Sociology Review

Exam 2 Review:

Weitz – talked about general role identification; what you wear as markers (gender marker)…the way we dress can identify if we are man/female

Disengagement theory of aging (positives and criticisms)

Activity theory – example of matilda having at least one person to hold onto (agnus)

Definition of a nuclear family (opposite is extended family, kinship groups)

Nuclear Family: a married couple and their unmarried children living together

-serves as the nucleus, or core, on which larger family groups are built

Kinship: the state of being related to others

-culturally learned, and is not totally determined by biological or martial ties

EX: adoption creates a kinship tie that is legally acknowledged and socially accepted

Serial monogamy, Polygamy, Polygyny, Polyandry (know difference)

Serial monogamy: a person may have several spouses in his or her lifetime, but only one spouse at a time

-U.S. have suggested that “serial monogamy” is a more accurate description of the form that marriage takes place in this country

Polygamy: a form of marriage in which an individual may have several husbands or wives simultaneously

-most societies, past and present, have preferred polygamy to monogamy

-two types of polygamy:

Polygyny: the marriage of a man to more than one woman at the same time (most common, endorsed by the majority of cultures Murdock sampled)

Polyandry: a woman may have more than one husband at the same time (in the culture of the Nyinba)

Concept of Exagomy and Endogamy

Endogamy: specifies the groups within which a spouse must be found and prohibits marriage with others

-EX: in US, many people are expected to marry within their own racial, ethnic, or religious group, and are strongly discouraged or even prohibited from marrying outside the group

Exogamy: requires mate selection outside certain groups, usually one’s own family or certain kinfolk

Homogamy: the conscious or unconscious tendency to select a mate...