culturally different.

Single-Parent Families

Families with one parent raising one or more children.

Cohabitation

The act of living together and having a sexual relationship without being married.

Same-Sex Couples

Couples of the same sex who live together in a committed relationship.

Divorce

The legal dissolution of a marriage.

Domestic Violence

Acts of violence or abuse against a person living in one’s household, especially a member of one’s immediate family.

Child Abuse

Physical, sexual, or emotional maltreatment or neglect of a child.