1.1 Chapter Reading Guide
Elizabeth B. Pearce
The purpose of this chapter is to introduce you to basic concepts that will support your goals in learning about families. You will also get an overview of the ways families are changing in the United States. As you read, do your best to relate these ideas to your own family experiences and observations. Some of the concepts may be familiar to you, while others will not be. But that’s the point, right? You’re here to learn about today’s families in the United States, and these developmental and sociological trends are the first step.
The reading is designed to help you meet the following chapter objectives. You may also want to preview the key terms that follow. These terms will be bolded the first time they appear in the chapter. You can read the definitions here and also in the hyperlinks.
Chapter Learning Objectives
- Define social construction.
- Define social identities and social groups.
- Contrast the social construction of difference with a social construction.
- Explain how equity is different from equality and fairness.
- Explore the relationship between social identities, intersectionality, and equity.
- Analyze how the government affects the structure of kinship and family.
- Describe family demographic trends in the United States.
- Relate the historical context of families in the United States to the social construction of “the family.”
Key Terms Preview
- Collectivist society: a societal viewpoint that focuses on meeting the needs and goals of all members of a community, rather than focusing on individual successes.
- Comparative approach: within the fields of anthropology and sociology, the act of examining and contrasting social processes and institutions with a view to draw inferences and understand patterns.
- Demographics: statistical data about particular groups and changes in trends within the overall population.
- Equity: ensuring that people have what they need in order to have a healthy, successful life that is equal to others. Different from equality in that some may receive more help than others in order to be at the same level of success.
- Individualistic society: emphasizes the needs and success of the individual over the needs of a community.
- Intersectionality: an approach originally advanced by women of color that finds it critical to look at how identities and characteristics (such as ethnicity, race, and gender) overlap and influence each other to create complex hierarchies of power and oppression.
- Kinship: the social structure that ties people together (whether by blood, marriage, legal processes, or other agreements) and includes family relationships.
- Nuclear family: a family group that consists of two parents and their children living together in one household.
- Private function of families: focuses on the intimate relationships of family members. Being a part of a loving relationship that will last forever, or an indefinite amount of time, is seen as a core part of being a family member
- Public function of families: focuses on contributions to society such as the production of children or caring for others.
- Separate spheres: a binary, gender-based ideology that emerged during the industrial period that stated women were best suited for home and domestic work while men were best suited for public work.
- Social characteristic: describes traits that may be biologically determined and/or socially constructed. Examples include sex, gender, race, ethnicity, ability, age, sexuality, nationality, first language, and religion.
- Social construction: meaning assigned to an object or event by mutual agreement (explicit or implicit) of the members of a society; can change over time and/or location.
- Social construction of difference: hierarchical value assigned to perceived differences between one socially constructed idea and another. Class, race, and other hierarchies based on social identity are social constructions of difference.
- Social identity: a person’s sense of self as defined by and in relation to the combination of social characteristics, roles, and groups to which they belong.
- Social structure: the organization of institutions within society; this affects the ways individuals and families interact together.
- Standard North American Family (SNAF): a family group that consists of two parents and their children living together in one household.
Licenses and Attributions for Chapter Reading Guide
Open Content, Original
“Chapter Reading Guide” by Elizabeth B. Pearce. License: CC BY 4.0.
can include the aim, goal, or intention of an action; a long-term guiding principle; the impact our life has on the world.
meaning assigned to an object or event by mutual agreement (explicit or implicit) of the members of a society; can change over time and/or location.
hierarchical value assigned to perceived differences between one socially constructed idea and another. Class, race, and other hierarchies based on social identity are social constructions of difference.
ensuring that people have what they need in order to have a healthy, successful life that is equal to others. Different from equality in that some may receive more help than others in order to be at the same level of success.
an approach originally advanced by women of color that finds it critical to look at how identities and characteristics (such as ethnicity, race, and gender) overlap and influence each other to create complex hierarchies of power and oppression.
the social structure that ties people together (whether by blood, marriage, legal processes, or other agreements) and includes family relationships.