Chapter 11: Understanding Institutions: Family

Test Bank

Multiple Choice

1. A social unit that provides a basis for emotional bonds and consists of a group of people who take responsibility for one another refers to a(n) ______.

a. nuclear family

b. extended family

c. family

d. multigenerational family

Learning Objective: 11.1: What are families? In what ways are families by-product of the social world?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: What Shapes Families?

Difficulty Level: Easy

2. What is a nuclear family?

a. a household in which a cohabitating couple lives

b. a household that consists of extended family and friends

c. a household that consists of non-blood-related friends

d. a household in which parents and children live together

Learning Objective: 11.1: What are families? In what ways are families by-product of the social world?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: What Shapes Families?

Difficulty Level: Easy

3. A group of friends live near each other and babysit each other’s children. They support each other when problems occur, and they cheer each other on. How would this group of friends be defined based on the institution of family?

a. Their emotional bonds would create a legal family connection.

b. Members of the group who rely on other members for help could be considered dependents.

c. Close friends can be considered family, but not legally.

d. Unless there is a head of the household, there is no family.

Learning Objective: 11.1: What are families? In what ways are families by-product of the social world?

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: What Shapes Families?

Difficulty Level: Medium

4. How is family socially constructed?

a. It is comprised of people with the same biological basis.

b. It is based on a unit of people who are related.

c. It is comprised of a mother, father, and children.

d. It is what society says it is.

Learning Objective: 11.1: What are families? In what ways are families by-product of the social world?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Socially Constructing Families

Difficulty Level: Medium

5. The Defense of Marriage Act, signed by President Bill Clinton in 1996, cited that ______.

a. regardless of sexual orientation every person has the right to marry who they choose

b. marriage is between a man and a woman

c. the Loving case was constitutional

d. the legal benefits of family ties should be granted to all family structures

Learning Objective: 11.1: What are families? In what ways are families by-product of the social world?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Socially Constructing Families

Difficulty Level: Easy

6. Which court case ruled that states must grant marriage licenses to same sex couples and recognize same-sex marriage from other states?

a. Turner v. Saflev

b. Roe v. Wade

c. Loving v. Virginia

d. Obergefell v. Hodges

Learning Objective: 11.1: What are families? In what ways are families by-product of the social world?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Socially Constructing Families

Difficulty Level: Medium

7. Loving v. Virginia ruled that ______ could legally marry.

a. interracial couples

b. same-sex couples

c. inmates

d. juveniles

Learning Objective: 11.1: What are families? In what ways are families by-product of the social world?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Socially Constructing Families

Difficulty Level: Easy

8. Definitions of families are ______ through social policy, law, accepted practices, and shared beliefs.

a. institutionalized

b. normalized

c. hypothesized

d. solidified

Learning Objective: 11.1: What are families? In what ways are families by-product of the social world?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Socially Constructing Families

Difficulty Level: Medium

9. A woman and man who married in order to forge bonds between groups so that they gained more access to resources, likely belonged to which type of society?

a. industrial

b. hunting and gathering

c. horticultural

d. pastoral

Learning Objective: 11.2: How have families changed over time? What has caused these changes?

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Early Families

Difficulty Level: Medium

10. With the development of ______, marriage and lineage systems became increasingly about economic, social, and political gain.

a. agriculture

b. writing

c. industry

d. cash economy

Learning Objective: 11.2: How have families changed over time? What has caused these changes?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Early Families

Difficulty Level: Medium

11. Based on the history of early families, how did settled agriculture impact marriage formation?

a. Marriage was used to facilitate trade and access to resources between different groups.

b. Marriage was used to create child workers for the fields.

c. Marriage was used to obtain social standing and increase wealth.

d. Marriage was used to create families with strong ties to each other.

Learning Objective: 11.2: How have families changed over time? What has caused these changes?

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Early Families

Difficulty Level: Medium

12. During the 16th and 17th centuries, a Native American society would likely use ______ to organize political, military, and economic transactions.

a. patriarchal structures

b. authority figures

c. tribal alliances

d. family ties

Learning Objective: 11.2: How have families changed over time? What has caused these changes?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Preindustrial U.S. Families

Difficulty Level: Medium

13. In colonial North America, wives’ legal subjugation to their husbands was known as ______.

a. alimony

b. polyandry

c. coverture

d. misogyny

Learning Objective: 11.2: How have families changed over time? What has caused these changes?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Preindustrial U.S. Families

Difficulty Level: Easy

14. The precedent establishing that a child’s enslaved status followed that of his or her mother was ______.

a. the Barbadian Black Codes

b. Plessy v. Ferguson

c. Virginia law, Act XII

d. the Middle Passage Statute of 1619

Learning Objective: 11.2: How have families changed over time? What has caused these changes?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Slavery and Families

Difficulty Level: Easy

15. Prior to industrialization, reproductive labor and ______ labor occurred at home.

a. machine-driven

b. productive

c. forced

d. unionized

Learning Objective: 11.2: How have families changed over time? What has caused these changes?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Industrial U.S. Families

Difficulty Level: Medium

16. In the late 18th century, a White, wealthy woman living in the United States would likely be relegated to which sphere?

a. public

b. private

c. industrial

d. religious

Learning Objective: 11.2: How have families changed over time? What has caused these changes?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Industrial U.S. Families

Difficulty Level: Easy

17. By the mid-1800s, activists for women’s rights were victorious in securing for women the right to ______.

a. own property

b. vote

c. access birth control

d. be elected to public office

Learning Objective: 11.2: How have families changed over time? What has caused these changes?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Industrial U.S. Families

Difficulty Level: Medium

18. What supported the separation of the public and private spheres during the 1950s?

a. residential integration

b. intersectionality

c. the feminist movement

d. family wage

Learning Objective: 11.2: How have families changed over time? What has caused these changes?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: The 1900s and Emotion-Based U.S. Families

Difficulty Level: Easy

19. A person living in the United States during the 1960s and '70s would have seen great social upheaval and rapid change due to ______.

a. political shifts

b. social justice movements

c. global human rights movements

d. antimiscegenation laws

Learning Objective: 11.2: How have families changed over time? What has caused these changes?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Diversifying U.S. Families

Difficulty Level: Easy

20. As more women worked outside the home in the 1960s and '70s, they began to expect husbands to contribute more to household duties. However, oftentimes men still expected women to take care of the responsibilities in the private realm. Which term refers to this phenomenon?

a. social exchange

b. the feminist movement

c. the stalled revolution

d. intersectionality

Learning Objective: 11.2: How have families changed over time? What has caused these changes?

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Diversifying U.S. Families

Difficulty Level: Hard

21. Studies show that current ______ rates have dropped.

a. gay marriage

b. cohabitation

c. marriage

d. cross-cultural marriage

Learning Objective: 11.2: How have families changed over time? What has caused these changes?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Making Way for Families of Today

Difficulty Level: Easy

22. How has the increased acceptance of cohabiting couples changed societal views on family?

a. It has opened the door for greater acceptance of other modes of family, including same-sex couples.

b. It has created a situation where people do not see the need to get married when they cannot afford it.

c. It has increased interest in marriage as cohabiting couples eventually get married.

d. It has decreased divorce rates because couples have a better idea what they are getting into.

Learning Objective: 11.2: How have families changed over time? What has caused these changes?

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Making Way for Families of Today

Difficulty Level: Medium

23. How did Talcott Parsons explain the roles of men and women in a family?

a. Men and women have distinct roles based on innate biological characteristics.

b. Men and women have an overriding goal to care for and raise happy children.

c. Men and women have flexible roles based on individual family circumstances.

d. Men and women have distinct roles that are determined by income.

Learning Objective: 11.3: How do different theoretical perspectives help sociologists understand families?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Structural Functionalism

Difficulty Level: Medium

24. According to the ______ perspective, families serve as a socialization agent and provide social stability and social harmony.

a. feminist

b. symbolic interactionist

c. conflict

d. structural functionalism

Learning Objective: 11.3: How do different theoretical perspectives help sociologists understand families?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Structural Functionalism

Difficulty Level: Medium

25. What did structural functionalist Talcott Parsons argue regarding different roles in the family?

a. Biology has no function in the division of labor.

b. Social inequalities affected the division of labor.

c. Women are emotion oriented while men are task oriented.

d. All individuals in minority families must work outside the home.

Learning Objective: 11.3: How do different theoretical perspectives help sociologists understand families?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Structural Functionalism

Difficulty Level: Medium

26. What do conflict theorists emphasize in family research?

a. traditional nuclear families

b. social inequalities

c. spatial division of labor

d. intergenerational poverty

Learning Objective: 11.3: How do different theoretical perspectives help sociologists understand families?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Conflict Perspective

Difficulty Level: Medium

27. How would a conflict theorist explain coverture?

a. It was a means of separating the roles and males and females needed to accomplish for society.

b. It acted to ensure that mothers and their children were cared for by society if the father died.

c. It provided a set of rules for how husbands and wives should act based on societal understandings.

d. It ensured male power over females in society by removing more of their rights.

Learning Objective: 11.3: How do different theoretical perspectives help sociologists understand families?

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Conflict Perspective

Difficulty Level: Hard

28. A researcher who employs a feminist perspective when doing research on families would likely view families as ______.

a. inherently fluid

b. an equal structure

c. a needed stable unit

d. creating and reinforcing gender inequalities

Learning Objective: 11.3: How do different theoretical perspectives help sociologists understand families?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Feminist Perspective

Difficulty Level: Medium

29. A mother teaches her daughter how to cook. The father teaches his son how to play baseball. How would a sociologist explain this based on the feminist perspective?

a. The children are being socialized to help around the house in numerous roles.

b. The parents are reinforcing obedience and learning in preparation for school.

c. The children are experiencing gender inequality reinforcement.

d. The parents are helping develop child self-efficacy.

Learning Objective: 11.3: How do different theoretical perspectives help sociologists understand families?

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Feminist Perspective

Difficulty Level: Hard

30. Conflict theorists look at multiple forms of inequality, such as class, sexuality, and race, when conducting research on family. Which approach are they using when they look at these different forms at the same time?

a. the intersectionality approach

b. the feminist approach

c. the transnational approach

d. the Marxist approach

Learning Objective: 11.3: How do different theoretical perspectives help sociologists understand families?

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Intersectionality

Difficulty Level: Medium

31. Sociologists who posit that families make decisions by weighing the costs and benefits of various actions within the family are using the lens of ______,

a. coverture

b. social exchange theory

c. the norm of reciprocity

d. the stalled revolution

Learning Objective: 11.3: How do different theoretical perspectives help sociologists understand families?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Social Exchange Theory

Difficulty Level: Medium

32. The expectation that we give and take in equal ways with others refers to ______.

a. coverture

b. social behavior theory

c. social exchange theory

d. the norm of reciprocity

Learning Objective: 11.3: How do different theoretical perspectives help sociologists understand families?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: The Norm of Reciprocity

Difficulty Level: Medium

33. A wife works two jobs, while her husband watches the children and cooks the meals. How would a sociologist explain this based on the norm of reciprocity?

a. The husband is not contributing financially to the family and is violating the rules of reciprocity.

b. The wife brings in the money and the husband takes care of other family chores, creating a reciprocal relationship.

c. The husband has more responsibility than the wife for the family, which reduces reciprocity.

d. The wife works outside the home, while the husband works in the home, nullifying reciprocity as it goes against social norms.

Learning Objective: 11.3: How do different theoretical perspectives help sociologists understand families?

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: The Norm of Reciprocity

Difficulty Level: Hard

34. When a mother devotes a lot of quality time and effort to take care of her children, she is engaging in ______.

a. intensive mothering

b. helicopter parenting

c. concerted cultivation

d. accomplishment of natural growth

Learning Objective: 11.4: Who does the caretaking?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Families Caring for Each Other

Difficulty Level: Easy

35. Mothers at a school event disapprove of a working mother because she does not volunteer at the school or attend activities during the school day. The other mothers see her as a bad mother. How would a sociologist explain this?

a. The mothers are judging the working mother against the standard of intensive mothering.

b. The mothers are looking at the working mother’s failure to engage in reciprocity.

c. The mothers are using concerted cultivation to get the working mother to volunteer.

d. The mothers must socialize the children to proper roles and the working mother makes that difficult.

Learning Objective: 11.4: Who does the caretaking?

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Families Caring for Each Other

Difficulty Level: Hard

36. Middle-class parents believe it is important to reason and negotiate with their children and provide them with opportunities to participate in extracurricular activities. Their approach to interaction with their children can be described as ______.

a. coverture

b. intensive parenting

c. concerted cultivation

d. companionate childrearing

Learning Objective: 11.4: Who does the caretaking?

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Parenting and Social Class

Difficulty Level: Hard

37. Which social class is most likely to use an authoritarian parenting style?

a. the elite class

b. the working class

c. the middle class

d. the upper class

Learning Objective: 11.4: Who does the caretaking?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Parenting and Social Class

Difficulty Level: Medium

38. Individuals who are taking care of their own children as well as their parents are known as the ______ generation.

a. sandwich

b. dual

c. baby boomer

d. overworked

Learning Objective: 11.4: Who does the caretaking?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: The Sandwich Generation

Difficulty Level: Easy

39. How does a member of the sandwich generation differ from a traditional nuclear family?

a. The sandwich generation is based on cohabiting or same-sex family arrangements.

b. The sandwich generation arose from an economic need for older children to move back home.

c. The sandwich generation consists of couples who do not become parents until they are in their 40s.

d. The sandwich generation includes parents who must also take care of their own parents.

Learning Objective: 11.4: Who does the caretaking?

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: The Sandwich Generation

Difficulty Level: Medium

40. Karla and her husband were looking forward to being empty nesters when their youngest child went to college. But a week later, her mother fell and broke her hip, so Karla brought her to live with them. Now Karla is caring for her mother as well as her college-aged children. This is an example of ______.

a. generational blending

b. parental diffusion

c. the sandwich generation

d. dual parenting

Learning Objective: 11.4: Who does the caretaking?

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: The Sandwich Generation

Difficulty Level: Medium

41. When a children experience family instability, those children will likely ______.

a. have better social skills than their peers

b. perform worse academically

c. be able to cope better with emotional problems in the future

d. openly express their problems

Learning Objective: 11.5: What challenges do families face?

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Effects of Instability on Children

Difficulty Level: Medium

42. Which of these is least likely to be considered a form of family violence?

a. sexual abuse

b. financial abuse

c. emotional mistreatment

d. gender role expectations

Learning Objective: 11.5: What challenges do families face?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Violence and Victimization

Difficulty Level: Easy

43. Who is the most common source of abuse for children by the time they are 14 to 17 years old?

a. caregivers

b. the mother

c. the father

d. peers

Learning Objective: 11.5: What challenges do families face?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Violence and Victimization

Difficulty Level: Medium

44. Children who witness a family member being assaulted tend to be ______.

a. victims of violence themselves

b. less likely to marry and have children

c. resilient and recover their sense of well-being and self-esteem

d. forever scarred from the experience

Learning Objective: 11.5: What challenges do families face?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Violence and Victimization

Difficulty Level: Medium

45. Which couples are most likely to divorce?

a. older couples whose children have moved out of the house

b. couples with few resources

c. wealthy couples with diverse interests

d. same sex couples

Learning Objective: 11.5: What challenges do families face?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Breaking Apart and Staying Together

Difficulty Level: Medium

46. Which statement about marriage and divorce is true?

a. Marrying older is a key risk factor for divorce.

b. Growing up with divorced parents generally makes one's marriage less likely to end in divorce.

c. People are more likely to marry someone from a different social class.

d. Same-sex and different-sex couples have similar levels of relationship instability.

Learning Objective: 11.5: What challenges do families face?

Cognitive Domain: Analyze

Answer Location: Breaking Apart and Staying Together

Difficulty Level: Hard

47. Which action is recommended for parents to help children cope with family disruption?

a. Divorced parents can individually meet the needs of their children.

b. Parents can move their children to new schools.

c. Parents can access community resources.

d. Parents can keep information confidential about the child to avoid embarrassment at school.

Learning Objective: 11.5: What challenges do families face?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Supporting Children

Difficulty Level: Medium

48. How does education impact divorce rates?

a. Educated couples are less likely to divorce because they have the knowledge they need to stay married.

b. Educated couples are more likely to divorce because they have the skills they need to support themselves.

c. Poorer couples are less likely to divorce because they do not have the education they need to support themselves.

d. Poorer couples are more likely to divorce because they may not have good jobs based on a lack of education and fewer resources for problems.

Learning Objective: 11.5: What challenges do families face?

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Breaking Apart and Staying Together

Difficulty Level: Medium

49. How does the “second shift” impact marriage?

a. by increasing animosity based on gender roles

b. by increasing family income and decreasing conflict

c. by increasing cooperation between family members

d. by increasing frustration because there is less time for family events

Learning Objective: 11.6: How do work and social policies influence family life?

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: How Work and Policy Shape Families

Difficulty Level: Medium

50. A couple has a new baby and would like to arrange their work schedules in order to take care of him. How would a right to request law impact this couple?

a. They would have the right to extended family leave.

b. They would be able to change the shifts they work.

c. They would not lose pay for dropping to part-time status.

d. They would not be penalized for requesting flextime.

Learning Objective: 11.6: How do work and social policies influence family life?

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Addressing Work and Family Challenges Today

Difficulty Level: Hard

51. Which country does not have a federal paid family leave policy?

a. Sweden

b. Denmark

c. United States

d. Germany

Learning Objective: 11.6: How do work and social policies influence family life?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Addressing Work and Family Challenges Today

Difficulty Level: Easy

52. A majority of U.S households are headed by ______.

a. male breadwinners

b. female breadwinners

c. dual earner couples

d. unemployed single parents

Learning Objective: 11.6: How do work and social policies influence family life?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Addressing Work and Family Challenges Today

Difficulty Level: Easy

53. In 1993, the federal ______ was passed, entitling workers to get unpaid time off to care for a new baby, an ill child, or an injured spouse.

a. Healthy Family Act

b. Family Employment Security Act

c. Family and Medical Leave Act

d. Family and Medical Insurance Leave Act

Learning Objective: 11.6: How do work and social policies influence family life?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Addressing Work and Family Challenges Today

Difficulty Level: Easy

54. In spite of progress in implementation of family life policies, only ______ states require employers to provide paid sick time.

a. 5

b. 12

c. 15

d. 22

Learning Objective: 11.6: How do work and social policies influence family life?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Addressing Work and Family Challenges Today

Difficulty Level: Easy

55. If you work as a sociologist who owns a small business or in a large company within the human resource department advocating family-friendly policies, you are working in the ______ sector.

a. public

b. private

c. corporate

d. organizational

Learning Objective: 11.6: How do work and social policies influence family life?

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Using Sociology to Address Family Issues

Difficulty Level: Easy

True/False

1. Basically, family is a group of people who are biologically related and take responsibility for meeting each other’s needs.

Learning Objective: 11.1: What are families? In what ways are families the by-product of the social world?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: What Shapes Families?

Difficulty Level: Easy

2. The Defense of Marriage Act paved the way for legalizing same-sex marriage.

Learning Objective: 11.1: What are families? In what ways are families the by-product of the social world?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Socially Constructing Families

Difficulty Level: Medium

3. Preindustrial families in the colonial United States were mainly self-reliant for food and clothing.

Learning Objective: 11.2: How have families changed over time? What has caused these changes?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Preindustrial U.S. Families

Difficulty Level: Medium

4. Reproduction as it related to U.S. industrial families refers to the production of goods for sale.

Learning Objective: 11.2: How have families changed over time? What has caused these changes?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Industrial U.S. Families

Difficulty Level: Medium

5. Structural functionalists favor the traditional nuclear family type.

Learning Objective: 11.3: How do different theoretical perspectives help sociologists understand families?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Structural Functionalism

Difficulty Level: Easy

6. Social exchange theory looks at the benefits and costs of family membership.

Learning Objective: 11.3: How do different theoretical perspectives help sociologists understand families?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Social Exchange Theory

Difficulty Level: Easy

7. Intensive mothering is a system of support for mothers who need help.

Learning Objective: 11.4: Who does the caretaking?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Families Caring for Each Other

Difficulty Level: Easy

8. Once compulsory education took root in the early 1900s, motherhood shifted from a societal task to an individual one.

Learning Objective: 11.4: Who does the caretaking?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Families Caring for Each Other

Difficulty Level: Medium

9. Most poorer families parent differently than wealthier families.

Learning Objective: 11.4: Who does the caretaking?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Parenting and Social Class

Difficulty Level: Medium

10. Middle-class parents are more likely to tell kids what to do and demand compliance than poorer families.

Learning Objective: 11.4: Who does the caretaking?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Parenting and Social Class

Difficulty Level: Easy

11. Men and women report experiencing almost the same rate of intimate partner violence—about 1 in 3.

Learning Objective: 11.5: What challenges do families face?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Violence and Victimization

Difficulty Level: Medium

12. Non-college-educated couples are more likely to stay together than their college-educated peers.

Learning Objective: 11.5: What challenges do families face?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Breaking Apart and Staying Together

Difficulty Level: Easy

13. According to research on the effects of divorce, most children experience no negative effects from divorce.

Learning Objective: 11.5: What challenges do families face?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Effects of Instability on Children

Difficulty Level: Easy

14. The second shift refers to working two jobs outside of the house.

Learning Objective: 11.6: How do work and social policies influence family life?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: How Work and Policy Shape Families

Difficulty Level: Easy

15. Family life policies in the United States are generally more prevalent than in other Global North nations.

Learning Objective: 11.6: How do work and social policies influence family life?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Addressing Work and Family Challenges Today

Difficulty Level: Easy

Short Answer

1. Explain how families are institutionalized.

Learning Objective: 11.1: What are families? In what ways are families the by-product of the social world?

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Socially Constructing Families

Difficulty Level: Hard

2. During the 1800s, how were work and family life separated into separate spheres in the United States?

Learning Objective: 11.2: How have families changed over time? What has caused these changes?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Industrial U.S. Families

Difficulty Level: Medium

3. Discuss the perspective of intersectionality.

Learning Objective: 11.3: How do different theoretical perspectives help sociologists understand families?

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Intersectionality

Difficulty Level: Medium

4. Discuss the various forms family violence can take.

Learning Objective: 11.5: What challenges do families face?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Violence and Victimization

Difficulty Level: Medium

5. What do sociologists mean when they say U.S. families are overworked?

Learning Objective: 11.6: How do work and social policies influence family life?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Addressing Work and Family Challenges Today

Difficulty Level: Medium

Essay

1. Explain the role the stalled revolution played in changes to family structure in the 1960s and '70s.

Learning Objective: 11.2: How have families changed over time? What has caused these changes?

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Diversifying U.S. Families

Difficulty Level: Hard

2. Explain the function of the norm of reciprocity in social exchange theory.

Learning Objective: 11.3: How do different theoretical perspectives help sociologists understand families?

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: The Norm of Reciprocity

Difficulty Level: Hard

3. What is intensive mothering? Is it still the norm today? Were you raised under this system? Give examples to illustrate your answer.

Intensive mothering is still the standard we measure mothers against today. Intensive mothers (and, increasingly, intensive fathers) research—reading advice books and blogs, scrutinizing social media posts, consulting experts—how best to parent to ensure their children’s development—even before their children are born or adopted. They keep an eye on their children at all times. They sign up their children for lessons to ensure they have every opportunity. Intensive parents focus on spending quality time and an abundant quantity of time with children. Today, even many single parents who lack the financial or time resources to parent intensively feel pressured to do so, particularly if they interact with parents who have more time and money.

Learning Objective: 11.4: Who does the caretaking?

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Families Caring for Each Other

Difficulty Level: Hard

4. How are children affected by divorce? What circumstances impact these effects?

Learning Objective: 11.5: What challenges do families face?

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Effects of Instability on Children

Difficulty Level: Medium

5. What is the second shift? Discuss its potential impact on marriages in your response.

Learning Objective: 11.6: How do work and social policies influence family life?

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: How Work and Policy Shape Families

Difficulty Level: Medium