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🇮🇳 UGC NET Sociology · subject
UGC NET Sociology Family, Marriage and Kinship Syllabus
Every chapter and topic of Family, Marriage and Kinship examined in UGC NET Sociology — 12 chapters, 3 topics, plus 51 flashcards written against it.
Family, Marriage and Kinship syllabus — full chapter and topic list
Expand any chapter to see its topics and sub-topics. This is the whole examinable outline for Family, Marriage and Kinship in UGC NET Sociology, not a summary of it.
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Theoretical Approaches
3 topics- Structure-Functionalist
- Alliance
- Cultural
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Gender Relations and Power Dynamics
overviewExamined as a single unit within Family, Marriage and Kinship — no further topic split in the official outline.
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Inheritance, Succession and Authority
overviewExamined as a single unit within Family, Marriage and Kinship — no further topic split in the official outline.
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Gender, Sexuality and Reproduction
overviewExamined as a single unit within Family, Marriage and Kinship — no further topic split in the official outline.
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Children, Youth and Elderly
overviewExamined as a single unit within Family, Marriage and Kinship — no further topic split in the official outline.
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Emotions and Family
overviewExamined as a single unit within Family, Marriage and Kinship — no further topic split in the official outline.
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Emergent Forms of Family
overviewExamined as a single unit within Family, Marriage and Kinship — no further topic split in the official outline.
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Changing Marriage Practices
overviewExamined as a single unit within Family, Marriage and Kinship — no further topic split in the official outline.
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Changing Care and Support Systems
overviewExamined as a single unit within Family, Marriage and Kinship — no further topic split in the official outline.
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Family Laws
overviewExamined as a single unit within Family, Marriage and Kinship — no further topic split in the official outline.
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Domestic Violence and Crime against Women
overviewExamined as a single unit within Family, Marriage and Kinship — no further topic split in the official outline.
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Honour Killing
overviewExamined as a single unit within Family, Marriage and Kinship — no further topic split in the official outline.
Family, Marriage and Kinship flashcards for UGC NET Sociology
19 of 51 cards from the Family, Marriage and Kinship deck — real questions with worked answers.
In structural-functionalism, what is the family's most basic societal function according to Talcott Parsons?
Two irreducible functions: (1) primary socialization of children so they internalize society's culture, and (2) stabilization of adult personalities of the population (the 'warm bath' theory of emotional support).
What did George Peter Murdock conclude about the universality of the family in his 1949 study 'Social Structure' of 250 societies?
The nuclear family is a universal human social grouping, existing either as the sole prevailing form or as the basic unit from which more complex families are compounded.
What four functions did Murdock argue the family universally performs?
Sexual, reproductive, economic, and educational (socialization) functions.
Define 'nuclear family.'
A family unit consisting of a married couple (husband and wife) and their dependent children, residing together as a single household.
Define 'extended family.'
A family that extends beyond the nuclear unit to include three or more generations or several nuclear families bound by kinship, often sharing residence and economic resources.
In structural-functionalism, distinguish 'instrumental' and 'expressive' roles as theorized by Parsons.
Parsons assigned the husband an instrumental role (breadwinner, link to the wider economy) and the wife an expressive role (emotional care, nurturing, household management) within the nuclear family.
What is the difference between 'family of orientation' and 'family of procreation'?
Family of orientation is the family one is born into and socialized by (parents and siblings); family of procreation is the family one creates through marriage and one's own children.
According to Parsons, why is the isolated nuclear family 'functionally fitted' to modern industrial society?
Its small size and structural isolation allow geographical and social mobility required by the industrial economy, and it specializes in socialization and emotional stabilization once other functions are taken over by specialized institutions.
What does William J. Goode argue in 'World Revolution and Family Patterns' (1963) about industrialization and family form?
Industrialization and urbanization are associated with a worldwide convergence toward the conjugal (nuclear) family, as it best fits the demands of an industrial economy.
Define 'conjugal family' versus 'consanguineal family.'
A conjugal family is organized around the marital (husband-wife) bond; a consanguineal family is organized around blood ties (descent), with the marital tie subordinated to the line of descent.
What is the 'fit thesis' in functionalist family sociology?
The argument (Parsons, Goode) that the structurally isolated nuclear family 'fits' the needs of modern industrial society better than the extended family because it enables mobility and specialized functions.
How did structural-functionalists explain the loss of family functions in modern society?
Through 'structural differentiation': specialized institutions (schools, factories, hospitals, welfare state) take over functions once performed by the family, which retains only socialization and personality stabilization.
State the central premise of Claude Levi-Strauss's Alliance theory of kinship.
Kinship is fundamentally about the exchange of women between groups through marriage (alliance), not about descent; marriage creates alliances that bind groups together and form the basis of society.
What is the 'incest taboo' according to Levi-Strauss and why is it central to Alliance theory?
The incest taboo is the universal prohibition that forces men to seek marriage partners outside their own group, compelling exogamy and exchange; it marks the transition from nature to culture and is the foundation of social alliance.
In Alliance theory, what is the 'principle of reciprocity'?
The idea (drawn from Mauss's gift theory) that marriage is an exchange in which giving a woman to another group creates an obligation to reciprocate, generating enduring alliances and social solidarity.
Distinguish 'restricted exchange' from 'generalized exchange' in Levi-Strauss's Alliance theory.
Restricted exchange: two groups directly exchange women (A gives to B and B gives to A; symmetrical). Generalized exchange: women circulate in one direction across multiple groups (A gives to B, B to C, C to A; indirect, asymmetrical), creating wider, more integrated alliances.
How does Alliance theory differ from Descent theory in its view of marriage?
Descent theory (Radcliffe-Brown, Fortes) treats marriage as secondary, serving to recruit members and continue descent groups; Alliance theory (Levi-Strauss) treats marriage/exchange as the primary structuring principle, with descent groups existing to exchange spouses.
What is 'elementary' versus 'complex' structures of kinship in Levi-Strauss's terms?
Elementary structures prescribe whom one must marry (positive marriage rules, e.g., cross-cousin marriage); complex structures only prohibit certain partners (negative rules), leaving the choice to other mechanisms (as in modern societies).
In Alliance theory, what is the significance of cross-cousin marriage?
It is a key form of elementary structure: marrying a cross-cousin (mother's brother's or father's sister's child) systematically repeats and renews alliances between exchanging groups across generations.
Planning Family, Marriage and Kinship for UGC NET Sociology
Family, Marriage and Kinship is about 1% of the UGC NET Sociology syllabus by topic count — 3 of 201 topics, spread over 12 chapters. At roughly 45 minutes per topic plus 12 minutes per sub-topic, a first pass runs to about 2 hours.
The heaviest chapters are Theoretical Approaches (3 topics), Gender Relations and Power Dynamics (0 topics), Inheritance, Succession and Authority (0 topics) . Front-load those while your energy is high; the short chapters are better revision filler later.
Work top-down: read the chapter, then tick topics off individually rather than marking the whole chapter done. Sub-topics are where silent gaps hide.
Family, Marriage and Kinship (UGC NET Sociology) FAQ
What is in the UGC NET Sociology Family, Marriage and Kinship syllabus?
Family, Marriage and Kinship is split into 12 chapters — Theoretical Approaches, Gender Relations and Power Dynamics, Inheritance, Succession and Authority, Gender, Sexuality and Reproduction, Children, Youth and Elderly and Emotions and Family, and 6 more, containing 3 topics and 0 sub-topics in total.
How many chapters are there in Family, Marriage and Kinship for UGC NET Sociology?
12 chapters. Family, Marriage and Kinship accounts for about 1% of the topics in the whole UGC NET Sociology syllabus (3 of 201).
How long should I spend on Family, Marriage and Kinship for UGC NET Sociology?
Budget around 2 hours for a first pass through Family, Marriage and Kinship — about 45 minutes per topic plus 12 minutes per sub-topic across its 3 topics. Add revision cycles on top.
Are there flashcards for UGC NET Sociology Family, Marriage and Kinship?
Yes — a 51-card Family, Marriage and Kinship deck. Sample cards are printed on this page, and the full deck is free in the Examius app with spaced repetition scheduling.