| Adoption | In a legal sense, a process that allows for the transfer of the legal rights, responsibilities, and privileges of parenthood to a new legal parent or parents.
|
 |
|
|
| Bilateral descent | A kinship system in which both sides of a person's family are regarded as equally important.
|
|
|
|
| Cohabitation | The practice of living together as a male–female couple without marrying.
|
|
|
|
| Domestic partnership | Two unrelated adults who have chosen to share a mutually caring relationship, reside together, and agree to be jointly responsible for their dependents, basic living expenses, and other common necessities.
|
|
|
|
| Egalitarian family | An authority pattern in which spouses are regarded as equals.
|
|
|
|
| Endogamy | The restriction of mate selection to people within the same group.
|
|
|
|
| Exogamy | The requirement that people select mates outside certain groups.
|
|
|
|
| Extended family | A family in which relatives—such as grandparents, aunts, or uncles—live in the same household as parents and their children.
|
|
|
|
| Familism | Pride in the extended family, expressed through the maintenance of close ties and strong obligations to kinfolk outside the immediate family.
|
|
|
|
| Functionalist definition of families | A definition of families that focuses on what families do for society and for their members.
|
|
|
|
| Homogamy | The conscious or unconscious tendency to select a mate with personal characteristics similar to one's own.
|
|
|
|
| Incest taboo | The prohibition of sexual relationships between certain culturally specified relatives.
|
|
|
|
| Kinship | The state of being related to others.
|
|
|
|
| Machismo | A sense of virility, personal worth, and pride in one's maleness.
|
|
|
|
| Matriarchy | A society in which women dominate in family decision making.
|
|
|
|
| Matrilineal descent | A kinship system in which only the mother's relatives are significant.
|
|
|
|
| Monogamy | A form of marriage in which one woman and one man are married only to each other.
|
|
|
|
| Nuclear family | A married couple and their unmarried children living together.
|
|
|
|
| Patriarchy | A society in which men dominate in family decision making.
|
|
|
|
| Patrilineal descent | A kinship system in which only the father's relatives are significant.
|
|
|
|
| Polyandry | A form of polygamy in which a woman may have more than one husband at the same time.
|
|
|
|
| Polygamy | A form of marriage in which an individual can have several husbands or wives simultaneously.
|
|
|
|
| Polygyny | A form of polygamy in which a man may have more than one wife at the same time.
|
|
|
|
| Serial monogamy | A form of marriage in which a person may have several spouses in his or her lifetime, but only one spouse at a time.
|
|
|
|
| Single-parent family | A family in which only one parent is present to care for the children.
|
|
|
|
| Substantive definition of the family | A definition of the family based on blood, meaning shared genetic heritage, and law, meaning social recognition and affirmation of the bond including both marriage and adoption.
|