sociologyKey terms and names

FamilyTerms Names

Patriarchy: A system legitimates male domination. 

Reconstituted family: Families where at least one of the adults has a child

from a previous relationship. 

Single parent family: Families headed by only one parent. 

Same sex families: Families headed by adults of the same sex.

Nuclear family: A family consisting of two generations

(parents and children). 

Extended family: A family consisting of either three

generations or two generations plus other .

   Social mobility: Movement by people from one level of the class

hierarchy to another. 

Achieved status: A status that is 'earned' by the person occupying it.

Instrumental role: Concerned with the material needs of the family - associated

with the male role. 

Expressive role: Concerned with the emotional and social needs of family

members - associated with the female role.

Stigma: Spoiled identity.

Segregated roles: The man and woman have separate and distinct family roles and

social lives. 

Joint roles: The man and woman share the tasks required by family life. 

Symmetrical: Each side mirrors the other; applied to male and female roles in some

families. 

Dual career family: A family where both the male and female have careers.

Parsons: The essential functions of the family. 

Willmott and Young: Extended families in East London in the 1950's. 

Bott: 'The Family and Social Networks' (1957). Coined terms segregated and

joint. 

Willmott and Young: 'The Symmetrical Family' (1973).

A. Oakley: 'The Sociology of Housework' (1974). 

Fletcher (1966): Increase in divorce a consequence of higher expectations of marriage. 

Wilson (1966): Increased in divorce because of Secularisation. 

Gibson (1994): Financial state of marriage is a good predictor of divorce. 

Dobash and Dobash (1980): 'Violence Against Wives'.

Schlegel (1972): Looked at 45 societies and showed that 75% of them permitted husbands to be aggressive towards their

wives.

Abbott and Wallace (1990): 'Note the main trigger for violence is the male

perception that a partner is failing in her duties.

Secularisation: changing something so it is no longer under the control or influence

of religion

EducationTermsNames

Cultural capital: A store of the sort of culture that enables educational and

social advancement. 

Meritocracy: I.Q. + effort.

Sub-culture: The culture of a distinct group within a societal culture.

Tripartite system: The division of secondary education into 3 types under

the 1944 Education Act. 

Comprehensive: An inclusive educational system. All pupils are taught within the same

institution.  

11+: The examination used to determine what type of secondary education a pupil should

receive. 

Self-fulfilling prophecy: A belief that becomes true because it is believed to be true. 

Material deprivation: Deprivation caused by a lack of financial resources.

Restricted and elaborate codes: Bernstein's description of two distinct speech codes.

Sexual division of labour: Traditionally the division of tasks into masculine and feminine.

League tables: The rank ordering of schools by exam results.

National Curriculum: Established core curriculum subjects, laid out curriculum

guidelines, introduced standard attainment tests at key stages.

Baker (1988 Act): The act that brought in the national curriculum.

Parsons: The idea that schools perform particular functions for society. Primarily

socialization and selection'. 

Durkheim: The division of labour (specialization). 

Bowles and Gintis: 'Schooling in Capitalist America' (1976).

 Bowles and Gintis 'Schooling in Capitalist America‘ argues the ‘correspondence principle’ explains how the

internal organization of schools corresponds to the internal organization of the capitalist workforce in its structures,

norms, and values.

For example, the hierarchy system in schools reflects the structure of the labour market, with the head teacher as the managing director, pupils fall lower down in the hierarchy.

Wearing uniforms and discipline are promoted among students from working class, as it would be in the

workplace for lower levels employees.

Education provides knowledge of how to interact in the workplace and gives direct preparation for entry into the

labour market.

Bourdieu: Cultural Capital, Habitus (the cultural capital of the middle classes).

Bernstein: Language codes; elaborate and restricted.

Wright (1988 and 1992): Racialisation, conflict in schools. 

Gilborn (1990): Penalisation of black students via teacher stereotypes.

Mac an Ghaill (1988)Resistance by black students to educational institutions, but not to education itself.

P. Willis: 'Learning to Labour' (1976).

In 'Learning to Labour', Willis conducted an in-depth ethnography of a set of working class

'lads’.

Willis conducts a series of interviews and observations within a school, with the aim of

discovering how and why 'working class kids get working class jobs'.

Willis' raw interviews with 'rebel' students suggests that this counter-school culture of resistance and opposition to academia and

authority has a strong resemblance to the culture one may find in the industrial workplaces, the

same place they were headed.

Sewell (1997): Students positive about educations but rejected the schooling process.

Cole (1992): Racist stereotyping in textbooks.

Shaw (1977): Prospect of marriage works against career planning.

Connell (1986): The impact of feminism has raised girls' career ambitions.

OFSTED: Produced by the 1992 Act. Concerned with standards and efficiency in schools.

Education Reform Act (1988): Introduction of National Curriculum, opting Out, City Technology Colleges.