Download What is a Symbolic Interactionists perspective on

Families
Chapter 16
Henslin’s Sociology: A Down To Earth
Approach
What is a family—and what
themes are universal?
Family is difficult to define…
For just about every element one might consider essential, there
are exceptions.
Consequently, family is defined broadly—as people who consider
themselves related by blood, marriage, or adoption.
Sociologists and anthropologists have documented extensive
variation in family customs—from cultures in which babies are
married to those in which husbands and wives refrain from sexual
relations for years at a time.
Universally, marriage and family are mechanisms for governing
mate selection, reckoning descent, and establishing inheritance
and authority
Marriage and Family in
Theoretical Perspective
What is the functionalist perspective on
marriage and family?
Functionalists examine the functions and
dysfunctions of family life. Examples
include the incest taboo and how weakened
family functions increase divorce.
What is a Symbolic Interactionists
perspective on marriage and family?
Symbolic Interactionists examine how
the contrasting experiences and
perspectives of men and women are
played out in marriage.
They stress that only by grasping the
perspectives of wives and husbands
can we understand their behavior.
What is the conflict perspective
on marriage and family?
Conflict theorists examine how marriage
and family help perpetuate inequalities,
especially the subservience of women.
Power struggles in marriage, such as those
over housework, are an example.
(The Prenuptial Exercise)
The Family Life Cycle
What are the major elements of the family life
cycle?
The major elements are love and courtship, marriage,
childbirth, child rearing, and the family in later life.
Most mate selection follows predictable patterns of
age, social class, race-ethnicity, and religion.
Childbirth and child-rearing patterns also vary by
social class.
Diversity in U.S. Families
How significant is race-ethnicity in family
life?
The primary distinction is social class, not
race or ethnicity.
Families of the same social class are likely to
be similar, regardless of their racial or ethnic
makeup.
What other diversity in U.S.
families is there?
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One-parent families
Childless families
Blended families
Gay and lesbian families.
Each has its unique characteristics, but social class is
significant in determining their primary
characteristics.
Poverty is especially significant for one-parent
families, most of which are headed by women.
Trends in U.S. Families
What major changes characterize U.S. families?
Two changes are postponement of first marriage and
an increase in cohabitation are recent characterisitcs
of US families.
With more people living longer, many middle-aged
couples find themselves sandwiched between rearing
their children and caring for their parents.
Divorce and Remarriage
What is the current divorce rate?
The Divorce Rate in the US: Upwards of 50%
compared to the number of people who marry each
year or 1.6% of all marriages?
Which statistic seems more accurate to you?
Depending on what figures you choose to compare,
you can produce almost any rate you wish.
But however you figure it, the U.S. divorce rate is
higher than any other industrialized nation.
How do children and their
parents adjust to divorce?
Divorce is difficult for children, whose adjustment
problems often continue into adulthood.
Most divorced fathers do not maintain ongoing
relationships with their children.
Financial problems are usually greater for the former
wives.
Although most divorced people remarry, their rate of
remarriage has slowed considerably.
Two Sides of Family Life
What are the two sides of family life?
The dark side is abuse—spouse battering,
child abuse, marital rape, and incest, acts
that revolve around the misuse of family
power.
The bright side is families that produce
intense satisfaction for spouses and their
children.
The Future of Marriage and
Family
What is the likely future of marriage
and family?
We can expect cohabitation, births to single
women, and age at first marriage to
increase.
The growing numbers of women in the
work force are likely to continue to shift
the marital balance of power.