SOC 200: Unit 4 - Economics, Politics, Family, & Religion
singlehood
- 95 percent of all adults in the United States marry, we tend to see singlehood as a temporary stage of life - however, increasing numbers of people of all ages are living alone, often by choice. - such decisions are pushing up the number of single-person households dramatically because of women who complete college are more likely to marry and marry later in life than women who do not attend college.
extended family
- a family consisting of parents and children as well as others kin - more in agricultural based societies - also called "consanguine families"
rituals
- a form of symbolic practice that highlights faith - many religions use certain actions during prayer that symbolize deference to God - many religions also practice ritual ablution; or washing certain parts of the body during a religious ceremony
marriage
- a legal relationship - usually involving economic cooperation - sexual activity and childbearing -a legally recognized relationship, usually involving economic, social, emotional, and sexual bonds
arranged marriages
- a marriage is negotiated between two families in order to create stronger bonds between them - much more agricultural based societies because the parents would have to live w/ them and they tend to have an extended family live with them - love may come up later in this marriage, but it may not and for that specific culture, it's okay
church
- a religious organization that is well integrated into the larger society - more well-established religious faiths that are well-integrated into society - most major religions are what we call a church; Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism
sect
- a religious organization that stands apart from the larger society - faith with belief systems that are less formal and less integrated into society, and they tend to attract followers who are more disadvantaged; Jehovah's Witnesses, Pentecostals, Unitarians
kinship
- a social bond based on common ancestry (some are born into), marriage, or adoption (some are created through legal bonds) - most commonly thought of as parents, kids, siblings, aunt, uncles - a matter of choice like fictive kin
nuclear family
- a unit made up of two parents and biological or adopted children - also called "conjugal family" - the predominant family form; this makes sense in urban societies
family
- a very distinct institution because there's no organization - a social institution found in all societies that unites people into cooperative groups to oversee the bearing and raising children - groups of people who are related by genetics, marriage, or choice, and who share material, emotional, and economic resources
fictive kin
- another family-by-choice, when close friends are also considered family - these family friends are incorporated into the larger family, interacting daily, living together, having their kids grow up together, etc - these found families consist of people who have chosen to care for each other, share resources, and share their lives together
blended families
- composed of children and some combination of biological parents and stepparents. - with brothers, sisters, half-siblings, a stepparent—not to mention a biological parent who may live elsewhere and be married to someone else with other children—young people in blended families face the challenge of defining many new relationships and deciding just who is part of the nuclear family
family violence
- emotional, physical, or sexual abuse of one family member by another - widespread problem, most adults who abuse family members were themselves abused as children
child rearing
- important life stage - in pre-industrial america, large families were common partially because of the lack of effective birth control, having more children meant more hands to help with the work on a farm, and high rates of child mortality meant that many kids didn't live to adulthood - but as child mortality declined, and the U.S industrialized, the average family size declined from 7 children in 1800 to 3.5 children by 1900 because of increased birth control, the expenses of raising a kids and most people want to wait til they're financially stable, and being a parent is highly valued in american life
launch stage
- kids grow up and leave their parents' house, usually in their early 20's, "post-children" stage is the final final of the family life cycle - many parents remain involved int their kids lives, often providing childcare for their grandchildren once their kids start families of their own
structural functional approach on family
- macro-level - the family performs vital tasks, including socializing the young and providing emotional and financial support for members - the family helps regulate sexual activity
social-conflict and feminist approach on family
- macro-level - the family perpetuates social inequality by handing down wealth from one generation to the next - the family supports patriarchy as well as racial and ethnic inequality
polygamy
- marriage that unites a person w/ two or more spouses - polygyny - polyandry - bigamy
totems
- objects can also hold sacred meaning - can confer in-group membership to those who wear or use these symbols because they provide a way for people to demonstrate their faith and recognize that faith in others
single parent families
- often held by a single mother than a single father - 66% of Black Children being raised in a single parent home compared to only 25% of Non-Hispanic White Children
neolocality
- setting up house apart from both families - that the u.s does - continues to be true in high-income countries - most common among the highly educated and households where both spouses are working
secularization
- the historical decline in the importance of the supernatural and the sacred - commonly associated with modern, technologically advanced societies in which science is the major way of understanding - today, more and more people don't have any religious affiliation
romantic love/courtship
- the period of developing a relationship with an eye toward marriage or long term partnership - in the united states, this occurs with post-industrial societies trying to find "the one" - families will still feel pain and anguish when there are relationship issues, however, they're less involved
cohabitation
- the sharing of a household by an unmarried couple - in global perspective, cohabitation as a long-term form of family life, with or without children - 58% of unmarried births were to cohabiting couples
descent
- the system by which members of a society trace kinship over generations - most preindustrial societies trace kinship through either their father's side or mother's side of the family
lgbtq+ couples
- this change extended social legitimacy to gay and lesbian couples and equalized advantages in inheritance, taxation, and joint property ownership - since then, more than twenty countries have followed suit - 25 nations have extended marriage—not only in practice but also in name—to same-sex couples
matrilineal
- trace descent through the mother - occurs in jewish families and native american tribes/families
bilateral
- trace the kinship through both men and women of the family - occurs in the united states
patrilocality
- with or near the husband's family - 70% of the pre-industrial society would live this way because it patrilineal - was most common for societies with frequent warfare, where families wanted to keep sons around as a form of protection
matrilocality
- with or near the wife's family - occur with native american tribes, specifically the hopi and zuni because they're matrilineal - occurs because women generally own the home and resources of the family
cult
a religious organization that is largely outside a society's cultural traditions
religion
a social institution that involves a unified system of beliefs and practices that recognizes the sacred
- understands religion in terms of how it entrenches existing inequalities. - karl marx saw this as an agent of social stratification because it served those in power by legitimizing the status quo and framing existing inequality as part of a divine plan - so, it seems like having wealth and power was seen as a good indication of God's favor causing Marx saw religion as a huge barrier to revolutionary change, referring to it as the "opiate of the masses" - after all, it is hard to convince people to rise up against the elites if they believe that he elites have the power of God behind them
according to the social-conflict theory, how can religion be a force of division?
- durkheim argued that religious thought promotes norms like morality, fairness, charity, and justice such as churches - churches act as a gathering places, forming the backbone of social life for many people, in fact, membership in a church is the most common community association for Americans
according to the structural-functional, how does religion help establish social cohesion?
- sometimes it can feel like our lives are such tiny blips in the grand scheme of the universe, it can be hard to imagine why your actions matter - religion gives people a reason to see their lives as meaningful, by framing them within the greater purpose of their god's grand plan
according to the structural-functional, how does religion provide people with a sense of purpose in life?
- people behave well, not only out of fear of their friends and families disapproving, but also out of a desire to remain in their god's good graces - ex: Chrisitanity and Judaism have the Ten Commandments, which is a set of rules for behavior that they believe were sent directly from God. Many of them match up with societal norms, like respecting your parents or not committing adultery, or with secular laws which prohibit morder and theft
according to the structural-functional, how is religion a form of social control?
bureaucracy
an organization model rationally designed to perform tasks efficiently
exogamy
marriage between people of different social categories
endogamy
marriage between people of the same category
monogamy
marriage that unites two partners
profane
mundane, the everyday parts of life
serial monogamy
one partner at a time
families of affinity
people who think of themselves as a family and wish others to see them that way
bigamy
used to refer to going throuh the legal processes of marrying while still married to another person
- chinese emperors were believed to have a mandate from heaven, and were given the title Son of Heaven to indicate their divine authority to rule. - in europe, heads of state were also the head of the Church, in fact, to this day, the British monarchs are the formal heads of the Church of England. - then in Christianity, such as Calvinism, they espouse predestination; the belief that God pre-ordains everything that comes to pass including whether you can get into heaven
what are examples of religion being a force of division? (max weber: protestanism and capitalism)
- catholics making the sign of the cross before prayer - muslims supplicating themselves and face mecca - the birthplace of the prophet, or in baptism water is a symbol of people's belief that faith cleanses the soul
what are examples of rituals?
- the cross or the star of david - mean's beards in Islam or orthodox judaism also are sacred indicators of faith because they're visible symbols of religious belief
what are examples of totems?
- specialization - hierarchy of offices - rules and regulations - technical competence - impersonality - formal, written communications
what are mx weber's six elements to promote organization efficiency?
- nuclear family - extended family
what are some families in a global sense?
- arranged marriages - romantic love - endogamy - exogamy - monogamy; serial monogamy - polygamy; polygyny, polyandry, & bigamy
what are some marriage patterns in families?
- patrilocality - matrilocality - neolocality
what are some residential patterns?
muslim
which religion group is concentrated in northern africa?
buddhism
which religion group is concentrated in southeast asia?
they are sometimes enshrined into laws - also limit romantic love by marking some people as acceptable spouses or not
why do cultural norms cause marriages to not marry for love?
- among poor people in agricultural/horticulture societies - mainly occurs in societies with low male-to-female ratios - where women would marrying brothers to limit fertility
where does polyandry occur?
among the wealthy people in agricultural societies
where does polygyny occur?
no group affiliation
which group is the fastest growing group
hinduism
which religion group is concentrated in india and around asia?
judaism
which religion group is concentrated in jerusalem?
the members of a family are held together by the commonly shared goal of the well being and mutual support of its members - and they organize people and power based on positions of social status within the family, like mother or daughter
how is family a social institution?
70%
how many people in the united states claim a religion?
23%
how many people in the united states do not identify with a religion?
20%
how many people in the united states identify as catholic?
50%
how many people in the united states identify as protestant?
6%
how many people in the united states identify with a non-christian faith?
- sacred rather than mundane/profane - recognizing as something sacred is about seeing a certain place, object, or experience as as special and creating markers that separate it from your date to day life
how does emile durkheim define religion?
affect a person's experience of family life, although no single generalization fits all families within a particular category because there's latino families, african american families, and ethnicity and racially mixed marriages
how does ethnicity and race affect families?
- that every marriage is actually two different relationships: the woman's marriage and the man's marriage. - the reason is that few marriages have two equal partners. - although patriarchy has diminished, many people still expect husbands to be older and taller than their wives and to have more important, better-paid jobs
how does gender affect families?
- determines both a family's financial security and its range of opportunities - a powerful force that shapes a family life - children born into rich families typically have better mental and physical health and go on to achieve more in life than children born into poor families
how does social class affect families?
1) explore how the family perpetuates social inequality by transmitting divisions based on class, ethnicity, race, and gender 2) focuses on the ways in which traditional notions about family perpetuate social inequality 3) sexual regulation - while we might think it's a good thing that family status ties prevent incest, but historically this sexual regulation has also meant that married women have been seen as the sexual and economic property of their husbands
how does social-conflict theory view families?
- karl marx claims that religion justifies the status quo - in this way, religion supports inequality
how does social-conflict theory view religion?
emilie durkheim suggests that three functions that religion contributes to operate society; 1) religion unites people, 2) promotes social cohesion, and 3) gives meaning and purpose to life
how does structural-functionalism view religion?
- peter berger explains that we socially construct religious beliefs; we especially seek religious meaning when faced with life's uncertainties - all religions rely on the use of symbols to create the sacred - rituals - totems
how does symbolic-interactionalism view religion?
through our blood, marriage, and adoption
how does the government play a role regarding who is in our family?
1) huge surge in the 1970's in part due to many states loosening their restrictions on who can divorce through "no fault" divorce laws which can allow couples to divorce for any reason - social norms are changing making divorce more socially acceptable 2) divorce rate in the U.S has been on the decline since the 1990's. some estimates suggest that the percent of marriages ending in divorce for more recent generations will be closer to ⅓ than ½ - fewer people are marrying, and fewer people are marrying young. with more people waiting to find a partner until they're more settles, marriages have become much more stable than they were in previous marriages 3) the type of people who get married and their likelihood of divorce has changed too - divorce rates are higher for low income and less educated Americans - who are also the socioeconomic group with the greatest declines in marriage rates in the last 40 years. so, the fewer who get married, the fewer get divorced 4) changing marriage patterns has also meant changing patterns in the family life cycle, like when people have kids - while childbearing is typically thought of as the stage of the family life cycle that follows marriage, the percent of children born outside of marriage has been increasing, with about 40% of all births to unmarried mothers 5) increasing social class divides in who has kids before or after marriage - while only 9% of births to college educated moms take place outside of the marriage, 58% of births outside of marriage are to women with only a high school diploma
since 1980, why has divorce decreased?
family life cycle
the developmental stages that a family passes through over time
family of orientation
the family you grow up in, no matter the type because it orients you to the worlds and teaches you how families work
polygyny
the marriage of one man to two or more women
polyandry
the marriage of one woman two or more men
sacred
things that are set apart from society as extraordinary, inspiring awe, and deserving reverence
patrilineal
trace kinship through the father
christianity
which religion group is concentrated in north america/western hemisphere and europe?
- blended families - single parent families - lgbtq+ couples - cohabitation - singlehood
what are the alternative family forms?
1) socialization & material and emotional security - emphasize the role that families play in socializing children, so they can function in society, while of course also giving them emotional and material support since home can be a safe haven 2) regulation of sexual activity - our societal norms about who can marry whom generally tells us something about what we hold to be acceptable or taboo sexual behavior 3) shared income
what are the functions of the family according to the structural functionalist analysis?
like creating tighter bonds between families, or finding economic security - have historically been more common reasons
what are the practical concerns that cause marriages to not marry for love?
- courtship - child rearing - launch stage
what are the stages of the family life cycle?
- patrilineal - matrilineal - bilateral
what are the three type of ways to trace kinship?
- church - sect - cult
what are the types religious organizations?
- college-educated americans are more likely to marry other college-educated americans - others of the same race (but that one is slowly changing) - we tend to be endogamy in regards of class, politics, religion, age, and race but that is slowly changing
what's an example of endogamy?
interracial marriages or a person of a low socioeconomic status marries someone of a higher socioeconomic status
what's an example of exogamy?
the majority of African countries and in some South Asian countries
what's an example of of polygamy?
- marriage is seen as a cultural obligation, less about personal fulfillment - less likely to divorce because you can find connection w/ extended family
what's the percent of marriages that end in divorce in agricultural societies?
more likely to divorce because it's more about personal fulfillment and love
what's the percent of marriages that end in divorce in industrial/post-industrial societies?
in modern day, high-income countries marriage is only between two people
what's the typical example of monogamy?
- high concentrations focused in the South - why the south is called "bible/baptist belt" - Black Americans, who settle in the South because of Slavery, are more likely to be religious than the US population as a whole, with 87% claiming an affiliation with some faith
where are baptists concentrated and why?
- more common in Northeastern and Southeastern states - Irish and Italian Americans were more likely to be Catholic because they settles in New England and the Mid-Atlantic
where are catholic concentrated and why?
- high concentrations focused in the Midwest - Had high numbers of German and Scandinavian immigrants settle there and these ethnic groups are often Lutheran
where are methodist, lutherans, and church of latter day saints concentrated and why?
1) individualism is part of U.S. culture- in many families, individuals spend little time together. Our way of life is individualistic and more concerned with our personal happiness and earning income, sometimes at the expense of partners and children. 2) romantic love fades - because our culture bases marriage on romantic love, relationships may fail as sexual passion fades. many people end a marriage in favor of a new relationship that promises renewed excitement and romance. 3) women are less dependent on men - women's increasing participation in the labor force has reduced wives' financial dependency on their husbands. thus, women find it easier to leave unhappy marriages 4) many of today's marriages are stressful - in half of two-parent families, both partners work outside the home; research shows that many women and men find that the demands of work make it difficult to have time and energy for themselves, not to mention their marital partners. 5) raising children adds to the stress - specially for working fathers and mothers, raising children is harder than ever. children do stabilize some marriages, but divorce is most common during the early years of marriage, when many couples have young children 6) divorce has become socially acceptable - divorce no longer carries the powerful stigma it did just a few generations ago, family and friends are now less likely to discourage couples in conflict from divorcing 7) legally, a divorce is easy to get - in the past, courts required divorcing couples to demonstrate that one or both were guilty of behavior such as adultery or physical abuse; today, all states allow divorce if a couple simply declares that the marriage has failed
why has divorce rates increased?
1) rationalization - no longer thinking of the world as a place of mystery but natural world w/ human laws 2) pluralism - confronting multiple world views, hard to think about the truth/difficult finding the core belief/values for your morals 3) privatization/individualism - loosening a social influence, value, "personal thing", societies intentionally separate church and state because it's a personal thing 4) focus on the future, not past - tradition deemed less important
why is secularization occurring?
- it's more mobile like the hunter-gatherers societies - two people are more likely to have careers causing the family to increase in siz
why is the nuclear family the predominant family form in urban societies?
