Sociological Concepts Of The Family

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Objective- Explain basic sociological concepts of the family, marriage, and intimate relationships (Pages 364-367). Sociologists view the family as a universal institution that is central to social life (Powell and Branden 2007). The family is defined as a group of people related by descent, marriage, or adoption (pg 365). Marriage plays a pivotal role in families, marriage is the socially acknowledged and approved and often legal union of two people, allowing them to live together and to have children by birth or adoption (pg 365). The key to understanding the family are the concepts of endogamy and exogamy; endogamy is marriage to someone with similar characteristics in terms of race, ethnicity, religion, education level, social class, …show more content…

Symbolic interactionism focuses on the meanings attached to identities, roles, and social relationships, treating the meanings as socially constructed (pg 383). Exchange theory looks at the family from the perspective of choices made on the basis of rewards and costs, for example, people enter marital relationships because they think the rewards associated with marriage will outweigh the costs (pg 383). Both married men and married men live longer, have fewer health issues, have more intimacy, save more money, and have fewer psychological problems like depression than their single counterparts (pg 383-384). A marriage is likely to break down when the rewards are lower than the costs and the two people in the relationship no longer feel like the relationship is profitable (pg …show more content…

Global migration is important because this means that people from different cultures and backgrounds are coming together like never before (pg 394). Human trafficking, which involves selling and buying humans as products, can affect the family in many ways (pg 396). In cases of illegal adoptions, children generally flow from underdeveloped countries to highly developed countries (pg 396). Women are trafficked for prostitution and forced marriage purposes, both of which have a high potential to disturb the family unit (pg 396). The illegal global traffic of human organs enable people in highly developed countries who need organs to exploit the poor, who must sacrifice one or more of their organs in order to survive with the money they receive for their organs (pg

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