Family research
Is there a single definition of a family that is adequate for all purposes?
No, there is no single definition of a family that is adequate for all purposes
Is public and private lens better to understand families?
Neither. Both are takes on the same reality of families.
This family lived in tribal societies based on lineages
American Indian families
Extent to which some families obtain more income and wealth than do others
Family inequality
Is a race group or ethnic group more difficult to define
Ethnic group
Two
How well are family members taking care of children, the chronically ill, and the frail elderly?
How well are families providing intimacy, love, and personal fulfillment?
What is a key challenge of the public family?
Free-rider problem
Descent traces through the mother's line
Matrilineal
Families doing well are increasingly headed by
married, well-educated couples
What is race
Race is natural categories clearly defined by physical characteristics – skin color, hair texture – and unchanging over time.
Racial categories are socially constructed meaning they are subject to change and redefined than commonly thought
Two research methods used to analyze families and the people in them
surveys and observations
What is a key challenge of the private family?
Boundary problem
This family was not comprised of lineages but only smaller kinship groups
European families
The tendency of people to marry others similar to themselves
Assortative marriage
What is ethnicity
More generally, an ethnic group consists of people who think of themselves as distinct from others by virtue of common ancestry and shared culture but not necessarily physical characteristics
What might surveys be missing in family research?
Limited amount of information on each person
Honest responses
What is boundary ambiguity
A state in which family members are uncertain about who is in or out of the family
Women's spheres included:
home, relatives, and children
What are life chances (a factor that determines a family's social class)?
the resources and opportunities that people have to provide themselves with material goods and favorable living conditions
What is a racial-ethnic group?
Racial-ethnic groups are social creations reflecting cultural norms.
This theory views people as rational beings who decide whether to exchange goods or services by considering the benefits they will receive and costs they will incur
Exchange theory
What is an example of the public family?
Married couple, cohabitating couple, or single parent with children.
Single person caring for ailing parent
Cohabiting person caring for seriously ill partner
In these families, parents usually controlled who their children would marry and when
Asian American families
Among all social classes (upper, middle, working, and lower) which wives are the least likely to work outside the home
Upper class
Which ethnicity was NOT a category on the census in 1970
Hispanic