Sociology 323: Sociology of Minority Families - Exam 1 Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards covering Modules 1 and 2 of Sociology 323, including family definitions, structural/functional patterns, minority status, theoretical perspectives, and stages of Black family studies.

Family as a Micro Social Institution (Billingsly)

Billingsly's conceptualization of the family as a micro social institution that functions within and is affected by macro institutions and structures, meaning it cannot be studied in isolation.

Different ways a Family is defined

Structural and Functional

Structural Definition of Family

A way of defining family through its composition, specific features, patterns, and processes in society.

Family Compositions

Nuclear, Consanguineal, Conjugal

Consanguineal Family

A family unit in which members are related to one another through blood.

Conjugal Family

A family unit in which members are related to one another through marriage.

Family Residential Aspects

Matrilocal, Patrilocal, and Neolocal

Matrilocal Residence

A residential pattern where a couple resides with the wife's family.

Patrilocal Residence

A residential pattern where a couple resides with the husband's family.

Neolocal Residence

A residential pattern where a coupled pair moves into a new, independent residence on their own.

Family Relational Status

Matriarchal, Patriarchal, and Egalitarian

Strengths defining the Family (Structure)

o   Easy to recognizes what is/is not a family

o   Can easily categorize and compare families

Weaknesses defining the Family (Structural)

o   Values placed on nuclear patriarchal family

o   Too much examining components of the family

Functional Definition of Family

A definition of family as an institution based on the specific functions it performs within society.

Manifest Functions of the Family

The explicit functions performed by families, which include reproduction, socialization (teaching behaviors), and instrumental care (providing protection, housing, food, and emotional support).

Universal Functions of the Family

Agent of social placement and Agent of social control

Agent of Social Placement

A universal function of the family wherein individuals are sorted into specific social positions, roles, and statuses within society.

Agent of Social Control

A universal function wherein the family group influences individual behavior to ensure conformity to societal norms.

Race (Lifespan Definition)

Categories of people that the majority designates as sharing membership that endure throughout the lifespan.

Race (Phenotype Definition)

Groups of persons labeled or grouped together based on important physical characteristics.

Ethnicity

A self-conscious collection of people united by shared experiences, including common origin, oppression, and language.

Minority Status

The positioning of racial or ethnic groups in society that places them in restricted power and inferior status, resulting in limited opportunities, rewards, involuntary membership, endogamy, and unequal treatment.

Endogamy

The practice of marrying within one's own designated group.

What are some examples of how race, ethnicity, and minority status are important to the status of the family?

Childhood socialization, Assimilation Issues, Morality rates in Black Families vs. White counterparts

During childhood, what do minority children (specifically Black) have to worry for?

Their perception/efficacy versus that of what society thinks of them

Self-esteem

How an individual feels and values themselves without operating based off what they think their value is to society.

Self-efficacy

An individual's belief in what they are capable of doing.

What study portrays the way Black children are seen in America?

Clark Doll Study

What is a “Chilly Classroom?”

An environment when minority children are not welcomed, and are stereotyped if they behave a certain way

What is “The Talk”

Minority parents voicing how Black children act in America, and using code switching when talking to a certain figure

Assimilation: Double-consciousness (W.E.B Dubois)

The internal negotiation of two worlds experienced by minorities, where one is socialized in their own group's rules while constantly remaining aware of majority perception through self-surveillance and code-switching.

Morality Rates in Black Families

§  Men and women have shorter life expectancy compared to white counterparts

§  Men have the shortest life expectancy

Children have higher mortality compared to white counterparts2

Dominant Family Narratives (Zinn)

Ideals defining family as a stable, warm, and happy private sphere consisting of two heterosexual married adults and children, acting as a trusted haven from the outside world.

Major Institutions influence different aspects of Family Life

Government, Education, Economy, Religion

What are the many ways the governments affected the formation of the minority family?

Establishing of welfare, immigration policies, mass incarceration, child support system

What did the welfare system do the minority family?

Led to the increase of female-headed households

What did the child-support system do the minority family?

Put strain on the household, when the parent is not able to provide, impacting relationship between the parent and child when they have to go to jail.

What does education do the minority family?

Impacts marriage, especially for woman

How does education affect the woman when wanting to attain a marriage?

Go into the workplace, delays the age when they have children, and have fewer children

How does a capitalist economy affects the formation of the minority family?

Result in adultification and Intergenerational families

How can religion affect the minority in family

Change in beliefs; impacts the ideas about the roles in families

Historical Continuity Perspective

A theoretical perspective focusing on the cultural history of minority families, asserting that present characteristics derive from past traditions and that groups retain parts of their culture during assimilation.

Structural Perspective

A theoretical perspective arguing that political trends, social movements, and institutions (such as slavery, emancipation, and the Great Migration) disorganize initial cultural patterns and directly shape family structure.

The Afrocentric Model

A conceptual framework asserting that core African culture remains intact, while its external form adapted to conditions imposed on Black Americans.

Black Feminist Theory

A holistic framework promoting racial equality, child care, and the strengthening of Black family structures while emphasizing women's roles and ongoing father involvement.

The Culture of Poverty

A conceptual model attributing Black family structure to environmental traits like female dominance, immediate gratification, fatalism, and disorganization stemming from unemployment and congested living conditions.

Exchange Theory

A theoretical framework centered on rewards, costs, and reinforcements that prompt human behavior and shape marriage and family interaction patterns.

Historical Materialism

A perspective (associated with Karl Marx) viewing the family as a product of economic and political forces, emphasizing how wage-labor systems and capitalism shape Black family structures.

Internal Colonialism

A theoretical model examining how racism is utilized for political and economic exploitation, forcing racial groups into subordinate positions denied equal societal participation.

Poverty Acculturation

Focused on economic conditions that brought about family disorganization

The Pathologists (Moynihan)

An approach asserting that weaknesses within the Black family structure were the primary cause of poverty, educational failures, and unemployment in the Black community.

The Reactive Period

A stage in Black family research where behavioral scientists showed Black families were similar to White families except for impoverishment and slavery, highlighting how behaviors deemed undesirable in Black families were validated when practiced by White families.

Black Nationalist Family Studies

A body of research (including Billingsly's work) viewing Black families as nonpathological and viable, emphasizing their inherent strengths despite neglect by political and economic systems.

The Neoconservative Era

Basic transformation in the ideology and research on Black families, expanding Black family research and creating new theoretical constructs

Herbert Guttman's Research

Historical study demonstrating that between the 1800s and 1950s, the majority of African American families were two-headed/married households, highlighting the historical value placed on marriage.

Cultural Deviant Perspective

An ideological perspective dominant until the 1960s that treats minority family behaviors, values, and practices that differ from Anglo families as pathological or deviant.

Cultural Equivalent Perspective

A perspective asserting that when socioeconomic status is controlled for, racially and ethnically different families show more similarities than differences.

Cultural Relevant Perspective

A perspective originating in the 1960s-1970s that views minority families as different but functional family forms, focusing on unique cultural characteristics to understand their operation.

Communalism (Niara Sudarkasa)

A West African cultural trait originating in the resource-abundant 'Southern Cradle' where family and community share resources and care for one another.

Blood Ties (Niara Sudarkasa)

A West African family pattern surviving slavery where primary importance is placed on consanguineal (blood) ties over conjugal (marital) ties.

Fictive Kin (Niara Sudarkasa)

Individuals who are not related by blood or marriage but are treated as integral members of the extended family network.

Value of Children (Niara Sudarkasa)

Responsibility of the extended kin network as well as biological parents

Elderly (Niara Sudarkasa)

Age respected, associated with wisdom

Social Policy and the African American Family

Examines how public policy and systemic economic factors impact Black families:

• Public Policy & Welfare: Historical policy failures (e.g., AFDC or Aid to Families With Dependent Children rules) penalized two-parent homes; welfare transitions (TANF) moved mothers into low-wage work lacking quality childcare.

• Economic & Incarceration Factors: High male unemployment and racially biased justice penalties destabilize family structure.

• Proposed Reforms: Universal family allowances, elimination of job discrimination, community childcare, and expanded public employment.

What happened to slaves when transported to the New World?

Transported in small numbers, losing their culture and being separated from their ethnic group

What happened to the enslaved when they were forced to assimilate?

New language, habits, and folkways

What happened when slaves were unable to find materials to practice customs?

They find substitutes to resemble materials from Africa

What was family life like for the enslaved?

Only present if owners allowed; had to mirror New World family life

What was childbearing like for enslaved women?

Forced to have children with owner/mates they did not select

What happened to enslaved families the impacted their formation of family?

Children, husbands, and wives were sold to separate plantations

From the establishment of emancipation to the great migration, how are AA affected?

aimless wondering leads to disorganization and demoralization

Because of the great migration, what was no longer applicable?

old order/way of relating, disrupting the culture that once existed

What happened to the extended family during the abolishing of slavery into the great migration?

Placed a strain on the extended family

What were the impacts of emancipation on family life?

difficulty for men to support their family, adoption of patriarchy by Black men —> Unwed motherhood

Now that AA are urbanized, there’s a decline in ________ and increase __________________

extended households; concentration of poverty and poor living conditions

What are the many characteristics to the concentration of poverty and poor living conditions now experienced by urbanized AA?

Crime, health issues, and juvenile delinquency