Chapter 14. Marriage and Family
Chapter 14 Resources and Activities
Key Terms
ambilineal: A type of unilateral descent that follows either the father’s or the mother’s side exclusively.
bigamy: The act of entering into marriage while still married to another person.
bilateral descent: The tracing of kinship through both parents’ ancestral lines.
blended family: See stepfamily.
cohabitation: When a couple shares a residence but is not married.
confluent love: An intimate relationship that lasts only as long as the satisfaction it brings to both partners.
divorce extended family: A family whose members are connected by divorce rather than marriage, for example ex in laws, or ex spouse’s new partners.
exchange theory: Social relationships are based on giving and returning valued goods or services. Individuals seek to maximize their rewards in their interactions with others.
extended family: A household that includes at least one parent and child as well as other relatives like grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins.
family: Socially Recognized groups of individuals who may be joined by blood, marriage, or adoption, and who form an emotional connection and an economic unit of society.
family life course: A sociological model of family that sees the progression of events as fluid rather than as occurring in strict stages.
family life cycle: A set of predictable steps and patterns that families experience over time.
family of orientation: The family into which one is born.
family of procreation: A family that is formed through marriage.
fluid modernity: A condition of constant mobility, unpredictability and change in relationships within contemporary society.
incest taboo: The social rule that an individual may not have sex with or marry someone who is a close blood relative.
intimate partner violence (IPV): Violence that occurs between individuals who maintain a romantic or sexual relationship; includes unmarried, cohabiting, and same-sex couples, as well as heterosexual married couples.
kinship: A person’s traceable ancestry (by blood, marriage, and/or adoption).
kinship system: A system of social organization based on real or putative family ties.
liquid modernity: See fluid modernity.
marriage: A legally recognized contract between two or more people in a sexual relationship, who have an expectation of permanence about their relationship.
matriarchy: Relatively egalitarian, small scale agricultural societies in which mothering is recognized as the central unifying structure.
matrilineal descent: A type of unilateral descent that follows the mother’s side only.
matrilocal residence: A system in which it is customary for a husband to live with his wife’s family.
monogamy: When someone is married to only one person at a time.
nuclear family: A cohabiting man and woman who are married and have at least one biological child under the age of 18.
passionate love: A type of love which expresses the emotions of impulsive and pervasive sexual attachment to