Soc 100 - Family

Question 1

What do Talcott Parsons and Robert Bales argue ensures stability in a family?

Answer 1

division of labour in family ensures its stability:Men are ‘breadwinners,’ ‘decision makers,’ sources of authority & leadership; women play roles of ‘homemaker,’ ‘nurturer.’ Ensures no conflicts over roles.

Question 2

What does stability ensure in a family?

Answer 2

This ensures that family meets basic functions of regulating sex (to minimise social conflicts), ensuring material protection for children, and educating infants in ways of society.

Question 3

How do Immerman and Mackey argue that monogamy is natural?

Answer 3

monogamy is ‘natural’ because it ensures social stability and reduces spread of STDs�

Question 4

What functions do St Fu identify in the family?

Answer 4

Reproduction: families promote replacement of dying members of society with new children.Protection: families ensure children are nurtured before old enough to care for themselves.Socialisation: parents teach children models of behaviour.Regulation of sexual behaviour: ensures that established sexual norms are protected; may reduce conflicts.Affection & companionship: provides support for individuals.Provision of social status: gives individuals a preliminary social position, reducing conflicts for status.

Question 5

Traditional Family vs Modern Family

Answer 5

Traditional families often contain large kinship groups: many generations in house.Strongly patriarchal structures.Tightly-knit family bondsModern families smaller, more flexible, and less tightly-bound, to adapt to needs of industrial economy. Less authoritarian.

Question 6

What contributed to the rise of the modern family?

Answer 6

Industrialisation & urbanisation promote labour mobility.Female independence grows with entry to job market.Increased use of contraception.

Question 7

How is the St Fu view of the family criticized? What does it fail to account for?

Answer 7

Structural Functionalist models now widely criticised for failure to account for rapid changes in models of family.Further, fails to account for variety of family types seen in societies around the world, each of which has been successful in its own way.

Question 8

Family

Answer 8

Any group of relations defined by recognised social bonds (e.g. parent, uncle), defined by role it fills.

Question 9

Nuclear Family

Answer 9

Nuclear FamilyParents & children in same house.Max three relationships – spouses, parent-child, sibling

Question 10

Extended Family

Answer 10

Multiple generations living together.Multiple relationship types between spouses, siblings, uncles/aunts etc�

Question 11

How do sociologists classify families?

Answer 11

Sociologists classify families by the types of relationships within them: what relatives or kin are usually part of the basic family unit, what sort of obligations do we have to them etc�

Question 12

Census Family

Answer 12

Statistics Canada’s term for any cohabiting group, including married or unmarried couples of same or different genders, and children or grandchildren by birth, marriage, or adoption

Question 13

What lead to the emergence of new forms of families in Canada?

Answer 13

Changes in both social attitudes and economic situation lead to emergence of many new forms of families.

Question 14

What types of families have grown over the past few decades?

Answer 14

Single-parent families now account for c. 16% of families; unmarried cohabiting couples with children are 6.9%; unmarried cohabiting couples without children are 8.5%

Question 15

Kinship System

Answer 15

Connections with all our relatives, e.g. grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins, members of same tribe.Often governed by strict rules, taboos, and sets of obligations.

Question 16

Westermarck Effect

Answer 16

Children brought up together usually desensitised to mutual sexual attraction.Incest taboo ingrained by shared childhood:

Question 17

What minimum in a society forces families to interact with each other?

Answer 17

Incest Taboomembers of family unit must find mates in other families�

Question 18

What did Westermarck specifically notice about children brought up together?

Answer 18

noticed that children brought up together, even if not related by blood, would not find each other sexually attractive.

Question 19

What are men making priorities nowadays in potentila partners?

Answer 19

In 1939, traits such as chastity, desire for home & children, good cook, and neatness figured prominently on men’s desired traits in potential partner. Woman’s own ambitions or education considered unimportant�In 2008 survey:Mutual attraction/love had risen from 4th to 1stEducation/intelligence rose from 11th to 4th.But Good looks rose from 14th to 8th!�

Question 20

Arranged Marriage

Answer 20

Partners selected by parents or other family members. Protects established social order.

Question 21

What did Durkheim notice among the unmarried?

Answer 21

Durkheim noted high suicide rates amongst unmarried, attributed to lack of social contact.

Question 22

What are arranged marriages used for?

Answer 22

often used to cement family alliances, or for economic reasons. �

Question 23

why does society as a whole recognise marriage? Why is this private relationship something of public concern?

Answer 23

It helps stabilise social bonds.

Question 24

Exogamy rules

Answer 24

Exogamy rules specify who you cannot marry: requires mates to be chosen outside a given group

Question 25

Endogamy rules specify who you must marry: requires you to pick mates within a group.

Answer 25

Endogamy rules specify who you must marry: requires you to pick mates within a group.

Question 26

Trobriand Island courtships

Answer 26

Sex usually free and open, but if a girl stays over with a boy instead of leaving after sex, they marry for a year.During annual Yam Festival, gangs of girls wander the island, and pounce on boys from other villages wandering alone. The gang demands sexual satisfaction from the boy�

Question 27

Monogamy

Answer 27

Practice of allowing only a single spouse.Serial monogamy = multiple spouses, but not at same time.

Question 28

Polygamy

Answer 28

Multiple spouses permitted at same time, in same house.

Question 29

Polygyny, Polyandry

Answer 29

Polygyny: One man, many wives�Ployandry: One wife, many husbands

Question 30

What do societies show about rules on who you can marry and how many people?Examples?

Answer 30

Societies show great variation in rules on who you can marry, and how many people.Tibetan Nyinba women may marry many brothers at once.George Murdock found 80% of societies preferred polygamy in some form.Patterns vary over time and place�.

Question 31

How do sociologists classify gender roles in families?

Answer 31

Linearity of Kinship: are families defined by the female or male line of descent? Children in west usually take father’s nameAuthority: are mothers or fathers more authoritative�?

Question 32

Samoan cultures and maternal lines of descent

Answer 32

Marcel Mauss describes patterns of gift-giving in some Samoan cultures. ‘Female’ gifts, or taonga, must remain in family, and be handed down female line. ‘Male’ gifts or oloa were unimportant.Correspondingly, children sent to live with their maternal uncles after birth – they counted as taonga, or ‘female’ gifts. Thus, family is matrilinear.

Question 33

Three types of kinship linearity

Answer 33

Matrilineal descentFamily unit defined by mother’s kin�Patrilineal descentFamily unit defined by father’s kin.�Bilateral descentBoth sides of family equally important

Question 34

Three types of Authority

Answer 34

MatriarchyMother or wife dominant in household�PatriarchyFather or husband dominant in household�Egalitarian familyParents share authority, though may rule in specific areas

Question 35

Emotional Labour

Answer 35

The ‘work’ we have to do to control our emotions and bring out the accepted response.

Question 36

Second Shift

Answer 36

working women are often expected to do housework when they come home from work, as well as providing nurture & support for children.

Question 37

Arlie Hochschild notes that people, particularly who, are often expected to do what?

Answer 37

particularly women, are often expected to do emotional labour: we need to control our emotions, and produce the ‘right’ response to situations.Our ‘feelings’ are thus product of socialisation: we ‘feel’ what we’re ‘meant to’ feel.Mothers in particular are meant to provide nurture & comfort�

Question 38

Identification

Answer 38

Process of internalising values and models of someone else, usually parentChildren often identify with a toy/doll, and act out adventures with this alter ego.

Question 39

Narcissistic Secondary identification

Answer 39

Narcissistic Secondary identification comes as we deliberately try to imitate another, e.g. by putting on their clothes.�

Question 40

Partial Secondary identification

Answer 40

Partial Secondary identification entails identifying with one feature of another person, e.g. strength.

Question 41

LAST THREE SLIDES

Answer 41

DO IT