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The Family and Human Sexuality
Chapter 13
Social Institutions
• Organized patterns of beliefs and behavior
that are centered on basic social needs.
– Cultural universal
Functionalist View
• 5 major tasks
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Replacing personnel
Teaching new recruits
Producing and distributing goods and services
Preserving order
Providing and maintaining a sense of purpose
Family
• A set of people who are related by blood,
marriage (or some other agreed-upon
relationship), or adoption who share the
primary responsibility for reproduction and
caring for members of society.
Family Variations
• Nuclear – a married couple and their
unmarried children
• Extended – a family unit that includes
parents and children, as well as other kin
• Accordion – composition changes based on
changing circumstances
Marriage
• A legally sanctioned relationship, usually
involving economic cooperation, as well as
sexual activity, and childbearing.
Who to Marry?
• Endogamy – marriage between people of
the same social category
• Exogamy – refers to marriage between
people of different social categories
How Many to Marry?
• Monogamy- marriage uniting two partners
• Polygamy – marriage that unites three or
more people
– Polygyny- a man with multiple wives
– Polyandry – a woman with multiple husbands
• Serial monogamy – having several
monogamous marriages over a lifetime
Courtship and Mate Selection
• Aspects of Mate Selection
– Incest taboo:
– Homogamy: Conscious or unconscious
tendency to select mate with personal
characteristics similar to one’s own
Kinship
• The state of being related to others
Descent
• Refers to the system by which members of a
society trace kinship over generations
Descent
Patrilineal – kinship traced through father’s
side of the family
Descent
• Matrilineal – kinship traced through
mother’s side of the family
Descent
• Bilateral – kinship traced through both the
father’s side and mother’s side
Residential Patterns
• Patrilocality – living with or near the
husband’s family
• Matrilocality – living with or near the
wife’s family
• Neolocality – living separate from both
families
Authority
• Patriarchy
– Male decision making
• Matriarchy
– Female decision making
• Egalitarian
– Spouses are equal
Structural-Functional Analysis
• Family performs many vital tasks
– Ogburn (1934)
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Reproduction
Protection
Socialization
Regulation of sexual behavior
Affection and companionship
Provision of social status
Conflict Analysis
• Family perpetuates inequality
– Property and inheritance
– Patriarchy
– Race and ethnicity
Interactionist Analysis
• How individuals share and experience
family life
– Building emotional bonds
– Building a way to view the world and interact
Divorce
• Causes of divorce
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Individualism
Romantic love subsides
Women less dependent on men
Divorce is socially acceptable
Legally easier to get
Figure 39-1: U.S. Households by Family Type, 1940 – 2010
Source: Bureau of the Census 2010b:Table HH1.
Alternate Family Forms
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One-parent families
Cohabitation
Gay and lesbian couples
Singlehood
Transition to Parenthood
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Little anticipatory socialization
Only limited learning during pregnancy
Transition quite abrupt
Society lacks clear and helpful guidelines
for successful parenthood
Child-Rearing Patterns
• Adoption
– “Transfer of the legal rights,
responsibilities, and privileges
of parenthood” to a new
legal parent or parents
– Functionalist: government has a
strong interest in encouraging adoption
• At any given time, around half a million
children in the United States are living in foster care
Child-Rearing Patterns
• Dual-Income Families
• Rise due to economic need, coupled
with a desire to pursue careers
Child-Rearing Patterns
• Single-parent families: Only one
parent is present to care for children
– Households headed by single fathers
more than quadrupled from 1987 to 2011
Child-Rearing Patterns
• Stepfamilies
– Approximately 45% of all people in
U.S. will marry, divorce, and remarry
Human Sexuality
• Sexuality not limited to physical behaviors
– Includes beliefs, values, and social norms
that collectively govern its expression
– Way human sexuality sanctioned differs
widely geographically and historically
– Sexual attitudes and practices change over time
Human Sexuality
• Labeling and Human Sexuality
– Definition of deviant sexual behavior
varied significantly over time and
from one culture to another
• Social stigma of homosexuality
• Transgendered persons: people whose current
gender identity does not match their physical
identity at birth
• Transvestites: cross-dressers who
wear clothing of opposite sex