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SOCI 317/347 Sociology of the Family

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Family as basic social institution; the nexus between marriage, family and kinship; Importance of kinship, descent groups, descent systems; Inheritance and succession; Marriage: processes and forms; Marital stability, divorce and its implications; Types of extended family in comparative perspective with reference to sub-Saharan Africa; Family in theoretical perspective: functionalist and conflict perspectives; Major key studies of the family; Social change and the family: emergence of the nuclear family and its implications for authority, power and interpersonal relations, decision
-making, inheritance, welfare of members. Alternative family life-styles in marriage of contemporary societies: singled; unmarried, cohabitation; single parenthood, blended families, gay couples, etc.