Unit 3 SOC-100

By marriage, blood, or adoption.

How has family traditionally been defined?

As a household unit, a set of social roles, or a pattern of interactions.

What are alternative ways to define family?

People marry later and more remain unmarried.

What trends are seen in American marriage patterns?

No single dominant family form.

What has been true about family forms since the 1970s?

Economic shifts, education, gender roles, and cultural changes.

What factors influence trends in marriage and family?

A family consisting of parents and children.

What is a nuclear family?

Kin networks beyond the nuclear family.

What is an extended family?

exogamy

Marriage outside a certain group of people

endogamy

marriage within a certain group of people

Family maintains social order through socialization and stability.

What is the functionalist view of family?

Family roles are continuously negotiated.

What does symbolic interactionism say about family?

It highlights inequality, labor division, and power dynamics.

How does feminist theory view family?

Living together without marriage; less stable but common.

What is cohabitation, and how is it viewed?

No

Are children of same-sex parents disadvantaged?

Increasingly common; can offer freedom and fulfillment.

What are views on singlehood today?

Origin → Education → Destination.

What does the OED triangle stand for?

Family background like parents’ education or SES.

What does “Origin” refer to in the triangle?

Job, income, and social status

What does “Destination” refer to?

It reproduces social inequality instead of reducing it.

What does persistent inequalities hypothesis state about education?

Family background still strongly impacts outcomes.

What did a study of 8 European countries show?

Family background and social context matter more than school quality.

What did the Coleman Report (1966) find?

Class size, tracking, and discipline policies like school-to-prison pipeline

What are challenges to Coleman’s conclusions?

Instability and lack of engagement weaken development.

How does home life affect education?

Through safety, resources, and social capital.

How does neighborhood influence education?

Expectations, motivation, and behavior matter.

How do peers affect academic success?

Learning/knowledge, socialization/assimilation, credentialism, and hidden curriculum.

What are the four main functions of schooling?

Education boosts skills, leading to higher wages.

What is Human Capital Theory?

College grads earn more than high school grads.

What is the College Wage Premium?

College grads accumulate more lifetime wealth.

What is the College Wealth Premium?

Family background and peers explain differences best.

What did the Coleman Report conclude about achievement?

Income, identity, structure, relationships, purpose.

Name 5 reasons why work matters.

Private ownership and market competition determine production/distribution.

What is capitalism?

Assembly-line production for efficiency.

What is Fordism?

Workers lose control over labor and feel dehumanized.

What is alienation (Marxist concept)?

Businesses run by entrepreneurial families.

What is family capitalism?

Run by professional managers.

What is managerial capitalism?

Companies offer economic security.

What is welfare capitalism?

Corporations hold shares in one another.

What is institutional capitalism?

Transnational systems of production and finance.

What is global capitalism?

A legal entity with personhood, separate from owners.

What is a corporation?

A corporation that operates in multiple countries.

What is a TNC?

Market-seeking (customers, trade barriers) and asset-seeking (labor, skills).

Why do corporations expand internationally?

Buying goods/services instead of producing in-house.

What is outsourcing?

Moving operations abroad to cut costs.

What is offshoring?

Unregulated, untaxed economic activity.

What is the informal economy?

Informality exists due to lack of formal jobs.

What is the dualist view?

Informality avoids restrictive laws.

What is the legalist view?

People choose informality to avoid taxes/regulation.

What is the voluntarist view?

Capitalist strategy to lower labor costs.

What is the structuralist view?

Through gig work, subcontracting, and essential services.

How are formal and informal economies linked?

A political community with shared identity and governance.

What is a nation-state?

Exclusive state authority over land and people.

What is sovereignty?

The ability to carry out one’s will.

What is power?

The justified right to exercise power.

What is authority?

Based on personal appeal of a leader.

Charismatic Authority

 Based on customs and long-standing practices

Traditional Authority

 Based on formal rules and laws ("the rules rule")

Legal-Rational Authority

A rational system based on merit and rules.

What is bureaucracy (Weber)?

Division of labor, hierarchy, formal rules, merit hiring, impersonality, written communication.

Name 6 traits of bureaucracy.

Red tape, alienation, goal displacement, dehumanization.

Name 4 drawbacks of bureaucracy.

Public workers who enforce policy and influence service delivery.

Who are street-level bureaucrats?

Open conflict and visible power struggles.

What is one-dimensional power?

Limiting debate to avoid conflict.

What is two-dimensional power?

Shaping beliefs and desires through institutions.

What is three-dimensional power?

Who wins, who is influential, who benefits, who governs.

What are 4 indicators of power?

Distribution of political power.

What does women’s representation in Congress indicate?

A system of beliefs and practices around sacred things.

How is religion defined?

Inspires awe/reverence (e.g., Mecca, Bible).

What is sacred?

Mundane, everyday world.

What is profane?

Worship of gods (e.g., Christianity).

What is theism?

Focus on moral principles (e.g., Buddhism).

What is ethicalism?

Belief in natural spirits (e.g., totemism).

What is animism?

Large, established groups or religious buildings.

What are churches?

Breakaway, revivalist groups.

What are sects?

Institutionalized sects with many followers.

What are denominations?

Loosely affiliated, unstructured religious groups.

What are cults?

It’s the “opium of the people,” dulling oppression and promoting inequality.

What did Karl Marx believe about religion?

Protestant values helped capitalism develop.

What did Max Weber argue?

It creates social cohesion and collective conscience.

What did Émile Durkheim say about religion?

Shift from religion to rational/scientific worldviews.

What is secularism?

No, they can differ.

Do belief, belonging, and behavior always align?

Religious elements that interpret U.S. history and values.

What is civil religion?

Decline in political power of religious institutions.

What is disestablishment?

“11:00 on Sunday morning is the most segregated hour in America.”

What did MLK Jr. say about segregation and religion?