SOSYOLOJİYE GİRİŞ - Deneme Sınavı - 13

Talcott Parsons analyzed modern American family. Parsons claims that as a result of the transfer of the production function out of the family, the isolated nuclear family specialized on the socialization of children and the personal needs of the adult members.

Option E is about Symbolic Interactionism.

Nuclear families are small and geographicallyisolated. Extended families are more crowded, include many members of the kin group and have geographic proximity.

For nuclear families, marital bonds aremore important than blood ties, thus they are named “conjugal families”. On the other side, blood ties are more important than marital bonds for the extended families, thus they are called “consanguine families”.

Nuclear families are temporary units because they decompose with the death of the parents or the marriage of children, but extended families live much longer. Because of their shorter life, it is hard for nuclear families to transmit a family culture to the children. This process is easier in extended families.

In nuclear families, there is minimalcontact with the kin group. However, kin group contact on a daily basis in extended families. Therefore, extended families can provide more support and assistance to its members, and can more easily overcome crisis arising from deaths or divorces.

Endogamy is the practice of marrying only within a specific ethnic, social or religious group and rejecting people out of this group.

Polygamy can be in the form of polygyny or polyandry. In polygyny form, a man has more than one wife. In polyandry, a women has more than one husband. Polyandry is mostly seen in India and Tibet.

Divorce incidence is increasing.

William J. Goode also argues that industrialization process is one of the reasons for the breakdown of the extended family. Goode explains this process as follows (Haralambos and Holborn, 1995:337):

Industrial society has a high rate of geographicalmobility and this mobility decreased the frequency and intimacy of contact among the members of the kinship network.

Social mobility is also high in industrialsocieties and this weakened the ties among the members of the kinship network. When members of a working class family become upwardly mobile, they may tend to change their lifestyles according to their new social class, leading a disconnection from the larger kin network.

When many of the functions of the family,such as education, production and protection were taken over by outside institutions like schools, factories or business organizations, the dependency of individuals on their family and kin has reduced.

In industrial society, achieved status is moreimportant than ascribed status. This reduces the offerings of the kinship network to its members. The family in industrial societies cannot provide or guarantee jobs, education or training to its members. This reduction in dependency also weakens the ties among the members of the families. Goode argues that if individuals feel that they have more to gain than lose by maintaining the extended kinship ties, these ties are retained.

Le Play used the monography method he developed to examine the working class families and claimed that this method would be the key to reveal the laws of the social life. A is the correct answer.

According to Le Play's typology, in stem families, only one of the married children (heirs) stays in the family house; the others are given some form of dowry for marriage and establish themselves new families elsewhere. B is the correct answer.

For Leach, “far from being the basis of the good society, the family, with its narrow privacy and tawdry secrets, is the source of all our discontents”. C is the correct answer.

All the statements are among the points of criticicism that the works of Leach and Laing has been received. E is the correct answer.

For Engels, the roots of the monogamous nuclear family lie in the idea of having heirs to inherit the property. Thus, the family was created to control women’s sexuality and assure the legitimacy of heirs of the males. D is the correct answer.

Feminists in general see the family as an institution in which patriarchal values are learned by individuals. They argue that sex and reproduction, the realms which are considered private, must be a part of political realm. Feminists also generally agree that although there are families that base on love and consent, many families are based on coercion and characterized by disagreements, even by domestic violence. Hence, A is the correct answer.

Among others, only Margaret Benston is among Marxist feminists. C is the correct answer.

Nuclear families are small and geographically isolated. Extended families are more crowded, include many members of the kin group and have geographic proximity. For nuclear families, marital bonds are more important than blood ties, thus they are named “conjugal families”. On the other side, blood ties are more important than marital bonds for the extended families, thus they are called “consanguine families”. Hence, B is the correct answer.

Endogamy is the practice of marrying only within a specific ethnic, social or religious group and rejecting people out of this group. D is the correct answer.

Patriarchy means the institutionalization of male dominance over women and children in the family,and the extension of male dominance over women in society in general. It implies that “men hold power in all the important institutions of society” and that “women are deprived of access to such power”. E is the correct answer.

Correct choice is C

The key concepts of the functionalist approach are order, balance, harmony, function and evolutionary (not revolutionary) change. Correct answer is A.

Functionalists are criticized in a number of aspects. Murdock in particular was criticized for ignoring the alternatives of the nuclear family. Correct answer is E.