This document discusses family diversity in contemporary British society. It begins by defining the idea of viewing family as a homogeneous institution as conceptually inadequate, as different social classes experience structural pressures differently. It then examines statistical evidence showing diversity in family structures, including nuclear, extended, reconstituted, and single-parent families. Finally, it discusses interpreting this evidence through concepts like family life-cycle to better understand family diversity as a social process rather than just snapshots of data. The document advocates a sociological perspective that considers both institutional/structural and interpersonal/interactional aspects of family life.
The document discusses diversity in the workplace. It defines diversity and outlines laws from the 1960s that promoted diversity and prohibited discrimination. Research on diversity has found both benefits like increased innovation and creativity, as well as potential negatives like conflict. Whether diversity has positive or negative effects depends on factors like organization size and culture. Many organizations now provide diversity training to increase awareness and promote effective management of diverse workplaces, though discrimination still exists in some companies.
Group dynamics in Business CommunicationPrachi Dhiman
How does a group form? What functions act as its driving forces? What could be the reasons of its dysfunction, can it be avoided? How to enhance its productivity?
The slides attempt to answer all of these through group dynamics.
The document discusses different material properties including whether they are transparent, waterproof, absorbent, strong or weak, flexible or rigid, hard or soft, elastic, heavy or light, and warm or cold. It provides examples of properties for different materials like metals, fabrics, and plastics. Materials have unique combinations of properties that determine their appropriate uses.
The document discusses diversity in the workplace. It defines diversity as individual acceptance and respect of differences between people. Some elements of diversity are age, gender, ethnicity, race, sexual orientation, beliefs and more. Managing diversity aims to maximize its advantages and minimize disadvantages. A diverse workforce improves customer service, community relations, innovation and performance. Respecting individual differences creates a competitive advantage and increases productivity.
The document discusses diversity and managing diversity in the workplace. It defines diversity as individual acceptance and respect of differences. It lists various elements of diversity including age, gender, ethnicity, and provides ways to incorporate diversity such as recruiting from diverse talent pools. Managing diversity is defined as planning and implementing practices to maximize the advantages of diversity. The benefits of diversity in the workplace include improved customer service, employee morale, and creativity. Challenges of ignoring diversity include conflicts and loss of productivity.
Glass ceiling refers to an unacknowledged barrier that prevents women from rising to positions of power within an organization, despite their qualifications. While everything appears transparent, there are invisible limits on how high women can climb the corporate hierarchy. The existence of a glass ceiling is still debated, as some argue discrimination and lack of family support hold women back, while others claim lack of commitment and prioritizing family over career are reasons few women reach executive levels. Both perspectives point to challenges women face in achieving leadership roles.
This document discusses organizational reward systems and compensation. It defines intrinsic and extrinsic rewards and outlines factors that influence employee preferences. An effective reward system relates rewards to performance and impacts job satisfaction. Compensation includes base pay, incentives, and benefits. Government legislation regulates compensation, and equity theory holds that fair pay maintains a balance between employee inputs and outputs. The human resources manager ensures the system is fair and clearly communicated.
The document discusses diversity in the workplace. It defines diversity and outlines laws from the 1960s that promoted diversity and prohibited discrimination. Research on diversity has found both benefits like increased innovation and creativity, as well as potential negatives like conflict. Whether diversity has positive or negative effects depends on factors like organization size and culture. Many organizations now provide diversity training to increase awareness and promote effective management of diverse workplaces, though discrimination still exists in some companies.
Group dynamics in Business CommunicationPrachi Dhiman
How does a group form? What functions act as its driving forces? What could be the reasons of its dysfunction, can it be avoided? How to enhance its productivity?
The slides attempt to answer all of these through group dynamics.
The document discusses different material properties including whether they are transparent, waterproof, absorbent, strong or weak, flexible or rigid, hard or soft, elastic, heavy or light, and warm or cold. It provides examples of properties for different materials like metals, fabrics, and plastics. Materials have unique combinations of properties that determine their appropriate uses.
The document discusses diversity in the workplace. It defines diversity as individual acceptance and respect of differences between people. Some elements of diversity are age, gender, ethnicity, race, sexual orientation, beliefs and more. Managing diversity aims to maximize its advantages and minimize disadvantages. A diverse workforce improves customer service, community relations, innovation and performance. Respecting individual differences creates a competitive advantage and increases productivity.
The document discusses diversity and managing diversity in the workplace. It defines diversity as individual acceptance and respect of differences. It lists various elements of diversity including age, gender, ethnicity, and provides ways to incorporate diversity such as recruiting from diverse talent pools. Managing diversity is defined as planning and implementing practices to maximize the advantages of diversity. The benefits of diversity in the workplace include improved customer service, employee morale, and creativity. Challenges of ignoring diversity include conflicts and loss of productivity.
Glass ceiling refers to an unacknowledged barrier that prevents women from rising to positions of power within an organization, despite their qualifications. While everything appears transparent, there are invisible limits on how high women can climb the corporate hierarchy. The existence of a glass ceiling is still debated, as some argue discrimination and lack of family support hold women back, while others claim lack of commitment and prioritizing family over career are reasons few women reach executive levels. Both perspectives point to challenges women face in achieving leadership roles.
This document discusses organizational reward systems and compensation. It defines intrinsic and extrinsic rewards and outlines factors that influence employee preferences. An effective reward system relates rewards to performance and impacts job satisfaction. Compensation includes base pay, incentives, and benefits. Government legislation regulates compensation, and equity theory holds that fair pay maintains a balance between employee inputs and outputs. The human resources manager ensures the system is fair and clearly communicated.
Attitude, Jobs satisfaction and organizational commitmentAmira Nadia
The document discusses three main topics: attitudes, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment.
For attitudes, it defines attitudes as positive or negative feelings towards people, objects or situations. Attitudes have three components - cognitive, affective, and behavioral.
For job satisfaction, it defines it as positive feelings about one's job. Major causes of dissatisfaction are low pay, lack of promotion opportunities, unfair rewards, poor supervision, and bad work conditions. Consequences include low performance, increased turnover and absenteeism.
For organizational commitment, it defines it as acceptance of an organization's goals and desire to remain a member. There are three types of commitment - affective, continuance, and normative. Low
Physical changes alter the form of a substance but do not create new substances, while chemical changes result in one or more new substances forming. Signs of a chemical change include a change in color, scent, the release or absorption of heat, or fizzing. Examples provided demonstrate whether various processes like burning wood, rusting iron, melting butter, and dissolving salt are physical or chemical changes, and whether they are reversible.
The document discusses materials and their properties. It explains that all objects are made of either natural materials like wood, wool, and clay that come from nature, or man-made materials like plastic, glass, and steel. The way a material looks and feels is called its property, and different materials have varying properties like hardness, strength, flexibility, and whether they conduct heat that determine their uses.
Air is a mixture of gases that forms the atmosphere surrounding Earth. The atmosphere is essential for supporting life on Earth by providing oxygen for animals to breathe and carbon dioxide for plants to photosynthesize. It is composed of nitrogen, oxygen, and trace amounts of other gases. The atmosphere has different layers - the troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, thermosphere, and exosphere - with varying properties like temperature and air density. Air has weight, takes up space, exerts pressure, and is needed for combustion reactions. Various human activities like industry and vehicle emissions release air pollutants like dust, smoke, and harmful gases into the atmosphere.
The document describes UPS's Community Internship Program (CIP) which aims to improve cultural understanding and empathy among managers. The monthly program places 50 executives each year in communities around the country to experience challenges faced by employees and citizens. A UPS manager credits his CIP experience with helping him better understand an employee's need for time off to care for family. The program opened his eyes to issues of poverty and inequality that some employees face. It is believed to help managers relate better to UPS's diverse workforce.
The document discusses the importance of diversity and diversity management for organizations. It notes that the workforce is increasingly diverse due to globalization and demographic changes. Diversity can have both positive impacts like new perspectives and ideas, as well as negative impacts like conflicts if not managed properly. As such, many organizations are adopting diversity management approaches to address legal requirements and better meet the needs of diverse customers and workers. Effective diversity management requires long-term commitment from leadership and changes to human resources practices to promote inclusion and fairness.
This document discusses perception, individual decision making, and group attribution theory. It covers several topics:
- Perception is influenced by personal characteristics, attributes of the target, and situational factors. What is perceived is an interpretation rather than objective reality.
- Attribution theory seeks to explain the behavior of others by attributing causes like feelings, beliefs, and intentions. It involves observing, interpreting, and determining the causes of behavior.
- Common shortcuts in judging others include selective perception, halo effect, contrast effect, and stereotyping.
- Decision making is influenced by perception. Types of decision making discussed are rational, bounded rationality, intuition-based, and the biases that can impact decision quality.
This document defines diversity and cultural competency in the workplace. It defines diversity as acceptance and respect of individuals' unique differences along dimensions such as race, gender, and beliefs. Workforce diversity refers to people with different qualities and cultural backgrounds. Diversity is important for organizations to build the best teams and be competitive globally. The document outlines four leadership competencies: personal literacy, social literacy, business literacy, and cultural literacy. It concludes by reflecting on improving cultural competency and working in a global society.
The document discusses workplace diversity and how to manage it effectively. It defines diversity as recognizing, appreciating, and utilizing the unique talents of all individuals. It also discusses the challenges of managing a diverse workforce, such as resistance to change, interpersonal conflicts, and retention issues. However, it notes that diversity can provide benefits like new ideas, better problem solving, and an improved company image. It provides tips for managing diversity, such as embracing multiculturalism, recruiting broadly, selecting employees fairly, providing training, and being flexible. The conclusion states that diversity increases innovation if managed properly.
The document discusses materials and their properties. It defines materials as physical substances used to make things and lists some main categories including metals, plastics, ceramics, glass and fibers. It explains that everything around us is made of one or more materials and provides examples. The document also defines properties as characteristics that describe materials, such as being hard, strong, flexible, light, heavy, colored, magnetic, bendy, brittle, malleable, transparent, translucent or opaque. It lists properties that could be used to describe examples like a pencil, window, paper and fork. Finally, it discusses categorizing materials into groups like metals which are good conductors of heat and electricity and sometimes magnetic.
The document compares physical and chemical properties of substances and changes. Physical changes do not alter a substance's identity and can often be reversed, such as melting or freezing. Chemical changes create new substances with different properties through chemical reactions. Clues that a chemical change is occurring include color changes, production of gases, heat, or new odors. Chemical changes like baking a cake cannot be undone since new substances are formed.
This document discusses diversity in the retail industry. It finds that while diversity is comparable to overall workforce levels, with white non-Hispanic workers making up two-thirds, minorities face opportunity gaps. Black and Latino retail workers are overrepresented in low-paying, unstable jobs and underrepresented in management. There are barriers like stereotyping that limit minority access to informal networks important for career success. While diversity poses initial communication challenges, over time diverse groups develop strategies to consider more alternatives and perspectives, improving marketing, creativity, and cultural sensitivity.
Business culture consists of the shared values, beliefs, behaviors, and norms that define how work is done in an organization. There are three main ways to identify a company's culture: how decisions are made, the style of communication, and how customers are treated. A strong culture means staff clearly understand expected behaviors while a weak culture lacks alignment and consistency. The four main types of organizational culture are power, role, task, and person cultures, each requiring different leadership styles. A culture may need changing to improve performance or adapt to changes in the market, ownership, leadership, or economic conditions, but can be difficult to alter due to tradition, fears of loss, and different ambitions.
The document contains a 10-question survey assessing an employee's commitment to their work. It asks questions about willingness to work extra hours, take on more workloads, attend meetings, make critical decisions, take on responsibilities, and commitment during difficult financial times for the company. The respondent is asked to select their level of agreement with statements related to these topics on a scale from strongly disagree to strongly agree.
This document discusses organizational culture, defining it as shared assumptions, values and beliefs that influence how employees behave. It outlines seven primary features of culture, levels of culture, and how culture is transmitted through stories, rituals, symbols and language. The importance of culture in guiding employees and creating identity is described. Examples of Google's strong culture are provided, and the conclusion stresses the importance of an inclusive culture that makes all employees feel safe and welcome.
Push and pull are forces that can make objects start or stop moving, slow down or speed up, change direction, or alter shape. Forces have the ability to initiate or halt an object's motion, modify its speed, redirect its path, or transform its form. Push and pull forces impact objects in a variety of ways including setting them in motion, bringing them to a standstill, altering their velocity, and changing their configuration.
The document summarizes key points from a workshop on quantitative tools for HR managers. It discusses using quantitative approaches to make data-driven decisions. Some quantitative tools covered include validity and reliability testing for interviews and assessments, yield ratios for evaluating recruiting sources, turnover and manpower planning indices, and calculating costs related to hiring, training, and employee turnover. The document emphasizes using objective metrics to benchmark performance and make more valid and effective people decisions.
This document defines key terms and discusses physical and chemical changes in matter. It defines porosity, density, and biodegradability. Physical changes alter a material's appearance through processes like bending, cutting, and melting, which change size and shape but not composition. Chemical changes produce new substances through chemical reactions like burning and rusting. The document provides examples of physical changes like phase changes and chemical changes like cooking and provides a review questions to test the reader's understanding.
Employee empowerment involves giving employees autonomy and responsibility for decision-making regarding their tasks. It shares power with lower-level employees to better serve customers. The benefits of empowerment include improved employee satisfaction, better performance, increased trust in the organization, and allowing organizational power to grow. Empowerment levels range from encouraging employee roles to enabling bigger decisions without approval. Challenges include message disconnect, insufficient training, reluctant managers, increased risk, and slowed decision-making.
Case study - The friendly Supervisor , Interpersonal Communication Case Study...Samuel pongen
Avishek manages a customer relations department with seven typists. He promoted Rachana, the fastest and most accurate typist, to be the office supervisor. However, as supervisor, Rachana fails to enforce rules or discipline typists. She spends her time typing and socializing with the typists, who are close personal friends. This has led to complaints about poor work quality and long breaks. Avishek asks Rachana to improve work, but she refuses to discipline her friends.
This document provides an introduction and preface to the book "Family in Society" by Floyd M. Martinson. It discusses the sociological perspective taken in the book to analyze the American family as a social system within society and how it is impacted by cultural and social forces. The preface explains that the book will focus on examining the American family within one society, rather than making comparisons between many different societies, in order to avoid oversimplification. It also discusses how studying the American family over its long history provides insights from various "natural experiments" like changes from rural to urban life that impact family structures and functions.
SOC 1010, Introduction to Sociology 1 Course Learning.docxaryan532920
SOC 1010, Introduction to Sociology 1
Course Learning Outcomes for Unit I
Upon completion of this unit, students should be able to:
1. Analyze the ideas of sociological theorists in terms of their historical, economic, and social contexts.
1.1 Examine the three primary perspectives of sociology: functionalist, conflict, and interactionist.
2. Analyze the relationship between one’s beliefs and one’s group memberships.
2.1 Use the steps of scientific research to examine beliefs about a current event.
2.2 Predict how membership to certain groups affects belief
4. Evaluate patterns of behavior through sociological skills and theory.
4.1 Apply sociological imagination to determine how group membership shapes how we
perceive world events.
Reading Assignment
Chapter 1:
The Sociological Imagination
Chapter 2:
Sociological Research
Unit Lesson
On the one hand, sociology is a noun: it is defined as a body of knowledge about society that is based on
rigorous, scientific research. On the other hand, sociology is a verb: “a way of engaging with the world around
us and understanding its complexity and interconnections in new ways” (Witt, 2015, p. 20). In this unit, you
will learn about and practice the sociological imagination that is needed to study, recognize, and understand
the relationship between individuals and society.
C. Wright Mills (1959) used the concept of sociological imagination to explain the relationship between the
larger society and ourselves. Here, imagination does NOT mean make-believe. When Mills coined the term
sociological imagination, he encouraged us to look outside ourselves and to recognize that society shapes
who we are, what we think, and how we feel. Ask yourself about your beliefs in the afterlife. If you grew up in
a Hindu household, you might believe that the afterlife includes reincarnation into another person. If you grew
up in a Christian household, you might believe the afterlife is in heaven.
Using this same way of thinking, if you grew up in a Chinese American household, you may be likely to speak
Mandarin or Cantonese in addition to English. However, if you grew up in a French American household, you
are less likely to speak Mandarin or Cantonese. Rather, you are likely to speak French and English.
If we stretch our imaginations even further, we can see that a person raised in a U.S. city is less likely to be
able to grow his/her own food or drive a tractor than someone raised on a farm. Moreover, a person raised in
the U.S. is more likely to believe women are equal to men than someone raised in a more patriarchal society.
Finally, you are more likely to be friends with people from the same social class, race, and age group as you.
Therefore, you are more likely to marry someone who is from the same social class, race, and age group as
you. This is not to say you must do this. Rather, you are encouraged to do this by social institutions such as ...
Attitude, Jobs satisfaction and organizational commitmentAmira Nadia
The document discusses three main topics: attitudes, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment.
For attitudes, it defines attitudes as positive or negative feelings towards people, objects or situations. Attitudes have three components - cognitive, affective, and behavioral.
For job satisfaction, it defines it as positive feelings about one's job. Major causes of dissatisfaction are low pay, lack of promotion opportunities, unfair rewards, poor supervision, and bad work conditions. Consequences include low performance, increased turnover and absenteeism.
For organizational commitment, it defines it as acceptance of an organization's goals and desire to remain a member. There are three types of commitment - affective, continuance, and normative. Low
Physical changes alter the form of a substance but do not create new substances, while chemical changes result in one or more new substances forming. Signs of a chemical change include a change in color, scent, the release or absorption of heat, or fizzing. Examples provided demonstrate whether various processes like burning wood, rusting iron, melting butter, and dissolving salt are physical or chemical changes, and whether they are reversible.
The document discusses materials and their properties. It explains that all objects are made of either natural materials like wood, wool, and clay that come from nature, or man-made materials like plastic, glass, and steel. The way a material looks and feels is called its property, and different materials have varying properties like hardness, strength, flexibility, and whether they conduct heat that determine their uses.
Air is a mixture of gases that forms the atmosphere surrounding Earth. The atmosphere is essential for supporting life on Earth by providing oxygen for animals to breathe and carbon dioxide for plants to photosynthesize. It is composed of nitrogen, oxygen, and trace amounts of other gases. The atmosphere has different layers - the troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, thermosphere, and exosphere - with varying properties like temperature and air density. Air has weight, takes up space, exerts pressure, and is needed for combustion reactions. Various human activities like industry and vehicle emissions release air pollutants like dust, smoke, and harmful gases into the atmosphere.
The document describes UPS's Community Internship Program (CIP) which aims to improve cultural understanding and empathy among managers. The monthly program places 50 executives each year in communities around the country to experience challenges faced by employees and citizens. A UPS manager credits his CIP experience with helping him better understand an employee's need for time off to care for family. The program opened his eyes to issues of poverty and inequality that some employees face. It is believed to help managers relate better to UPS's diverse workforce.
The document discusses the importance of diversity and diversity management for organizations. It notes that the workforce is increasingly diverse due to globalization and demographic changes. Diversity can have both positive impacts like new perspectives and ideas, as well as negative impacts like conflicts if not managed properly. As such, many organizations are adopting diversity management approaches to address legal requirements and better meet the needs of diverse customers and workers. Effective diversity management requires long-term commitment from leadership and changes to human resources practices to promote inclusion and fairness.
This document discusses perception, individual decision making, and group attribution theory. It covers several topics:
- Perception is influenced by personal characteristics, attributes of the target, and situational factors. What is perceived is an interpretation rather than objective reality.
- Attribution theory seeks to explain the behavior of others by attributing causes like feelings, beliefs, and intentions. It involves observing, interpreting, and determining the causes of behavior.
- Common shortcuts in judging others include selective perception, halo effect, contrast effect, and stereotyping.
- Decision making is influenced by perception. Types of decision making discussed are rational, bounded rationality, intuition-based, and the biases that can impact decision quality.
This document defines diversity and cultural competency in the workplace. It defines diversity as acceptance and respect of individuals' unique differences along dimensions such as race, gender, and beliefs. Workforce diversity refers to people with different qualities and cultural backgrounds. Diversity is important for organizations to build the best teams and be competitive globally. The document outlines four leadership competencies: personal literacy, social literacy, business literacy, and cultural literacy. It concludes by reflecting on improving cultural competency and working in a global society.
The document discusses workplace diversity and how to manage it effectively. It defines diversity as recognizing, appreciating, and utilizing the unique talents of all individuals. It also discusses the challenges of managing a diverse workforce, such as resistance to change, interpersonal conflicts, and retention issues. However, it notes that diversity can provide benefits like new ideas, better problem solving, and an improved company image. It provides tips for managing diversity, such as embracing multiculturalism, recruiting broadly, selecting employees fairly, providing training, and being flexible. The conclusion states that diversity increases innovation if managed properly.
The document discusses materials and their properties. It defines materials as physical substances used to make things and lists some main categories including metals, plastics, ceramics, glass and fibers. It explains that everything around us is made of one or more materials and provides examples. The document also defines properties as characteristics that describe materials, such as being hard, strong, flexible, light, heavy, colored, magnetic, bendy, brittle, malleable, transparent, translucent or opaque. It lists properties that could be used to describe examples like a pencil, window, paper and fork. Finally, it discusses categorizing materials into groups like metals which are good conductors of heat and electricity and sometimes magnetic.
The document compares physical and chemical properties of substances and changes. Physical changes do not alter a substance's identity and can often be reversed, such as melting or freezing. Chemical changes create new substances with different properties through chemical reactions. Clues that a chemical change is occurring include color changes, production of gases, heat, or new odors. Chemical changes like baking a cake cannot be undone since new substances are formed.
This document discusses diversity in the retail industry. It finds that while diversity is comparable to overall workforce levels, with white non-Hispanic workers making up two-thirds, minorities face opportunity gaps. Black and Latino retail workers are overrepresented in low-paying, unstable jobs and underrepresented in management. There are barriers like stereotyping that limit minority access to informal networks important for career success. While diversity poses initial communication challenges, over time diverse groups develop strategies to consider more alternatives and perspectives, improving marketing, creativity, and cultural sensitivity.
Business culture consists of the shared values, beliefs, behaviors, and norms that define how work is done in an organization. There are three main ways to identify a company's culture: how decisions are made, the style of communication, and how customers are treated. A strong culture means staff clearly understand expected behaviors while a weak culture lacks alignment and consistency. The four main types of organizational culture are power, role, task, and person cultures, each requiring different leadership styles. A culture may need changing to improve performance or adapt to changes in the market, ownership, leadership, or economic conditions, but can be difficult to alter due to tradition, fears of loss, and different ambitions.
The document contains a 10-question survey assessing an employee's commitment to their work. It asks questions about willingness to work extra hours, take on more workloads, attend meetings, make critical decisions, take on responsibilities, and commitment during difficult financial times for the company. The respondent is asked to select their level of agreement with statements related to these topics on a scale from strongly disagree to strongly agree.
This document discusses organizational culture, defining it as shared assumptions, values and beliefs that influence how employees behave. It outlines seven primary features of culture, levels of culture, and how culture is transmitted through stories, rituals, symbols and language. The importance of culture in guiding employees and creating identity is described. Examples of Google's strong culture are provided, and the conclusion stresses the importance of an inclusive culture that makes all employees feel safe and welcome.
Push and pull are forces that can make objects start or stop moving, slow down or speed up, change direction, or alter shape. Forces have the ability to initiate or halt an object's motion, modify its speed, redirect its path, or transform its form. Push and pull forces impact objects in a variety of ways including setting them in motion, bringing them to a standstill, altering their velocity, and changing their configuration.
The document summarizes key points from a workshop on quantitative tools for HR managers. It discusses using quantitative approaches to make data-driven decisions. Some quantitative tools covered include validity and reliability testing for interviews and assessments, yield ratios for evaluating recruiting sources, turnover and manpower planning indices, and calculating costs related to hiring, training, and employee turnover. The document emphasizes using objective metrics to benchmark performance and make more valid and effective people decisions.
This document defines key terms and discusses physical and chemical changes in matter. It defines porosity, density, and biodegradability. Physical changes alter a material's appearance through processes like bending, cutting, and melting, which change size and shape but not composition. Chemical changes produce new substances through chemical reactions like burning and rusting. The document provides examples of physical changes like phase changes and chemical changes like cooking and provides a review questions to test the reader's understanding.
Employee empowerment involves giving employees autonomy and responsibility for decision-making regarding their tasks. It shares power with lower-level employees to better serve customers. The benefits of empowerment include improved employee satisfaction, better performance, increased trust in the organization, and allowing organizational power to grow. Empowerment levels range from encouraging employee roles to enabling bigger decisions without approval. Challenges include message disconnect, insufficient training, reluctant managers, increased risk, and slowed decision-making.
Case study - The friendly Supervisor , Interpersonal Communication Case Study...Samuel pongen
Avishek manages a customer relations department with seven typists. He promoted Rachana, the fastest and most accurate typist, to be the office supervisor. However, as supervisor, Rachana fails to enforce rules or discipline typists. She spends her time typing and socializing with the typists, who are close personal friends. This has led to complaints about poor work quality and long breaks. Avishek asks Rachana to improve work, but she refuses to discipline her friends.
This document provides an introduction and preface to the book "Family in Society" by Floyd M. Martinson. It discusses the sociological perspective taken in the book to analyze the American family as a social system within society and how it is impacted by cultural and social forces. The preface explains that the book will focus on examining the American family within one society, rather than making comparisons between many different societies, in order to avoid oversimplification. It also discusses how studying the American family over its long history provides insights from various "natural experiments" like changes from rural to urban life that impact family structures and functions.
SOC 1010, Introduction to Sociology 1 Course Learning.docxaryan532920
SOC 1010, Introduction to Sociology 1
Course Learning Outcomes for Unit I
Upon completion of this unit, students should be able to:
1. Analyze the ideas of sociological theorists in terms of their historical, economic, and social contexts.
1.1 Examine the three primary perspectives of sociology: functionalist, conflict, and interactionist.
2. Analyze the relationship between one’s beliefs and one’s group memberships.
2.1 Use the steps of scientific research to examine beliefs about a current event.
2.2 Predict how membership to certain groups affects belief
4. Evaluate patterns of behavior through sociological skills and theory.
4.1 Apply sociological imagination to determine how group membership shapes how we
perceive world events.
Reading Assignment
Chapter 1:
The Sociological Imagination
Chapter 2:
Sociological Research
Unit Lesson
On the one hand, sociology is a noun: it is defined as a body of knowledge about society that is based on
rigorous, scientific research. On the other hand, sociology is a verb: “a way of engaging with the world around
us and understanding its complexity and interconnections in new ways” (Witt, 2015, p. 20). In this unit, you
will learn about and practice the sociological imagination that is needed to study, recognize, and understand
the relationship between individuals and society.
C. Wright Mills (1959) used the concept of sociological imagination to explain the relationship between the
larger society and ourselves. Here, imagination does NOT mean make-believe. When Mills coined the term
sociological imagination, he encouraged us to look outside ourselves and to recognize that society shapes
who we are, what we think, and how we feel. Ask yourself about your beliefs in the afterlife. If you grew up in
a Hindu household, you might believe that the afterlife includes reincarnation into another person. If you grew
up in a Christian household, you might believe the afterlife is in heaven.
Using this same way of thinking, if you grew up in a Chinese American household, you may be likely to speak
Mandarin or Cantonese in addition to English. However, if you grew up in a French American household, you
are less likely to speak Mandarin or Cantonese. Rather, you are likely to speak French and English.
If we stretch our imaginations even further, we can see that a person raised in a U.S. city is less likely to be
able to grow his/her own food or drive a tractor than someone raised on a farm. Moreover, a person raised in
the U.S. is more likely to believe women are equal to men than someone raised in a more patriarchal society.
Finally, you are more likely to be friends with people from the same social class, race, and age group as you.
Therefore, you are more likely to marry someone who is from the same social class, race, and age group as
you. This is not to say you must do this. Rather, you are encouraged to do this by social institutions such as ...
For this assignment, students will be expected to find and discuss.docxAKHIL969626
For this assignment, students will be expected to find and discuss online news articles published within the last 3 months on any 7 of the following topics:
1. Interracial relationships
2. Homosexuality, bisexuality, or transexuality
3. Family violence
4. Adoption (any aspect)
5. Extra-marital sexuality
6. Births outside of marriage
7. Marriage trends/statistics
8. Blended families
9. Disciplining children
These articles may be from any online news source. Please keep in mind that they must be news articles, not commentaries, editorials, letters to the editor, book reviews, opinion pieces, etc.
Provide the URL for each article you choose and clearly identify each topic you are addressing. Be certain that you note the source of each article including the APA-formatted citation for each article.
For each item, write a brief essay (approximately 400-500 words) in which you do the following:
1. Write a brief summary of the article. This should only be a short paragraph in length. The point is not to repeat everything the article says but to pick out important points and those that relate to information covered in class material.
2. Compare the information in your article with information on that subject covered in your textbook (include page numbers when appropriate). For example, does the information in the article contradict or agree with information presented in your text? How? Why? This is your chance to demonstrate that you know the information on this topic presented in your course material.
3. Discuss which theoretical perspective on the family, as discussed in Chapter 2, is represented/applied in the article. Analyze the topic using the related theory. (This is your opportunity to demonstrate that you understand and can apply the theoretical perspectives in your text.) CHAPTER 2 IS ATTACHED
4. Conclude with your own thoughts on the news article. You might include such thoughts as why this particular topic interested you, if you were surprised by the news, or how you think this issue should be handled by society and why. The point of this part of your essay is to demonstrate that you have reflected on this issue at some length.
As people struggle to understand family-related processes, they develop theories. A theory is a set of statements that explains why a particular phenomenon occurs. Theories drive research; help us analyze our findings; and, ideally, offer solutions for family problems.
One family sociologist compares theories to the fable of the six blind men who felt different parts of an elephant and arrived at different explanations of what elephants were like. The man who felt the side of the elephant compared it to a massive, immovable wall. The man who felt the trunk thought the elephant was like a rope that could move large objects. Similarly, different theories explain different aspects of the elephant—in this case, families (Burr, 1995).
Of the dozen or so most influential ...
HUSC Body of Knowledge: Family and Consumer SciencesRita Conley
The document discusses the mission of family and consumer sciences and how the definition of family has changed over time. It examines different family structures that have emerged such as nuclear families, blended families, single-parent families, and same-sex civil unions. It also explores how the family functions as a social unit using systems theory and the human ecosystem model. Basic human needs like food, clothing, shelter, and relationships are viewed through the lens of how various environmental factors influence individuals and families.
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Social Conflict Theory Essay
Sociology is the study of how social factors influence human behavior and attitudes. It examines how people are influenced by their society and culture. Sociology also studies how social trends and events shape people's lives. It adapts over time to study new social phenomena as societies change. For example, it now examines unique family structures like single-parent households and same-sex marriages that have become more common. Sociology uses new theories and technology to better understand how people are affected by modern society.
Sociology of Families is a subfield of sociology that focuses on the study of families as social institutions and the relationships, structures, and dynamics within family units. It examines how families shape and are shaped by social norms, cultural practices, economic conditions, and political systems.
In the sociology of families, researchers analyze various aspects of family life, including marriage, parenting, gender roles, intergenerational relationships, and family dynamics. They investigate how families are formed, maintained, and dissolved, as well as the social and cultural factors that influence family structure and functioning.
This document discusses the challenges and rewards of writing an essay on family structure. Some of the challenges include the diversity of family dynamics across cultures and experiences, the vastness of the topic as family structures continue to evolve, and balancing objectivity with the emotional aspects of family life. However, exploring family structures provides an opportunity for intellectual growth and a deeper understanding of human relationships and societal influences. To comprehensively address this complex topic, the essay would need to navigate perspectives from various disciplines like sociology, psychology, history and cultural studies.
Journal entry 1 The systems and structures that shape cultura.docxjesssueann
Journal entry 1 :
The systems and structures that shape cultural norms and our perceptions—and, therefore, that create/shape single stories—do not operate in a vacuum. As our course texts and discussions have shown, structures interact with each other. They are intertwined, so they shape our bodies and experiences simultaneously. Kimberlé Crenshaw explains this deftly and eloquently in her TED Talk through the concept of
intersectionality.
Therefore, you must use at least one specific idea from Kimberlé Crenshaw’s TED Talk, bell hooks’s essay, or Audre Lorde’s essay in
Women in Culture
. The second text you cite must be from the week you’re submitting your journal entry.
Part of analyzing and complicating single stories involves understanding how our world is
more complex
than the “truth” a single story creates. For example, in our class we discuss
how different identity categories, “isms,” and/or systems of power and privilege are operating
at the same time
to affect how people perceive us and we perceive ourselves, and
how social identity categories are heterogeneous: there is “difference within” this category (e.g., not all “women” are the same or experience gender in the same way).
journal entry 2
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie tells us, “Power is the ability not just to tell the story of another person, but to make it the definitive story of that person” (10:04). Moreover, these “definitive stories” often misrepresent and oversimplify someone’s identity and/or life experiences. This occurs partly because a single story is larger than any individual: single stories are shaped by
structures of thought
— such as a stereotype, a belief system, or an “ism”(sexism, racism homophobia) and
material structures
— such as economic, educational, government, and legal systems.
Entry Instructions
In at least 200 words
, for this entry, you’ll explore a structure of thought and/or a material structure in relation to single stories. How do broader social structures (
material structures
or
structures of thought
) oversimplify our understandings of identity. This relates to the concept of “single stories” because single-story ideas
create
and
are an effect of
the simplified ideas about identity?
You can focus on a specific identity category (such as race, gender, sexuality, religion) or focus on the way that “identity” is structured in US society more broadly. Some questions that you could address are
What “isms” and structures shape a specific single story about an identity category?
How do the “isms” and structures create social/cultural norms and perceptions that shape single stories?
How do “isms” and structures make single stories difficult to change?
Remember to integrate specific parts of at least
two required texts
to help explain your ideas about the relationship between these structures and single stories, and
one of those texts must be from week 8
(Lorde’s essay or Alsultany’s essay).
...
1
Kinship and Descent
This week we’ll begin to talk about the ways in which people organize themselves in
social terms. We have talked a little about the way that social groups are linked to culture, but in
the next two weeks we’ll look at the way in which people form groups. We’ve look at who you
marry, who you live with, who you work with. Because of the importance of kinship as a basic
structuring principle in most human societies, we’ll begin with that topic.
Descent Groups, Residence, Kinship calculation
Especially in non-industrial societies, kinship, descent, and marriage are basic social,
economic, and political building blocks. Kinship entails rights, obligations, affection, childcare,
and inheritance.
Kin groups are social units whose membership can be charted and whose activities can be
observed. When anthropologists first began to study non-western groups through participant
observation, they spent a great deal of time defining kinship groups and recording their activities.
If you’re interested in seeing the details of kinship charting and relationships, take at look at the
website of Brian Schwimmer at the University of Manitoba:
http://umanitoba.ca/faculties/arts/anthropology/tutor/kinmenu.html
For the truly nerdy, see Alan MacFarlane’s lectures on kinship at YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdLAru7a9Wo
MacFarlane is very old school, British social anthropology. I think his lectures are great, but
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdLAru7a9Wo
2
some may find them a little dry. They contain much more information than is needed for our
purposes.
The descent group is a basic kin group among non-industrial food producers. Unlike
families, descent groups last for generations. There are several types of descent groups, such as
lineages and clans. Some descent groups are patrilineal, reckoning descent through male lines
only. Some are matrilineal, tracing descent only through the female line.
The nuclear family is a kin group consisting of a married couple and their unmarried
children. Nuclear families are widespread among the world’s cultures, but there are alternatives.
Other social forms, such as extended families and descent groups, may supplement or even
replace the nuclear family. The nuclear family is most important in foraging and industrial
societies.
In addition to kin groups, anthropologists also investigate how people in different
societies define and calculate kinship. Kinship terminologies are ways of dividing up the world
of kin relationships on the basis of perceived differences and similarities. Although perceptions
and classifications vary among cultures, comparative research shows that there are actually only a
few ways of doing it.
Kinship: A definition
Kinship describes a social relationship in which two or more people consider themselves
to have a strong social bond. That bond can be established in two ways. There are relationships
of consanguinity.
This document introduces the concept of social institutions and how they are studied in sociology. It discusses that social institutions such as family, religion, politics, economics and education exist to satisfy social needs according to functionalist views, while conflict views see them as operating in the interests of dominant social groups. The document then focuses on the social institutions of family, marriage and kinship, explaining that while they are universal across societies, their specific characteristics vary significantly between cultures. It also discusses how families are linked to and influenced by other social spheres like economic and political systems, and how family forms are diverse and changing over time and place.
This document provides summaries of various theories related to family psychology, including attachment theory, family life course theory, family systems theory, role theory, exchange theory, network theory, theory of marital types, feminist theory, social learning theory, attribution/accounts theory, narrative theory, dialectical theory, social construction theory, and symbolic interactionism. It also lists typical courses that may be included in a family psychology program, such as family and marital counseling, family systems, child and adolescent psychology, social psychology, and legal and ethical issues in psychology.
S1001Fall2014RG2StructuralFunctionalism 9/9/2014 3:36 PM [Type text]
1
Sociology 1001
Introduction to sociology
Fall 2014
Reading Guide #2
The Structural functionalist school
RECAP OF RECENT LECTURE(S)
We introduced the course by suggesting to you that
we would study contemporary micro and macro
sociology
-however, before we start examining modern
sociology, we spent a little time examining the history
of the discipline of sociology.
-we saw that in the 19th century, 3 founding fathers of
sociology emerged, in response to the changes in
society which they saw.
Marx tried to give an explanation of the way society
had developed so as to produce the omnipresent
social phenomenon of ‘industrialization’
S1001Fall2014RG2StructuralFunctionalism 9/9/2014 3:36 PM [Type text]
2
Durkheim tried to give an explanation of the way
society had evolved so as to produce the widespread
phenomenon of ‘urbanization’
Weber tried to give an explanation of the way society
had developed so as to produce the omnipresent
social phenomenon of ‘bureaucratization’.
However, none of these sociologists (apart from
Weber to some extent) really paid much attention to
the phenomenon of the social individual.
So we will begin our analysis of modern sociology by
looking at how, in the 20th century, sociology started
realizing that it had to start investigating the (social)
individual, and how that individual acts socially.
But first we will look at how the ideas of Durkheim
primarily, got translated into a North American version
for the 20th century
Begins with Talcott Parsons (Harvard scholar) going
to Europe and learning from the European theorists
He brings back these ideas to north America
(especially those of Durkheim and Weber)
S1001Fall2014RG2StructuralFunctionalism 9/9/2014 3:36 PM [Type text]
3
And adapts Durkheim’s ‘evolutionary’ model (which
came from biology) to a more ‘medical model’ (still
rooted in biology)
This new model became the ‘structural functionalist
school’
Structural-Functionalism
Focusses on: structure and function of institutions in
society
Biological analogy
Medical doctor analogy
notion of system, everything working together smoothly
needs of the system
interdependence of parts
boundaries within the system
equilibrium
The AGIL schema
Adaptation
Goal attainment
Integration
Latent pattern maintenance
The Family as an example
THE FUNCTIONALIST ANALYSIS OF THE
FAMILY
Ahmed
Highlight
S1001Fall2014RG2StructuralFunctionalism 9/9/2014 3:36 PM [Type text]
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As we have seen with the functionalist
perspective, they always want to understand
phenomena in terms of how these phenomena
contribute to the functioning of society, as well
they often examine families for how the
internal parts of the system function together.
So if we look at the family from a societal
perspective, we can understand it .
This document provides an introduction to the key concepts of social structure, stratification, and social processes that will be discussed in the chapter. It defines social structure as the patterns and regularities in social behavior and relationships that give society its form. Social stratification refers to unequal distribution of resources and hierarchical groupings within society. The chapter will examine how social structure and stratification shape three social processes - cooperation, competition, and conflict. It discusses different theoretical perspectives on these concepts, such as functionalism which views them as necessary for social stability, and conflict theory which emphasizes inequality and power dynamics. The document sets up how the chapter will analyze how individuals' positions within social hierarchies influence their ability to engage or resist these social processes.
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The document discusses how family structures in modern Britain have become more diverse, with examples of nuclear families, extended families, single-parent families, reconstituted families, homosexual families, and families from different ethnic groups. It analyzes factors that have led to changes in traditional family forms and greater diversity, including divorce, changing gender roles, and immigration. In conclusion, it confirms that family life in Britain has indeed become more diverse, as there is no single dominant family type anymore.
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This document contains a teacher's key with answers to questions about research methods. It includes definitions for terms like validity, limitations, variables, experimenter bias, independent variables, and pilot testing. It also summarizes issues with different research methods, like access problems that may occur when studying classrooms, and differences between open-ended and closed questions in surveys.
This document provides a review of research methods concepts including:
1. Validity refers to the accuracy or truthfulness of research findings.
2. Practical issues that affect a researcher's choice of method include legal issues, ethics concerns, and problems accessing subjects.
3. Positivists see sociology as a science and prefer quantitative data, while the comparative method examines cause-and-effect relationships through thought experiments rather than practical experiments.
1. Positivists favor 'macro' or structural explanations of behavior and seek to quantify human behavior like natural phenomena. However, interpretivists argue that sociology should not try to be a science.
2. Interpretivists believe the subject matter of sociology is interpreting human meanings and interpretations rather than verifying hypotheses. They favor verstehen, or understanding social actions from the actor's point of view.
3. The document asks students to complete criticisms of positivism using key terms like controlled, replicated, and natural. It then poses topic questions about theories like Durkheim's concept of social facts and Kuhn's idea of paradigms in normal science.
The document is a teacher's key providing answers to a review on science and sociology topics. It contains 9 missing words for various statements about social phenomena, the external causes of individual behavior according to structural functionalism, meaningful social action, empathy in research, methods of verification and falsification in science, the definition of a scientific paradigm, how paradigms guide scientific work, and the difference between open and closed systems in research.
This document discusses key aspects of conducting social surveys. It explains that surveys can take the form of written questionnaires or interviews. Questions can be open-ended, allowing free responses, or closed-ended with limited answers. Researchers must choose a topic suitable for a survey and form a clear aim or hypothesis to give their study focus. Concepts being studied, like social class, must be operationalized by defining observable indicators that can be measured. Pilot studies test survey questions to identify and address any issues before full data collection. Researchers aim to sample populations that allow findings to generalize to the overall group being examined.
Popper rejected inductive reasoning and verificationism, which were approaches used by positivists. He argued that inductive reasoning, which involves generalizing from specific observations, is flawed because a single counter-example can falsify the generalization. Popper proposed falsificationism instead, where a scientific theory must be capable of being proven wrong through empirical testing. A good theory, according to Popper, must be falsifiable but withstand attempts to falsify it. No theory can ever be proven absolutely true, only withstand falsification attempts so far. Popper also argued that science thrives in open societies that allow criticism and debate, while closed societies dominated by rigid orthodoxies tend to stifle scientific progress.
Karl Popper proposed that scientific knowledge is provisional and falsifiable rather than absolutely certain or proven true. He rejected the traditional view that science discovers descriptive laws through induction from facts. Instead, he argued that scientific theories can never be proven true but can be tested by attempting to falsify them through experiments and observations. This view resolved issues with the logical problem of induction and provided a rationale for how scientific knowledge advances through falsification of theories.
Postmodernists argue against the notion of a scientific sociology because they see science as just one narrative among many, and its claims of truth are no more valid than any other perspective. Scientific sociology makes false claims of having the sole truth and forms a domination that can exclude other views. Some feminists also argue that a single scientific feminist theory and quantitative methods favored by positivists are oppressive and cannot capture women's experiences. Additionally, science has not always led to progress and dangers created by science like nuclear weapons undermine the idea that it inevitably benefits humanity, so sociology should not adopt it as a model.
The document discusses positivism and the debate around whether sociology can be considered a science. Positivists in the 19th century were influenced by the success of the natural sciences and wanted to apply scientific methods to the study of society. Key beliefs of positivists included that reality exists independently of human minds, society consists of observable social facts, and through systematic observation sociologists can discover patterns and laws that explain how society works, similar to scientific laws in physics. The document outlines inductive reasoning and verificationism as methods positivists believe sociology can use to establish generalizable truths and laws about society.
The document discusses positivism and objective quantitative research methods. Positivists argue that the experimental method used in hard sciences should also be used in sociology. They seek causal relationships and use quantitative data and methods like questionnaires to test hypotheses and uncover patterns in an objective, detached manner. The document then discusses Emile Durkheim's study of suicide rates, which he argued showed social causes for this personal act, establishing sociology as a scientific discipline. Interpretivists reject viewing sociology as a science, arguing we must interpret meanings and motives rather than external causes. They favor qualitative methods to understand actions from the actor's viewpoint.
Realism distinguishes between open and closed systems that can be studied in sociology. Open systems, like weather patterns or crime rates, are too complex to make precise predictions because the researcher cannot control or measure all variables. Closed systems, like laboratory experiments, allow the researcher to control all relevant variables and make precise predictions. Realists argue that sociology primarily studies open systems that are too complex to make exact predictions due to many uncontrolled variables that influence outcomes.
Thomas Kuhn was an American physicist who radically changed views on the nature of science. He argued that science progresses not through linear knowledge gathering, but through periodic "paradigm shifts" where the nature of scientific inquiry in a field is suddenly transformed. A paradigm is the basic framework of assumptions and methods shared by a scientific community that governs their work. During normal science, scientists work within a paradigm to solve puzzles, but over time anomalies can lead to a paradigm shift opening up a new approach. Kuhn emphasized that science is shaped by subjective perspectives and there can be competing views until a new paradigm is widely accepted.
There are four main theoretical issues in sociology: validity, reliability, representativeness, and methodological perspective. Validity refers to obtaining an accurate picture of society, while reliability means replicable results. Representativeness means studying a typical cross-section. Methodological perspective influences method choice, with positivists preferring quantitative data to find patterns and interpretivists preferring qualitative data to understand meanings. Constraints like time, resources, access, and consent also influence which methods sociologists can use to study their topics.
The document discusses five ethical guidelines that sociologists should follow when conducting research according to the British Sociological Association (BSA):
1. Informed consent - Participants should voluntarily agree to participate and have the right to withdraw consent. They must be fully informed about the study.
2. Confidentiality and privacy - Participants' identities and private details must remain confidential and private.
3. Effects on research participants - Researchers must consider potential negative effects on participants such as harm, exclusion, or damage and try to prevent these.
4. Vulnerable groups - Additional protections are needed for vulnerable groups like children.
5. Covert research - This should be avoided as it involves deception and researchers
There are several practical factors that influence a sociologist's choice of research methods. Time and money constraints impact whether large or small-scale studies can be conducted. Funding bodies may require certain data formats that influence the selection of methods like questionnaires. Individual sociologists also have different skill sets and characteristics that determine which methods they can effectively apply based on the requirements of tasks like participant observation or in-depth interviews. The nature of the subject matter and availability of research opportunities also shape methodological decisions.
Primary data is information collected firsthand for research purposes, while secondary data is collected by others for non-research reasons. Sociologists commonly use secondary data as it is readily available at low cost. Common primary collection methods include surveys, participant observation, and experiments. Secondary data sources include official statistics from governments and organizations as well as documents. Quantitative data is numeric while qualitative data provides subjective experiences and perspectives to understand social phenomena. Examples of each type of data collection method and source are provided.
The document discusses different perspectives on family diversity and structure. It outlines the views of the New Right, who oppose diversity and favor a traditional nuclear family. It also describes the neo-conventional family perspective and identifies five types of family diversity. Additionally, it discusses concepts like life course analysis, risk society, choice and equality, family practice, postmodernism, and the growing acceptance of and arguments for and against diversity in family forms.
The document discusses two alternative methods to laboratory experiments in sociology: field experiments and the comparative method. The comparative method is designed to discover cause-and-effect relationships and is sometimes called a thought experiment. Rosenthal & Jacobson used a field experiment to study the effects of teacher expectations on student achievement. The comparative method has advantages over laboratory experiments in that it avoids artificiality, can study past events, and does not harm or deceive subjects. Durkheim used the comparative method in his study of suicide rates.
The five stage active reading technique called SQ3R is described. The stages are: Survey, Question, Read, Recall, and Review. Key aspects of each stage are highlighted, including scanning materials for an overview, forming questions, reading sections in detail while taking notes, recalling core facts and processes, and reviewing through re-reading or teaching others. Additional study methods are recommended, such as using association and vivid imagery to remember information, using sticky notes and note cards to quiz yourself, and quizzing with other students.
An exam candidate should demonstrate the following skills:
1) Familiarity with key sociological concepts, theories, and theorists such as Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim, and Max Weber.
2) Ability to write clear, logical essays using proper English prose and a coherent line of argument.
3) Capacity to evaluate and comment on sociological materials and express an informed opinion.
The document provides tips for answering exam questions such as writing an essay plan, using paragraphs, leaving space for amendments, and proofreading responses carefully.
More from April Lennox-Hill's Sociology Lessons (20)
2. Family Life Unit 2: Family Diversity
The Aims of these Notes are to allow you to understand:
1. That contemporary British society has a wide diversity of family
structures.
2. The idea of family life being considered in terms of social groups (rather
than as an institution in society).
3. Historical changes in family structure and the theoretical diversity of
relationships within the family.
The Objectives of these Notes are to allow you to understand:
1. The difference between commonsense and sociological conceptions of
family life.
2. The interpretation of statistical evidence relating to family diversity.
3. The concepts of life-cycle and family structure in relation to various
theoretical forms of family diversity.
Chris.Livesey: www.sociology.org.uk Page 1
3. Family Life Unit 2: Family Diversity
Introduction
In this set of Notes we are going to consider family life in terms of the idea of families
as a social group within different societies. In particular, the emphasis will be on the
concept of family diversity; that is, the different forms of family relationship it is
possible to note and outline.
The Diversity of Contemporary Family Life
When we examined the "fit thesis" (see: Teachers’ Notes Unit 2: Family and
Industrialisation) in relation to the way family structures have changed over to past
300 years in Britain, we noted that writers such as Laslett and Anderson focused
part of their criticism on the notion that a single type of family structure could be
considered "dominant" in whatever period of time one chose to examine (for
example, the idea that the "extended family" was the dominant (main) form in pre-
industrial Britain or that the "nuclear family" is the dominant form in industrial Britain).
As Anderson's research clearly indicated, this "monolithic" or "homogeneous"
approach to the study of the family as an institution is conceptually inadequate,
precisely because different social classes:
Experience structural pressures in different ways
The economic position of the working class is radically different to that
of the upper class and so forth
Adapt themselves differently to the demands (or "imperatives") of structural
pressures.
Question:
How would you define the idea of the "homogeneous family institution"?
This idea is interesting for two main reasons:
1. It suggests that family diversity is a concept that is worth exploring if we are to
arrive at an adequate explanation for the relationship between:
The family and other social institutions / structures
Relationships within the family as a social group
2. It highlights a methodological "problem", namely the idea that the overall
sociological perspective within which one - as a sociologist - chooses to operate may
radically affect the way in which you choose - or are able - to study institutions
such as the family.
For example: Functionalist theory ,
Tends to emphasize broad structural pressures
Views social systems in terms of a broad value consensus
Emphasizes the way people adapt to structural imperatives / pressures.
Thus, if your overall theoretical perspective places primary importance on such
ideas, this will affect the way in which you carry-out your research. In short, in
relation to the family, it will mean:
Chris.Livesey: www.sociology.org.uk Page 2
4. Family Life Unit 2: Family Diversity
That you end to treat "the family" as some kind of homogeneous entity in
society
That your approach is broadly ahistorical (that is, that the theoretical
approach you are forced to adopt is one whereby you construct a logical
theory about the world as you consider it to be / have been and then look
around for evidence that confirms your theory).
That you tend to underestimate the significance of social action as an
explanation of social change (or, at least, the relationship between social
action and social structure).
Question:
How might your "sociological perspective" affect the way in which you choose to
study family life? (Think about the things that a Functionalist and an Interactionist
might focus their attention on).
In the light of the above observations, it would, therefore, be useful to briefly examine
explanations relating to the nature and diversity of the family as a social group
(primarily, but not exclusively, in relation to Britain), prior to a closer examination of
specific relationships within the family group.
As we have seen already, one starting-point for an analysis of family diversity in
contemporary Britain might be to identify four main types of family structure, namely:
Nuclear
Extended
Reconstituted
Single-parent
and to recognise that - to greater or lesser extents - all of these "family types" exist in
contemporary Britain.
Question:
Using these examples, how could we define the concept of "family structure"?
(Think about what makes the above different types of family structure).
However, it should be evident that within each of these broad types there must exist
a wide range of diverse forms of family life. For example:
Extended family:
Vertically extended
Horizontally extended
Close kinship network (based upon mutual aid, for example)
Diffused kinship network (based upon financial ties, nepotism and so forth)
In this example, the quality of family relationships and family life will differ quite
markedly depending upon the precise form the extended family takes.
In addition, you could go on refining the picture of diversity within the extended
family almost indefinitely, as we consider the exact nature of kinship networks and
the "functions" they perform for family members.
Chris.Livesey: www.sociology.org.uk Page 3
5. Family Life Unit 2: Family Diversity
However, what is important here is a broad consideration of family diversity within
these different types of family arrangements, rather than a specific analysis of all
possible refinements and combinations.
In this respect, an important point to grasp is one made by Ann Oakley
("Housewife", 1974), when she criticises the "taken-for-granted" or "conventional"
notion that we tend to hold about "the family" as being:
"...nuclear families composed of legally married couples, voluntarily choosing
parenthood of one or more (but not too many) children.".
Family Life In Britain...
When we start to think about family life in Britain, we all start with one big advantage
(and, as it happens, one big disadvantage):
The advantage we have is that we have all lived some or part of our lives within
some kind of family - whether it be a family created for us by our parents (the one
into which we were born) or a family which we, as adults perhaps, have helped to
create. In this respect, we have an "insider's knowledge" about family life which
can be valuable to us as we try to look (in our guise as enquiring sociologists) at
competing ideas and explanations relating to family life in our society.
The disadvantage we have, however, relates to the fact that this "experiential
knowledge" (that is, the knowledge we gain from our experiences within a family)
can easily blind us to other people's experiences of family life. In this respect,
we may (perhaps wrongly) assume that other people's experiences are much the
same as our own - and this applies not just to contemporary family life in our
society, but also to family life in the past and in different societies.
The information we receive about family life in our society is not, of course, simply
restricted to our own experiences. The mass media, for example, bombard us with
images (both conscious and subliminal) concerning family life - what it is like, what it
was like, what it should be like and so forth. As sociologists, it should be our task to
sort-out the truth from the fiction, the myth from the reality, the Margaret Thatcher
from the Kings and Queens of England...
What this long - and possibly pointless - preamble is attempting to convey is the
idea that we tend, for one reason or another, to assume that family life in our
society is not particularly complicated or diverse - two people (of different sex)
love each other quite a lot, they get married, have kids and everyone lives happily
ever after...
In short, we can perhaps identify a kind of "commonsense" perception about family
life that combines two basic ideas:
1. That there is only one basic type of family structure in our society.
2. This basic type is normal, good and socially valuable.
Chris.Livesey: www.sociology.org.uk Page 4
6. Family Life Unit 2: Family Diversity
Before we start to explore this idea in more detail, it might be useful for you to think
about your perception of "family structure". When you read the word "family", for
example, a mental picture should pop into your thoughts, describing in general terms
the meaning that you give to this concept.
As an exercise, try describing the picture of "the family" that pops into your
head.
When I tried this exercise, the mental picture of the "normal family" that popped into
my head was as follows:
A man and a woman - a mother and a father.
Two children (one male, one female) - both quite young.
The man and woman are also fairly young (between the ages of about 25 -
35).
Their relationship is a monogamous one.
The man has a job outside the home. The woman may have a part-time job,
but she is predominantly a "full-time housewife".
These people represent a self-contained family unit - I do not see wider kin /
relations in my mental picture.
Finally, they are all reasonably happy (except the little boy who looks a bit of
a brat to me).
From the above, there are two main things that we can usefully consider:
1. Firstly, the social significance of this kind of "commonsense" perception of "the
family".
Clearly, it will be important to me, since it is my perception of "normality" against
which to measure my family experiences (we could, if we were so inclined, pursue
the ideological implications of this perception but, you will be relieved to know,
this is not particularly necessary here).
More importantly, it will have considerable ramifications for such things as social
policies created by governments in relation to family life if this kind of picture of
normality is shared by those with political power. Again, while this is an interesting
line to pursue (okay, it would be interesting if you were the kind of person who thinks
that standing in the rain on a windy railway station platform noting down the numbers
of trains is a wild and exiting kind of lifestyle), we can develop this idea at a later
point when we look at family life and social policy (bet you can't wait for that one).
2. Secondly and more importantly in this context, the question of whether or not this
kind of "commonsense" perception is actually valid in relation to family life in our
society.
In thinking about family life in Britain, therefore, we have to initially understand two
main things:
a. Firstly, the nature of family life itself.
Chris.Livesey: www.sociology.org.uk Page 5
7. Family Life Unit 2: Family Diversity
b. Secondly, the significance of empirical evidence surrounding family life.
In order to do this, we need to look closely at empirical evidence (and statistical
evidence in particular) about family life. In addition, we have to evaluate the
significance of such evidence in relation to such things as:
1. The "internal" consistency of this evidence (and, in particular, its reliability).
2. The interpretation of such evidence in relation to the idea that family life is a
social process (about which statistical evidence may give us a "snapshot" of
family life in our society at the point at which the data is collected).
3. The concept of family life-cycle.
Our initial interpretation of evidence surrounding the question of family diversity
would suggest that:
a. The nuclear family structure is the norm in Britain.
b. The "commonsense" (or "cereal packet") perception of family life consisting of
"adults with dependent children" is not particularly representative of household
types at any given moment.
c. Although, at any given time, there are more people living outside the "cereal
packet" type, it does appear that, for the majority of people at least, their family
life-cycle is broadly similar, proceeding along the lines of:
Single,
Married without children,
Married with dependent children,
Married with independent children.
Robert Chester ("The Rise of the Neo-Conventional Family", 1985) forcefully
presses home this particular point when he argues that, despite what the critics of the
nuclear family may argue, most people spend at least part of their life within this type
of family structure.
Furthermore, he argues it is misleading to simply use “snapshot” statistical
figures relating to the composition of family structures at any given moment,
simply because people’s lives are much more fluid (changeable) in modern
societies – which, in effect, means they are likely to experience a diverse range
of “family experiences” (most of which will, in some form or another, involve
living in a nuclear-type arrangement or, perhaps more significantly, wanting to live
in that type of arrangement should the chance to do so be available).
In relation to the above, therefore, it looks initially as if the "cereal packet" norm is
not just a commonsense perception (or myth) but that, on the contrary, it is a reality
in our society. However, just as, methodologically, we have to interpret family /
household statistics if we are to understand the reality of family life as it is lived /
experienced by people in our society, we have to dig a bit deeper (sociologically) if
we are to understand the social processes involved in family life. We need, in short,
to understand family life in both institutional (or Structural) terms and
interpersonal (or Interactionist) terms.
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8. Family Life Unit 2: Family Diversity
Thus, what we have to do now is to attempt to interpret empirical evidence about
family life in terms of the concept of a family life-cycle process, since this will help
us to evaluate the extent to which diversity in family life is either "normal" or
"abnormal" in our society.
In addition, the main reason for doing things this way (looking at empirical
evidence and then attempting to interpret its significance in overall terms) is that
each statistical category at which we have just looked will contain a range of
different behaviours.
Thus, the "married with dependent children" category may hide a range of diverse
behaviours - differences in family size, role relationships and so forth - which need
to be examined if we are to arrive at some conclusion about the concept of family
diversity.
Life –Cycle and Family Structure.
In this final section, it would be useful to cover three main areas:
1. An understanding of the specific (historical background) factors that have
conditioned overall family development in a society such as Britain.
We can think of this in terms of the "life-cycle" process noted above.
2. To look at a theoretical framework against which we can broadly sketch some of
the main types of diversity in family life.
This will involve looking at the work of Rhona and Robert Rapoport ("Families in
Britain", 1982) and the way in which they identify five main types of family diversity
in contemporary Britain, namely:
a. Organizational.
b. Cultural.
c. Class.
d. Life-course.
e. Cohort.
3. To illustrate the above with examples of diverse family types in contemporary
Britain and America.
In relation to the first of the ideas noted above (historical background in relation to
family formation), Abercrombie and Warde ("Contemporary British Society") identify
four main demographic changes affecting what they term the "family formation"
part of an individual's overall life-cycle.
We can look briefly at each change in turn and offer a similarly brief interpretation /
evaluation of their respective significance.
a. A reduction in the average age of marriage.
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9. Family Life Unit 2: Family Diversity
Leete ("Changing Patterns of Marriage and Remarriage", 1977) has noted the
following about the marital status of women aged 20 - 24:
1931 - 26% married.
1951 - 48% married.
1961 - 59% married.
In addition, the age at first marriage for males and females was:
1900 1975
Men 27 25
Women 26 23
From the above we can see that:
1. There appears to be an increasing proportion of women marrying.
2. The age at which people marry has been decreasing.
3. In relation to women's propensity to marriage, we can also note that the
numbers unmarried by the ages 35 - 44 have declined from 14% in 1931 to 6%
in 1974.
b. Life expectancy.
1926 1976 1999
Women 59.3 years 75.8 years 79 years
Men 55.4 years 69.7 years 74 years
The significance of greater longevity is two-fold:
1. Firstly, married people are potentially together longer (especially after their
children have become independent).
2. The longer the life-expectancy, the longer a marriage has to last and the
more-likely is the marriage to end in divorce (rather than the death of a partner, for
example).
c. The proportion of people marrying.
A rough comparison of the proportion of married people in the population is given in
the following table:
1901 1974
Men 36% 52%
Women 34% 50%
In addition, two further points are significant:
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10. Family Life Unit 2: Family Diversity
1. Upper class males and females tend, on average, to marry slightly later in
their life-cycle than people of other classes.
2. Amongst all women, those most likely to remain single come from the upper /
upper middle classes.
The above is perhaps explained by a couple of ideas:
a. Different social attitudes to starting a family - as we will see in a moment, a
general decline in average family size over the past 100 years has meant that
people do not have to delay marriage in order to ensure that they can support a
larger family.
b. The increasing availability of contraception has meant that sexually-active
couples can "safely" have sexual relationships without the fear of pregnancy. In
addition, families can be more easily planned.
c. As the number and proportion of women who are able and willing to pursue a
career outside the family increases, the average age of marriage for these women
has also increased. This observation applies particularly to middle-class,
professional, women who appear to be delaying marriage / family life until they
have established a professional career to which they can return following
childbirth.
d. A decrease in average family size.
Although in contemporary Britain approximately 90% of all marriages in Britain
involve children, the average family size over the past 100 years has declined
dramatically:
1860 7
1900 4
1950 2.3
1990 1.9
In addition to being relatively smaller, the modern family tends to be completed
earlier in a couple's life-cycle. The figures for "child-bearing life span" illustrate
this idea:
1860 - 20 year span between 1st and last child.
1900 - 14 year span.
1950 - 10 year span.
Abercrombie and Warde note that "one of the most significant changes in the
labour market in the 20th century" is the “rising proportion of married women
returning to work after completing their families…Greater participation by women in
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11. Family Life Unit 2: Family Diversity
paid work and changes in family structure thus seem to be closely related, although
what the mechanisms are that connect the two changes are less clear”.
Question:
What explanations can you find for the fact that “Greater participation by women in
paid work and changes in family structure thus seem to be closely related”.
In relation to the second of the areas to be covered that I noted at the start of this
section, we can now look at a theoretical framework against which we can broadly
sketch some of the main types of diversity in family life.
Rhona and Robert Rapoport ("Families in Britain", 1982) identify five main types
of family diversity in contemporary Britain, that we can outline in the following
terms:
1. Organisational Diversity.
This occurs within the family group, in terms of variations in:
Family structure
Household type
Kinship networks
Division of labour
Marriage and Cohabitation
Role relationships
Between families, this occurs in terms of broad family types such as:
Conventional families (Husband, wife, 2.2 children)
Single-parent families
"Dual-worker" families (where both parents work)
Reconstituted families (the product of divorce, remarriage or cohabitation).
As should be evident, there are huge organizational differences involved in the
above - differences that perhaps make it difficult to talk about "the" family as an
institution in society.
2. Cultural Diversity
By this they mean differences in lifestyles between families of different ethnic
origins, religious beliefs and so forth. In broad terms, we have to consider such
cultural styles related to marriage / cohabitation as:
Serial Monogamy,
Monogamy,
Polygny,
Polyandry.
In addition, we may have to consider differences in religious beliefs and the way they
affect family development.
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12. Family Life Unit 2: Family Diversity
In societies where the Catholic Church is politically, ideologically and (possibly)
economically powerful, for example, serial monogamy and the ban on contraception
have significant consequences for the family, in terms of such things as:
Relative size (number of children per family)
Stability (where divorce is not possible)
Division of labour (where "traditional" male / female roles may be ideologically
and structurally enforced - especially in terms of child care, for example).
An example that the Rapoports' give is that of the South Asian family in Britain.
They note that there are approximately one million South Asians living in
contemporary Britain (having emigrated from areas such as the Punjab, Gujarat and
Bengal in the 1950's) and they argue that a distinctive family form has developed
in South Asian communities based around:
Religious beliefs
Area of origin
Caste
Kinship
In relation to this type of family structure, the Rapoports' note that conflicts tend to
arise in relation to the organization of home life (based upon the above) and the
organization of such things as education.
For example, whereas home life emphasizes such things as:
Conformity to family and religious norms,
Respect for authority,
Loyalty to kin / family.
School life tends to emphasize such things as:
Competitiveness and
Individualism.
This may well be an example of the way in which the organization of different forms
of family life creates conflicts between the family and wider society.
If you want to pursue this particular example, Haralambos ("Sociology: Themes and
Perspectives") outlines some of these diverse ethnic family forms in Britain.
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13. Family Life Unit 2: Family Diversity
3. Class Diversity
Clear class divisions exist both between different social classes (Upper, Middle and
Working) and within those broad class groupings (such as, for example, differences
between the "traditional" and the "new" working class - in the latter case, the
concept of the "privatised family" (Goldthorpe and Lockwood et al (The Affluent
Worker in the Class Structure) argue, that this type of family involves both partners
sharing a home-centred approach to family life) is significant in relation to family
relationships). These differences are manifest in such things as:
The relationship between the sexes
Socialization of children
The importance of kinship networks
The different kinds of support provided by wider kin.
4. Life-Course.
This idea refers to differences in family life that occur as the result of the life-cycle of
the family.
For example, the family life of a young couple with infants is quite different to that
of an elderly couple with adult children. Similarly, class differences are manifest,
insofar as there is a (very) general tendency for working class children to leave the
family home to start families of their own at an earlier age than their upper / middle
class peers. Similarly, parents with children of school age may develop a "dual-
career" family, where both parents work for at least part of the day.
5. Cohort.
This refers to generational links within different families.
For example, families with children in Higher Education may have different
experiences than families whose children leave home at 16. Kinship networks are
also significant in this respect, especially when kin (grandparents, for example)
live in close proximity to the nuclear family.
Summary
1. The extent to which contemporary family life in Britain is characterized by a
diversity of family structures.
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14. Family Life Unit 2: Family Diversity
2. The difference between the family considered as an institution and family life
considered in terms of social groups.
3. The way in which different family structures have evolved - and continue to
evolve - over the past 2 - 300 years.
4. The potential diversity of social relationships within family groups.
5. That the "structure of a family group" is defined by the form of the social
relationships that exist within that group.
In terms of the different skill domains you are required to demonstrate, you should
also feel confident that you can:
1. Evaluate commonsense and sociological conceptions of family life.
2. Interpret, apply and evaluate statistical data relating to family diversity.
3. Apply the concept of family life-cycle to an understanding of various forms of
family diversity.
4. Interpret and evaluate the concept of family life-cycle in relation to the idea of
family diversity.
Examination Questions.
1. How far do you agree with the idea that the "typical family model" remains central
to all family ideology?
Support your argument with appropriate examples (6 marks).
2. To what extent does sociological evidence support the idea that there is a
"contemporary diversity" in the structure of the family? (8 marks).
3. Assess the view that there is an "overall pattern of diversity" in family structure in
Britain (10 marks).
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