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Sociological Theories About The Modern Family

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Sociological Theories About The Modern Family
Sociological Theories About The Modern Family
Chelsea Ries
200 314 869
Sociology 100
University of Regina
November 22, 2013

"The family is the most important institution in society." This statement is repeated in almost every sociology text in some form or another. However, current trends suggest that there may be some inaccuracies in this claim. Family is indeed important and necessary. It can even be defined as very important, but its relationship to the term institutional may be problematic. The conflict is inherent in the definition of family based of the functionalists and the conflict theorists.
Functionalist Theory
This conservative,
…show more content…
The battle of ideologies still rages on in the United States, although an increasing number of states have extended legal status to families of this type. In Canada, the Civil Marriage Act was passed in 2005 and after a brief re-vote in 2007— which defeated the Conservative motion to restore the traditional definition of marriage— marriage equality became a non-issue (politically) when the prime minister announced his government would not bring it up again (Makarenko, …show more content…
& Locke, H. (1945). The Family: From Institution to Companionship. Oxford, UK: American Book Co.
Carroll, M. (2012). General Sociology: On-Line Course. San Francisco, CA: New Charter University. Retrieved from https://new.edu/resources/sociological-perspectives-on-the-family
Cherlin, A. (2004). The Deinstitutionalization of American Marriage. Journal of Marriage and Family, 66(4) 848–861.
Hammond, R. (2009). Sociology of the family. Utah Valley University. Retrieved form http://freebooks.uvu.edu/SOC1200/index.php/chapters.html
Inglehart, R. & Baker, E. (2000). Modernization, Cultural Change, And The Persistence of Traditional Values. American Sociological Review, 65(1) 19-51.
Makarenko, J. (2007). Same-Sex Marriage in Canada. Mapleleafweb. Retrieved from http://mapleleafweb.com/features/same-sex-marriage-canada
O 'Neill, R. (2002). Experiments in Living: The Fatherless Family. London, UK: The Institute for the Study of Civil Society. Retrieved from

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