Lecture note - Family

Functionalist: The family as a contributor to social stability.
Roles of family members

Conflict:The family as a perpetuator of inequality. Transmission of poverty or wealth across generations

Interactionist: Relationships among family members

Feminist: Family as a perpetuator of gender roles Female-headed households

Composition: One male and one female?
Monogamy
Polygamy
-Polygyny
-Polyandry

Composition: What Is the Family?
Nuclear Family
The nuclear family is the nucleus or core upon which larger family groups are built.
Extended Family
An extended family is a family in which relatives such as grandparents, aunts, or uncles live in the same home as parents and their children.

Kinship Patterns: To Whom Are We Related?
Kinship
Kinship is the state of being related to others.

Bilateral Descent
Both sides of a person’s family are regarded as equally important.

Patrilineal descent
In patrilineal descent, only the father’s relatives are important.

Matrilineal descent
In matrilineal descent, only the mother’s relatives are significant.


Authority Patterns: Who Rules?

Patriarchy
When males are expected to dominate in all family decision making, that society is a patriarchy.

Matriarchy
When women have greater authority than men, that society is a matriarchy.

Egalitarian family
A family in which spouses are regarded as equals.