Social Problems: The Changing Family

Flashcards covering the sociological perspectives, historical changes, and contemporary issues of the family based on Chapter 11 of James M. Henslin's Social Problems.

Economic Liability

A status children acquired after the Industrial Revolution because they could no longer work and instead primarily consumed resources.

Loss of Functions

The process where traditional family tasks—such as economic production, socialization of children, and care of the sick—were assumed by other institutions following industrialization.

The Quiet Revolution

The social change encompassing shifting women's roles, greater equality, and the mass entry of women into the workforce.

Divorce Cycle

The phenomenon where children of divorced parents are themselves more likely to experience divorce in their own marriages.

Symbolic Interactionism

A sociological perspective that explains high divorce rates by looking at changing symbols, such as the love symbol and shifting expectations of parenting and marital roles.

Functionalism

A theory suggesting that divorce is common because the family has lost many of its traditional functions, such as sexual control and economic production, to other social institutions.

Conflict Theory

A perspective that views marriage as an arena for an ongoing historical struggle over power and reproductive labor, particularly focusing on male domination.

Postponing Marriage

The trend described as a U-turn in the age at first marriage, where the average age decreased and then significantly increased.

Cohabitation

A living arrangement that has seen a rapid increase since the $1970$s as sexual norms changed, involving couples living together without being married.

Mythical Child

A concept created by couples without children to demonstrate to others that they like children even though they do not have any of their own.

Pushouts

A category of runaway children who have been forced out of their homes by their parents.

Types of Marital Rape

A classification of sexual abuse within marriage categorized into three types: nonbattering, battering, and perverted.

Brother–sister sexual relations

The most common form of incest identified in social research.

The Lasch Accusation

The argument by social historian Lasch that the therapeutic society is harmful to the family because it moves essential functions to professionals.

Therapeutic Society

A society characterized by the intrusion of professionals into the family unit, moving traditional family functions into the hands of experts.

Future Shock

The disorientation experienced by individuals and families when their familiar worlds are changed rapidly by technology and social shifts.

Nevada

The state identified as having the highest annual divorce rate at 6.7\%$ per 1,000$$ residents.

Massachusetts

The state identified as having the lowest annual divorce rate at 2.2\%$ per 1,000$$ residents.

Social Heredity of Violence

The concept that violence is learned within the family and passed down from one generation to the next.

Reproductive Labor

A term used in Feminist and Conflict theory to describe the unpaid work performed within the home, traditionally dominated by women.