SOCI 4311
Sociology of the Family: Families in a Multicultural World
3.0 Credits
Description
This course provides a cross-cultural comparison of the family and looks at family variation over geographical distance rather than historical distance. The course shows how households and communities are organized in various societies vastly different from our own and thereby broadens and refines the theoretical propositions already made about the family. SOCI 431 therefore challenges the assumption that "the family" is a universal unit and is universally the same. The practical reason behind this stance is that we live in a multicultural country made up of people having different values, backgrounds, and family organizations. The course gives students a basis for understanding these differences and distinguishing between an ethnocentric bias and a legitimate critique.
Delivery Method
Delivery is self-paced, allowing you the flexibility to proceed through the course according to your own schedule. TRU-Open Learning has no admission requirements and you can register for this course at any time.
Prerequisites
SOCI 1111 (previously SOCI 101), or equivalent skills and knowledge
Objectives
On having completed this course students should be able to:
- Discuss the functions of the family and kinship systems in our own and other societies.
- Discuss the significance of certain variations in family and kinship systems.
- State why the accurate description of family and kinship arrangements may depend on the describer's understanding of power differentials between the sexes.
- Describe how incest prohibitions mesh in each known society with the pattern by which children are educated in the home for independence.
Course Outline
Each major topic will be the subject of about two weeks of work, after which students will have ten days to two weeks for review. The titles of the two-week study units are:
Unit
- The cross-cultural perspective on the family
- Defining units and making links: Marriage, family, and household
- Kinship relations and kinship organization
- Women and the Chinese family
- Canadian and American contexts
- Family structure
- Overview and review
Maximum Completion
30 weeks
Required Text and Materials
Students will receive all course materials in their course package.
- Gough, Kathleen. The Nayars and the Definition of Marriage. Burnaby, BC: Open Learning Agency, 1996.
Type: Article
- Hutter, Mark. Chpt. 18 Epilogue: The Family in China. 2nd ed.. New York: Macmillan, 1988.
Type: Reading
- Jacobsen, Helga. Comparative Sociology of the Family. Burnaby, BC: Open Learning Agency, 1994.
Type: Anthology
Open Learning Faculty Member Information
An Open Learning Faculty Member is available to assist students to complete their course by phone and through the email. The course package includes a personal welcome letter from the Open Learning Faculty Member to each of their students.
Assessment
To receive a passing grade for SOCI 4311 (previously SOCI431) students must average 50% or higher on the whole course and 50% on the final exam.
The total grade will be determined on the following basis:
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