ambilineal
A type of unilateral descent that follows either the father’s or the mother’s side exclusively.
In ambilineal societies, which are most common in Southeast Asian countries, parents may choose to associate their children with the kinship of either the mother or the father.
bigamy
The act of entering into marriage while still married to another person.
The act of entering into marriage while still married to another person is referred to as bigamy and is prohibited by Section 290 of the Criminal Code of Canada (Minister of Justice, 2014).
bilateral descent
The tracing of kinship through both parents’ ancestral lines.
This pattern of tracing kinship is called bilateral descent.
cohabitation
When a couple shares a residence but is not married.
With single parenting and cohabitation (when a couple shares a residence but not a marriage) becoming more acceptable in recent years, people may be less motivated to get married.
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.
One example, of which probably every married couple is acutely aware, is the interactive dynamic described by exchange theory.
extended family
A household that includes at least one parent and child as well as other relatives like grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins.
In premodern family forms, the extended family itself is the basis of the economy.
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.
Her parents never married, and her father has had little contact with the family since she was a toddler.
family life course
A sociological model of family that sees the progression of events as fluid rather than as occurring in strict stages.
One example is the family life course, which recognizes the events that occur in the lives of families but views them as parting terms of a fluid course rather than in consecutive stages (Strong and DeVault, 1992).
family life cycle
A set of predictable steps and patterns that families experience over time.
The set of predictable steps and patterns families experience over time is referred to as the family life cycle.
family of orientation
The family into which one is born.
A family of orientation refers to the family into which a person is born.
family of procreation
A family that is formed through marriage.
A family of procreation describes one that is formed through marriage.
fluid modernity
A condition of constant mobility and change in relationships within contemporary society.
It is different again from today’s families who have to respond to economic conditions of precarious employment, fluid modernity, and norms of gender and sexual equality.
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.
To include unmarried, cohabitating, and same-sex couples, family sociologists have created the term intimate partner violence (IPV).
kinship
A person’s traceable ancestry (by blood, marriage, and/or adoption).
This pattern of tracing kinship is called bilateral descent.
liquid modernity
See fluid modernity.
This experience is part of what Zygmunt Bauman has called liquid modernity.
marriage
A legally recognized contract between two or more people in a sexual relationship, who have an expectation of permanence about their relationship.
While Christina and James were confident in their decision to enter into a commitment (such as a 20-year mortgage), they are unsure if they want to enter into marriage.
matrilineal descent
A type of unilateral descent that follows the mother’s side only.
These distinctions have cultural significance related to issues of lineage (the difference between patrilineal and matrilineal descent for example).
matrilocal residence
A system in which it is customary for a husband to live with his wife’s family.
Similarly, in matrilocal residence systems, where it is customary for the husband to live with his wife’s blood relatives (or her family of orientation), the husband can feel disconnected and can be labelled as an outsider.
monogamy
When someone is married to only one person at a time.
North Americans typically equate marriage with monogamy, when someone is married to only one person at a time.
nuclear family
A cohabiting man and woman who maintain a socially approved sexual relationship and have at least one child.
Social conservatives tend to define the family in terms of a “traditional” nuclear family structure with each family member filling a certain role (like father, mother, or child).
patrilineal descent
A type of unilateral descent that follows the father’s line only.
In China, where patrilocal and patrilineal customs are common, family lines are traced through the father.
patrilocal residence
A system in which it is customary for a wife to live with (or near) her husband’s family.
In a patrilocal residence system it is customary for the wife to live with (or near) her husband’s blood relatives (or family of orientation).
polyandry
A form of marriage in which one woman is married to more than one man at one time.
The reverse, when a woman is married to more than one man at the same time, is called polyandry.
polygamy
The state of being committed or married to more than one person at a time
Instances of polygamy are almost exclusively in the form of polygyny.
polygyny
a form of marriage in which one man is married to more than one woman at one time.
Instances of polygamy are almost exclusively in the form of polygyny.
shaken-baby syndrome
A group of medical symptoms, such as brain swelling and retinal hemorrhage, resulting from forcefully shaking or impacting an infant’s head.
Shaken-baby syndrome was attributed as the cause of nearly one-third (31%) of family-related homicides of infants less than 1 year between 2000 and 2010 (Sinha, 2012).
total divorce rate
A projection of how many new marriages are expected to fail after 30 years, based on the divorce rate by marriage duration observed in a given year.
Since then, the total divorce rate has remained steady at between 35% and 42%.
unilateral descent
The tracing of kinship through one parent only.
Unilateral descent (the tracing of kinship through one parent only) is practised in the other 40% of the world’s societies, with high concentration in pastoral cultures (O’Neal, 2006).
These terms were extracted from Introduction to Sociology – 2nd Canadian Edition by William Little, eCampusOntario (originally published by BCcampus, 2016) which is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Based on Introduction to Sociology by OpenStax (© 2013 Rice University), licensed under CC BY 3.0.