SOC271 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Western Family Foods, Bilateral Descent, Calendar-Based Contraceptive Methods
8 Jun 2018
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FAMILY STRUCTURE AND FORM
Definition:
Family structure refers to the combination of relatives that comprise a family. Classification on
this variable considers the presence or absence of: legally married spouses or common-law
partners; children; and in the case of economic families, other relatives.
Census family refers to a married couple (with or without children of either and/or both
spouses), a common-law couple (with or without children of either and/or both partners) or a
lone parent of any marital status, with at least one child. A couple may be of opposite sex or
same sex.
Economic family refers to a group of two or more persons who live in the same dwelling and
are related to each other by blood, marriage, common-law or adoption. A couple may be of
opposite or same sex. Foster children are included.
THE KINSHIP SYSTEM
The family is a subset of a kinship system. Kinship refers to social relationships derived from
consanguinity, marriage and adoption.
These relationships are governed by specific rules and patterns of beha-viour as well as
reciprocal duties, obligations and responsibilities.
The patterns of behaviour associated with relatives in a society, together with the principles
governing these behaviours, are usually referred to as the kinship system
The kinship system prescribes statuses and roles to people who are in particular relationships; it
determines the rules, duties and obligations of individuals and groups in all aspects of life in
which these individuals and groups interact; determines housing and residential arrangements
Typology of Family Structures
1. Family of orientation vs. family of procreation
2. Nuclear/Conjugal family
The nuclear/conjugal family system emphasizes the marital relationship or marital ties.
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3. Extended/Consanguinal family
Extended family systems emphasize blood ties - internal conflict between spouses not allowed
to disrupt the family.
4. Stem family - A family system in which a couple's firstborn child lives with them in
the family home, and whose spouse moves into the home of said in-laws, so that the younger
couple's children are raised in the home of their grandparents.
5. Joint family - a type of extended family composed of parents, their children, and
the children's spouses and offspring in one household.
6. Modified-nuclear or modified-extended families
- problem of family boundary ambiguity
Urban/Industrial Family Characteristics
1. Multilineal
bilateral descent is supported in the Western industrial family - associates child with relatives
regardless of family side.
2. Structurally Isolated
We tend to maximize distance and minimize ties; nuclear families are connected, but not
structurally close to one another -- there are no rules governing kin behaviour - hence, no kin to
look towards for support.
3. Lost Functions of the Western Family.
If social and family systems are to survive and operate with some degree of effectiveness, a
variety of functions have to be met.
Western society is increasing in scale - more and more differentiation and specialization. Hence,
family is stripped of many of the functions it formerly had.
We have lost: productive, protective, religious, recreational, and educa-tional functions.
4. Retained Functions of the Western Family
Family – An institutional complex adapted to meeting the societal need for continual
replacement of the societal membership.
Four (4) core functions commonly performed by the family:
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Family structure refers to the combination of relatives that comprise a family. Classification on this variable considers the presence or absence of: legally married spouses or common-law partners; children; and in the case of economic families, other relatives. A couple may be of opposite sex or same sex. Economic family refers to a group of two or more persons who live in the same dwelling and are related to each other by blood, marriage, common-law or adoption. A couple may be of opposite or same sex. The family is a subset of a kinship system. Kinship refers to social relationships derived from consanguinity, marriage and adoption. These relationships are governed by specific rules and patterns of beha-viour as well as reciprocal duties, obligations and responsibilities. The patterns of behaviour associated with relatives in a society, together with the principles governing these behaviours, are usually referred to as the kinship system.
