Chapter 1 sociology

Front: How does sociologist William Goode explain the reciprocal relationship between family and society?

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• Society relies on families to socialize individuals and keep society running. In return, society provides families with institutions (like schools and healthcare) to survive.

• Front: What is a process-based definition of family?

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• A definition based on what a family does (their roles and actions) rather than who is in it (blood or marriage). This includes diverse, non-traditional families.

Front: What are the 6 Universal Functions of the Family identified by Shirley Zimmerman?

• Reproduction: Adding new members.

• Physical Care: Feeding and housing members.

• Socialization: Teaching skills, values, and behavior.

• Social Control: Maintaining order and discipline.

• Affective Nurturance: Providing love and emotional support.

• Economic Support: Producing and sharing money/goods.

Front: How does Statistics Canada (Census) define a "Census Family"?

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• Back: People living in the same home who are either a married couple, a common-law couple, or a single parent with children (or grandparents with grandchildren).

Front: How does Anne-Marie Ambert define family, and why does she define it as an "institution"

• She defines it as a group bound by blood, adoption, or marriage that has a specific set of expected behaviors and responsibilities to perform. Calling it an institution implies families have a set of expected behaviors to perform (process-based definition).

Front: How does the Vanier Institute of the Family define family?

• Two or more people bound over time by consent, birth, adoption, or placement who take on key responsibilities like care, love, socialization, and financial support.

• Front: What evolutionary trait drove the emergence of human family groupings, according to anthropologists?

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• Because human babies are born with big brains, they are completely helpless for years and need a family unit for long-term care and survival.

• Front: How did human family groupings shift away from primate "hordes"?

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• Humans replaced strict physical dominance with kinship rules and social taboos against uncontrolled aggression and sexual activity, creating peaceful co-operation.

• Front: What were the primary gender roles in Hunter-Gatherer families, and how did they impact women's status?

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• Men hunted and made tools; women gathered plants/small prey, cared for kids, and held medicinal knowledge. Women provided over two-thirds of the food, giving them high social status and equal/egalatarian power.

• Front: How did the transition to Agricultural Families change household structure and gender dynamics?

• Farming needed large families for labor. Land ownership created patriarchy (men controlling wealth/decisions) and monogamy to secure inheritance, dropping women's status to property/domestic roles.

• What was the economic structure of pre-industrial families?

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• Families worked together as producers inside or near the home (farms or artisan shops). Work was shared among parents and children, and marriage was strictly an economic necessity.

• Front: How did the Industrial Revolution change the family's economic role?

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• Back: Work moved outside the home into urban factories for money wages. The family stopped producing its own goods and instead used wages to purchase consumer items.

Front: Define the "Industrial Nuclear Family" ideal of 19th-century Canada.

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• Back: Men were wage-earners/providers working outside the home; women were nurturers working exclusively within the home. Motherhood was idealized as a sacred role.

• Front: How did the concept of childhood change during the Industrial Revolution?

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• Childhood shifted from a period of factory labor to an "age of innocence" focused on school and play, reinforced by compulsory education and child labor laws.

• Front: What defined the "Consumer Family" of the early-to-mid 20th century?

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• Back: Men were single breadwinners; women were full-time homemakers provided with newly manufactured household appliances to raise children and manage consumption.

• Front: What structural shifts occurred in Canadian families during the Post-WWII "Baby Boom" (1946–1967)?

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• Back: Economic prosperity allowed Canadians to afford larger families (averaging 4 children per woman). Television shows reinforced the ideal nuclear family (e.g., Father Knows Best).

Front: What legal and social shifts in the 1960s and 1970s transformed Canadian family structures?

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  • Introduction of the birth control pill (1965 legal use).

  • 1968 Divorce Act (more lenient divorce options).

  • Surging female workforce participation (81% of women employed by 2005) due to economic necessity and women's rights movements.

• Front: Differentiate between Consanguinity and Conjugal relationships.

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  • Consanguinity: Relationship by blood ties.

  • Conjugal: Relationship based on sexual/marital partnership.

• Front: Contrast Patrilineal, Matrilineal, and Bilateral descent systems.

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  • Patrilineal: Traces family lineage and property inheritance exclusively through the father's line.

  • Matrilineal: Traces lineage and inheritance exclusively through the mother's line.

  • Bilateral: Regards both maternal and paternal sides as equally important (standard in modern Canada).

• Front: Define the "Family Decline Hypothesis" vs. the perspective of modern sociologists (e.g., Rajulton & Ravanera).

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• The hypothesis claims modern changes made the family unit weak and failing. Modern sociologists disagree, arguing families haven't broken down—they’ve just adapted from economic necessities into voluntary units chosen for emotional support.

• Front: What legal distinction does the Law Commission of Canada recommend regarding "Conjugal" vs. "Non-Conjugal" adult relationships?

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• They recommend extending legal and financial rights to non-conjugal "close personal adult relationships" (like cohabiting siblings or care partners), rather than limiting legal family protections only to romantic/sexual (conjugal) partners.

• Front: Define modern Canadian family variations: Transitional, Dual-Income, and Blended families.

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  • Transitional: Mother temporarily leaves the workforce to raise young children.

  • Dual-Income: Both spouses work full-time jobs.

  • Blended: Formed when divorced/separated parents with children remarry.