Marriage & Family Midterm 1
social institution -
✅ patterned and largely predictable ways of thinking and behaving-beliefs, values,
attitudes, and norms that are organized around vital aspects of group life and serve essential social
functions
postmodern family -
✅ term used to describe the situation in which
1. families today exhibit multiple forms
2. new or altered family forms continue to emerge or develop
family-decline perspective -
✅ claim that a cultural change toward excessive individualism and self-indulgence has
hurt relationships, led to high divorce rates, and undermines responsible parenting
family-change perspective -
✅ Need to view family from a historical standpoint, and need to be seen as historically
expected adjustments to changing conditions
points out that family changes can be for the better:
-longer life expectancy can mean more positive years with parents, grandparents, and great-
grandparents
-easier access to divorce allows family members alternatives to living with domestic violence
sociological imagination -
✅ placing an individual's or family's private troubles within a society-wide context
life chances -
✅ the opportunities one has for education and work, whether one can afford to marry, the
schools that children attend, and a family's health care
race -
✅ a social construction reflecting how people view different social groups
ethnicity -
✅ has no biological connotations, it refers to cultural distinctions often based in language,
religion, foodways, and history
social class -
✅ position in the social hierarchy, such as upper class, middle class, working class, or
lower class. Can be viewed in terms of indicators such as education, occupation, and income
-experiences shaped by the class in which we reside
family policy -
✅ involves all the procedures, regulations, attitudes, and goals of programs and agencies,
workplace, educational institutions, and government that affect families
family identity -
1
, ✅ ideas and feelings about the uniqueness and value of one's family unit
self-concept -
✅ basic feelings people have about themselves, their abilities, characteristics, and worth
familistic values -
✅ aka communal or collective values
-emphasize the needs, goals, and identity of the group
4 themes of marriage and family -
✅ 1. Personal decisions must be made throughout the life course
2. People are influenced by the society around them
3. We live in a society characterized by considerable change, including increased ethnic, economic,
and family diversity
4. Personal decision making feeds into society and changes it
role sequencing -
✅ the order in which life course transitions take place, important to the Family
Development Theory
social structure -
✅ refers to the ways that families are patterned or organized, the form that a family may
take
functional alternatives -
✅ alternate structures that might perform a function traditionally designed for a nuclear
family
postmodern theory -
✅ special focus within interaction-constructionist perspective that analyzes social
discourse or narrative (public or private written or verbal statements or stories). The analytic
purpose is to demonstrate that a phenomenon is socially constructed.
principal of least interest -
✅ the partner with less commitment to the relationship is the one who has more power
secure attachment style -
✅ involves trust that the relationship will provide ongoing emotional and social support
insecure/anxious attachment style -
✅ entails concern that the beloved will disappear
"fear of abandonment"
avoidant attachment style -
✅ dodges emotional closeness either by avoiding relationships altogether or
demonstrating ambivalence, seeming preoccupied, or otherwise est. distance in intimate situations
socialization -
✅ process by which society influences members to internalize attitudes and expectations
2
social institution -
✅ patterned and largely predictable ways of thinking and behaving-beliefs, values,
attitudes, and norms that are organized around vital aspects of group life and serve essential social
functions
postmodern family -
✅ term used to describe the situation in which
1. families today exhibit multiple forms
2. new or altered family forms continue to emerge or develop
family-decline perspective -
✅ claim that a cultural change toward excessive individualism and self-indulgence has
hurt relationships, led to high divorce rates, and undermines responsible parenting
family-change perspective -
✅ Need to view family from a historical standpoint, and need to be seen as historically
expected adjustments to changing conditions
points out that family changes can be for the better:
-longer life expectancy can mean more positive years with parents, grandparents, and great-
grandparents
-easier access to divorce allows family members alternatives to living with domestic violence
sociological imagination -
✅ placing an individual's or family's private troubles within a society-wide context
life chances -
✅ the opportunities one has for education and work, whether one can afford to marry, the
schools that children attend, and a family's health care
race -
✅ a social construction reflecting how people view different social groups
ethnicity -
✅ has no biological connotations, it refers to cultural distinctions often based in language,
religion, foodways, and history
social class -
✅ position in the social hierarchy, such as upper class, middle class, working class, or
lower class. Can be viewed in terms of indicators such as education, occupation, and income
-experiences shaped by the class in which we reside
family policy -
✅ involves all the procedures, regulations, attitudes, and goals of programs and agencies,
workplace, educational institutions, and government that affect families
family identity -
1
, ✅ ideas and feelings about the uniqueness and value of one's family unit
self-concept -
✅ basic feelings people have about themselves, their abilities, characteristics, and worth
familistic values -
✅ aka communal or collective values
-emphasize the needs, goals, and identity of the group
4 themes of marriage and family -
✅ 1. Personal decisions must be made throughout the life course
2. People are influenced by the society around them
3. We live in a society characterized by considerable change, including increased ethnic, economic,
and family diversity
4. Personal decision making feeds into society and changes it
role sequencing -
✅ the order in which life course transitions take place, important to the Family
Development Theory
social structure -
✅ refers to the ways that families are patterned or organized, the form that a family may
take
functional alternatives -
✅ alternate structures that might perform a function traditionally designed for a nuclear
family
postmodern theory -
✅ special focus within interaction-constructionist perspective that analyzes social
discourse or narrative (public or private written or verbal statements or stories). The analytic
purpose is to demonstrate that a phenomenon is socially constructed.
principal of least interest -
✅ the partner with less commitment to the relationship is the one who has more power
secure attachment style -
✅ involves trust that the relationship will provide ongoing emotional and social support
insecure/anxious attachment style -
✅ entails concern that the beloved will disappear
"fear of abandonment"
avoidant attachment style -
✅ dodges emotional closeness either by avoiding relationships altogether or
demonstrating ambivalence, seeming preoccupied, or otherwise est. distance in intimate situations
socialization -
✅ process by which society influences members to internalize attitudes and expectations
2
