American Family Exam 1 Iowa

Hooking up

"A casual sexual or romantic encounter without explicit commitment or exclusivity." Highly interrelated with alcohol and other drug use. Largely focused on undergraduate and heterosexual scen

Social Script

"A commonly understood pattern of social interaction that serves as a model of behavior in familiar situations." Teacher comes into the class and stands in front of the class and gives a lecture, student sits down in desk and takes notes

Functionalist Theory

(Classical Theory) - 1940s - 1950s - Focus: Stability and cooperation - Talcott Parsons - The belief that in a family there is an instrumental leader and an expressive leader. The instrumental leader, the father, would be the bread winner and support the family. The expressive leader, the mother, would provide emotional support.

Conflict Theory

(Classical Theory) - Focus: Inequality, power, and social change - Try to focus on whats happening inside the family - Men have more power in a relationship because they provide more economic resources - Macro level: Family as a tool for capitalists - Micro level: Women's lack of economic resources - It does matter who brings in more money, mom or dad

Symbolic Interactionism Theory

(Classical Theory) - Shared understandings and meaning - Social Roles - What does it mean to be a father? Bread winner, handyman, protection - What does it mean to be a mother? Care giver, house keeping

Exchange Theory

(Classical Theory) - Suggests that it is the valuing of the ​benefits and costs of each relationship that determine whether or not we choose to continue a social association. - For example, if you have a friend that always has to borrow money from you, then this would be seen as a high cost. The benefits are things that you get out of the relationship such as fun, friendship, companionship, and social support. Your friend might be a bit of a freeloader, but he brings a lot of fun and excitement to your life. As you are determining the value of the friendship, you might decide that the benefits outweigh the potential costs.

Feminist Theory

(Contemporary Perspective) - Three main contributions: 1) gender inequality is central to family life 2) family structure is socially constructed 3) Family is experienced differently depending on the intersection of various identities

Modernity Theory

(Contemporary Perspective) - Two periods: 1) late 1700s-1960s 2) Since the 1970s -from constrained choices to choices about everything - focus on newer family types In the past, we didn't have many choices, who would we marry was often someone the family new, nowadays we can choose whoever we want to

Dating

- Unsupervised interaction between prospective partners. - Variety of partners before long-term commitment - decreased authority of parents -increased authority of young men

Open adoptions

Birth mother is able to influence the choice of the adoptive parents and in many cases have ongoing contact with the child after adoption

Out of the four types of relationships of Cohabitation, which two are most likely to break up?

Coresidential daters & Trial cohabitators

Precursor to marriage (1st type of cohabiting relationships)

Couple plans to marry in the future

Alternative to marriage (4th type of cohabiting relationship)

Couples are in stable relationships and may have children, but prefer not to marry

Trial cohabitors (3rd type of cohabiting relationship)

Intend at some point to marry, but are not sufficiently committed to their partner

Cult of Domesticity

Invoked by the Industrial Revolution. The notion that women's ultimate duty and purpose was in the home to make it a warm and nourishing place. Not only should they want to do it, but it should also fulfill them.

Separate Spheres

Invoked by the Industrial Revolution. With a shift in hand production to machines, people left small communities for cities, made the work place and the home two distinct places. Men in the workplace, women at home.

Family is experienced differently depending on the intersection of various identities (explanation)

It's likely that families have different experiences based on factors like race, class, social-status, etc.

Courtship

Supervised socialization in public/semipublic places, under the watchful eye of parents or other adults. Going on a date with a family friend at a public place

Courtship, dating, and hooking up can all be attributed to what historical period/event?

The Industrial Revolution

What invention and accessibility can be attributed to the rise in dating?

The car

Coresidential dating (2nd type of cohabiting relationship)

The couple doesn't expect to marry; they are living together for convenience

Deinstitutionalization of marriage

the decline in marriage and the emergence of alternate family forms that occurred during the last third of the twentieth century

Example of Instrumental vs. Expressive family role

1950's "traditional" family: -father as breadwinner, insurance of family's survival -mother as homemaker, emotional support for rest of family

Gender inequality is central to family life (explanation)

Kids are learning and seeing gender inequality between mother and father from a young age.

Cohabitation

Living together as a sexual or romantic couple without being married.

Endogamy

Marriage and reproduction within a distinct group A white person married a white person or marrying someone with the same education as you

Adoption triad

The three major people in an adoption: -biological/birth parents -adoptive parents -adoptees

Main difference between two periods of Modernity

There are multiple scripts now that we have to choose from and make active decisions about rather than follow one script that didn't require active decision making.

Family structure is socially constructed (explanation)

There is no "normal" or "right" or "standard" family construction, social ideals constructs these rather than biological "correctness"