SOC 344 Quiz 3 Study Guide

Terms and Concepts

Educational Attainment
highest level of education that
an individual has completed

Selection Effect
People in non-abusive
relationships are more likely to
get married
Social Safety Net
Non-contributory transfer
programs seeking to prevent the
poor or those vulnerable to
shocks and poverty from falling
below a certain poverty level
Earned Income Tax Credit
(EITC)
Refundable tax credit aimed at
low income families w/ kids

Temporary Assistance to Needy

Families (TANF)
Provides cash assistance to
indigent American families with
dependent children
Heterocentrism
Viewing and evaluating the
behavior of lesbian, gay, and
bisexual ppl out of cultural and
historical context and using
heterosexual relations as the
presumptive ideal
Normative Template
Homosexual couples do not

Developmental Theory of Social

Class
It is the ongoing interaction
between biology and environment
that shapes the course of a childs
development
Resiliency
Some children can defy the odds

Social Class and Social Capital

Social capital is the expected
collective or economic benefits
derived from preferential
treatment and cooperation

Emerging Sense of Entitlement

Middle class childrens lives
structured and planned. Their
day to day activities are
organized and often run by
adults. These children become
used to adults planning and
scheduling their events. They
become accoustumed to adults
putting their activities ahead of
their own. As a result, they come
to regard themselves, and their
activities, as important.
Emerging Sense of Constraint
Working class children are the
opposite of middle class children

Nontraditional Childhood
Lived in nontraditional
arrangement in their
childhood????

Womens Plan B
Insurance against worst case

SOC 344 Quiz 3 Study Guide

have a preordained prescription

for what their union means, and
its not fair to compare them to
heterosexual couples
Picture-Perfect American
Family

fears. Becoming more

independent, financial and
emotional self reliance.

Marriage Market

Class Stratification in child

rearing practices
Parents deliberately or
unintentionally shape their
childs ambitions goals, and
habits which in turn affect them
moving up the social ladder

Nature vs. Nurture

Biology vs environment

Questions To Consider

Mens Plan B
Fall back on modified
traditionalism. Acknowledges
that women have the need and
right to work, but his career stays
first
Social Class and child
development
Egalitarian marriage
Sharing that molds satisfying
work, gender conflicts, etc

Fragile Families Survey

FFCWS) is a longitudinal birth
cohort study of American
children in urban areas, run by
Princeton University and
Columbia University. It uses a
stratified random sample
technique and an oversample of
non-marital births. Baseline data
collection ran from 19982000,
with interviews with both
biological parents shortly after
the childs birth. Follow-up
interviews were conducted when
the child was one, three, five, and
nine years old. Unmarried
fathers are 2xs as likely to have
a physical or psych problem
hindering them from keeping a
job

SOC 344 Quiz 3 Study Guide

What is the widespread assumption behind the welfare legislation passed in 1996?
*To end dependence by promoting marriage.
* Child poverty is caused by failure to marry and not unemployment, poor education, and
lack of affordable child care
Why is the pro-marriage agenda in much antipoverty policy misguided?
Non marriage is a result of poverty and economic insecurity and not the other
way around
Quality and stability of marriage matters
2 parent families are not immune from economic stresses that put children at risk.
1/3 of impoverished children live with two parents
Single parenthood does not inevitably lead to poverty
What is the relationship between economic hardship and family formation and family
stability?
Unemployment, low wages, and poverty discourage families formation and erode
stability , making marriage less probable in the first place and making the
possibility of deterioration more high
What makes women more marriageable?
Have good employment prospects
What is the relationship between educational attainment and labor market opportunity?
Labor market opportunities for men with low levels of education have declined
substantially. This gives poor mothers fewer men to choose from in the marriage
market
What is the relationship between marital distress and consistency of parenting?
Marital distress leads to harsh and inconsistent parenting (whether parents are
together or not). Distressed marriages are worse for kids than divorce or single
parenting
Are women in children in economically precarious situations more or less vulnerable to
domestic violence? Why?
More vulnerable. Cohabitating couples are more prone to domestic violence,
selection effect. People in non-abusive relationships are more likely to get
married. Encouraging women in unstable cohabiting relationships to marry their
partners would not protect them or their children.
Why does the U.S. have higher rates of child hunger and poverty than some other
modern, industrialized nations, e.g. Sweden and Denmark?
These countries devote a greater percentage of their resources to assisting
families than the US.
What does it mean to claim that there is as much demographic and psychological
diversity within the groups of same-sex and heterosexual couples as there is between
them?

SOC 344 Quiz 3 Study Guide

Knowing a persons sexual orientation gives us much less 411 about the person
that is often assumed. In many respects, homosexual couples are more like
heterosexual couples of the same social class, race, religion, and occupational
group than they are like homosexual couples from other demographics.
Do same sex couples actually have an advantage over heterosexual couples in escaping
traditional gender role divisions that can lead to marital dissatisfaction, e.g.? Why or why
not?
Yes (Especially lesbian couples). Higher levels of closeness and flexibility
What special challenges do same-sex couples face that heterosexual couples do not?
Anti- gay prejudice
Relational ambiguity: social norms and legalized statuses
Social network fragmentation
What kinds of discrimination do same sex couples encounter in public and/or in the
workplace?
Physical and verbal harassment. Wrongful firing
According to research, are children raised by lesbian or gay parents any different from
children raised by heterosexual parents? Why or why not?
They are not any different. There is no social scientific evidence to say otherwise.
Research somewhat favors children of gay/lesbian parents saying that sons are
less objectified, daughters are more career oriented, and the parents are closer to
their children.
In what ways is Webers loaded dice metaphor a good description of how social class
operates over the lifetime of individuals?
Each throw of the dice is weighted by the result of the previous throw. It
constraints increase with repeated tosses of the dice, leading to more skewed
outcomes. . Social class is a set of life chances that become more pronounced as
they play out over time.
How is childrens language development, e.g., likely affected by growing up in a working
class family compared to a middle class family?
If the child is underexposed, it can have negative implications for them later in
life. Children growing up in working class families may have had less exposure to
a wide range of words, vice children in middle class families.
How does a familys economic status and social class affect the level of motivation
needed by their children to succeed in life?
Families with more resources have to be only ordinarily motivated and talented to
succeed. Those with fewer resources have to have a greater talent and more effort
to succeed

SOC 344 Quiz 3 Study Guide

Which set of factors (race or social class) was found to have a greater overall influence
on the rhythm of childrens lives in Lareaus study? Why?
Social class, because middle class parents instilled a sense of entitlement to their
children and working class parents did not, thus working class children did not
get all benefits
Among unmarried parents, what factors contribute to why couples do not marry?
Economical disadvantages
Among unmarried parents, what factors contribute to why couples do not use
contraception?
As the relationship becomes more serious they are more lackadaisical with their
contraception, they planned to abort, could not afford contraception. Or just left
conception to chance
Among unmarried parents, what makes fathers more involved?
When the father in unemployed and the mother is employed and he becomes the
playmate.
In Gersons study, which was more important to her research subjects: the family form in
which they grew up (married parents, single parent, divorce/separated parents), or
parental support and economic security? Why?
Parental support and economic security because they were nonconventional and
were not interested in the traditional family