SOSYOLOJİYE GİRİŞ - Deneme Sınavı - 14

The primary socialization of children: The primary socialization is the socialization of the child in the early years of childhood and it occurs mostly in the family. The secondary socialization is the socialization that occurs in the later years and the family is less involved in this process. In the secondary socialization, while the family loses some of its influence, other important agents like the school or same age groups gain more significance. The primary socialization of children is the early childhood years that almost completely takes place in the family.

The works of Leach and Laing has been criticized in a number of points:

Neither has conducted a detailed fieldworkon family, and Laing’s work is limited to families with a schizophrenic member.

The work of Laing, unlike Leach, lackshistorical perspective.

They give little or no reference to socialclass, or the relationship between class and family.

Both examine only Western family.

Marxist feminists argue that women absorb the anger that would otherwise be directed at employers and capitalism. The exploitation of men at work makes women suffer, for instance, from domestic violence.

There are some main differences between nuclear and extended families:

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.

Nuclear families are economically self-sufficient while economic dependence is high in extended families.

Because nuclear families are small sized,members can increase their personal development and freedom much more when compared to extended families. Since nuclear families are autonomous, individualization is easier in these families. On the other side, there is intergenerational authority in extended families which may limit personal development and freedom.

The members of the nuclear family have toget emotional support and protection from people outside the kin group. In respect of the extended family, the kin network within the family provides a source of emotional support and protection.

According to the groups in which the spouse is chosen from: Endogamy and exogamy

Endogamy is the practice of marrying only within a specific ethnic, social or religious group and rejecting people out of this group. The most common subcategory under endogamy is cousin marriages. A cousin marriage may be a parallel cousin or a cross cousin marriage. A parallel cousin is a cousin from the parent’s same sex sibling, like the child of the father’s brother or the child of the mother’s sister. A cross cousin is a cousin from the parent’s opposite sex sibling, like the child of the fathers’ sister or the child of the mother’s brother. While the rule of endogamy obliges people to marry within their group, the rule of exogamybans to marry from the same group. In exogamic societies, people should choose their spouse from outside their kin group.

According to the power relations: Matriarchy and patriarchy

Matriarchy and patriarchy are the terms defining family patterns according to the power relations. Matriarchy is the social organization based on female power. In matriarchal societies the head of the family is the mother. The term was adopted by 19th century anthropologists and social theorists. Matriarchal societies are not societies in which women rule over or dominate men. In this respect, matriarchy is not the reversal of patriarchy. Matriarchal societies are egalitarian societies, they are free of domination. However, there are social codes and guidelines.

The family is not always a peaceful institution. Domestic violence and child abuse are the most important problems in the families and have traumatic results for women and children. These two phenomenon together are often called “the dark side of the family”.

Domestic violence is the violence of one partner over another in a marriage, cohabitation or dating relationship. It may occur as physical, sexual, emotional and economic abuse, threats or isolation. Occurring in every culture and in all socioeconomic and educational groups, domestic violence is a social phenomenon. Thus, its reason cannot be thought as individual. It stems from the structure and functions of the family and the organization of the society. Domestic violence is an extension of the legitimation of male violence and the domination of patriarchal, politic and economic institutions in the public sphere.

Sociology of family has its roots in the studies of Le Play in Europe and attracted attention in the USA after World War II. 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.

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

Murdock, a functionalist anthropologist, examined 250 societies in a wide range including both hunting and gathering societies and industrial societies. He concluded that a form of family exists in every society, thus the family is a universal social institution. For Murdock, the family is “a social group
characterized by common residence, economic co-operation and reproduction.

• 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”.
• 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 minimal contact 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.
• Nuclear families are economically selfsufficient while economic dependence is high in extended families.
• Because nuclear families are small sized, members can increase their personal development and freedom much more when compared to extended families. Since nuclear families are autonomous, individualization is easier in these families. On the other side, there is intergenerational authority in extended families which may limit personal development and freedom.
• The members of the nuclear family have to get emotional support and protection from people outside the kin group. In respect of the extended family, the kin network within the family provides a source of emotional support and protection.

The marriage rule permitting only one partner is monogamy. The opposite is polygamy, which includes more than one partner. Polygamy can be in the form of polygyny or polyandry. In polygyny form, a man has more than one wife.
In polyandry, a woman has more than one husband.

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.

The modern urban nuclear family became socially and geographically isolated from the wider kin network and became “privatized nuclear family”. In short, the nuclear family is often seen as a concomitant of industrialization of societies.

Single-parent families are increasing. In the US, between 1960 and 2016, the percentage of children living in families with two parents decreased from 88 to 69. In 2016, in 23% of the families, children are living with a single
mother (USCB, 2017).

Sex refers to the biological and physiological characteristics that define
males and females. Gender refers to the socially constructed roles, behaviors,
activities, and attributes that the society considers appropriate for men and women.

Physical abuse refers to on purpose use of physical force, which may result in pain, discomfort, injury, disability or death.

Option B is about unstable family.

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. However, the family house remains as a ceremonial center for the children who leave. Thus, the stem family can be regarded as a compromise between the patriarchal family and the unstable family

The key concepts of the functionalist approach are order, balance, harmony, function and evolutionary (not revolutionary) change. For functionalist sociologists, every social institution has some functions and if they function well, society would operate smoothly. Although sometimes conflicts may occur, it is not a permanent phenomenon.