SOC 001 Lecture Notes - Lecture 18: Nuclear Family, Bilateral Descent, Economic Security

• School: College of The Sequoias
• Department: Sociology (SOC)
• Course: SOC 001
• Professor: silva

Document Summary

Social institutions: organized patterns of beliefs and behaviors that are centered on basic social needs. Family is the most important social institution to most people. It is a group we are a member of for our culture lives. Family is a cultural universal -- a part of the social structure in society. Who is considered a family member is different among cultures. Families provide for the needs of its members. Families contribute to the overall stability of society. Major institutions (including families) just help those who have power to maintain it. Family is a mirror of the inequality that already exists within and between families. Some see family as a mechanism for men"s exploitation of women and children. Not all feminists agree with this idea. Second shift: that women put in a first shift at work and a second shift at home. How we think, what we think, is all impacted by family.