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Public and Private
Families: An Introduction
Dr. Andrew J. Cherlin, author
 3rd Edition
 McGraw-Hill

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Chapter One

Public and Private Families
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How Do We Feel About
the American Family?

Attempts at same sex marriage brought up
questions
 Widespread disapproval of homosexual
relationships


64% said it was wrong or always wrong
Why do we care about the definition
of “family” when

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Cohabitation is common
Births outside marriage are common
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Are We Ambivalent?
On one hand, marriage-centered
family life remains the preference
 On the other, there is much more
toleration for family life without
the boundaries of marriage and the
idea to never marry is acceptable

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Characteristics of Today’s
Singles
Postpone marriage for career or
education
 Women in the labor market
 Greater acceptance of premarital
sex
 Decline in young men’s earning
power
 Able to avoid unwanted pregnancy
 Willingness to cohabitate

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The Young Middle Class

Working toward self-fulfillment
 Staying
in school for higher degrees
 Developing careers
 Cohabiting
 Having children without marrying
 Many ambivalent about marriage
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Poor or Near Poor
Not immune to cultural trends
 Economics plays a greater role

 Job
prospects for men without college
degrees has greatly declined
 Income has declined in terms of cost
of living
 Gap between rich and poor is widening
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Definition of Family

Social Conservative definition - only
one family is “correct”


Two parent Breadwinner-Homemaker
family
Economic definition - specific rules
about who qualifies to be a family
member

Only those that “qualify” are eligible for
benefits
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Cultural Definition of
Family

Cultural definition - varies from
culture to culture


Western nations practice monogamy one husband and one wife
Many African, Arabic and Asian nations
practice polygamy - more than one
spouse at a time
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What is a Family?


How well are families taking care of
children, the frail elderly and the ill?
How well are families providing
emotional satisfaction people value ?



Intimacy
Love
Personal fulfillment
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The Public Family: Cost
and Benefits

Externalities = costs or benefits that
accrue to others when an individual or
business produces something
Negative = costs imposed when an individual
or business produces something of value to
itself
 Positive = benefits received by others when
an individual or business produces
something that is not fully compensated
for to that business or individual

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The Public Family: Cost
and Benefits
Families “produce” children
 Families care for young, poor, and
elderly
 By performing these tasks they are
saving the public funds it would
cost to do so

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Public Goods
Things that might be enjoyed by
people who did not pay for or
produce themselves
 Children might be considered a
public good

A
look at Social Security as an
example
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The Free-Rider Problem

Tendency for people to obtain
public good by letting others
produce the good and they enjoy
them.
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The Public Family

Definition = one adult, or two adults
who are related by marriage,
partnership, or shared parenthood,
who is/are taking care of dependents,
and the dependents themselves

The presence of dependents is the key
to this definition
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The Private Family


Provides intimacy, emotional support
and love
Relationship by blood = sharing of
common ancestor, including both
horizontal and vertical kinship ties
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The Private Family


Definition = Two or more individuals who
maintain an intimate relationship that they
expect will last, and who live in the same
household and pool their income and
household labor
The intimacy, whether it be parent-child
attachment, sexual among the partners, or
sharing of inner selves is the crux of this
family
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Kinship Ties From the
Private Family
Created = have been constructed
 Assigned = have been acquired

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Two Views, Same Family
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Sociological Perspective on
the Family

Looks at the family as a single unit
and a social institution


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Comes with a set of roles and rules that
define its importance to society
Sociologists view the social world of the
family by looking at important external
forces
Sociologists are uncertain of the current
and future role of the family in
American society
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Contrasting Views of the
Family

Optimistic (political liberal view)


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Family is changing, but it has always
been changing
Changes in women’s lives in work and
family roles has given them broader
opportunities
Americans value increased
independence
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Contrasting Views of the
Family

Pessimistic (political conservative
view)

Marriage has weakened as an institution


With fewer children and more women
working
Dire warnings of families failing health,
but not fatally wounded
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Steering a Middle Course
Changes in families have benefits
and costs
 Great changes have occurred since
mid-1900s

 self-fulfillment
is highly valued
 more women working outside the home
 increase in divorce rate
 increase in single parent rate
 a “thinner” culture in the home

fewer joint familial activities
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Diversity

American families are becoming more
diverse

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Two parent and single parent families
Many immigrant families from Latin
America and Asia
Bring their own cultural traditions
 Married women more likely to work

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How Sociologists Look at
the Diversity of Families

Objectively collect and analyze
scientific data by using:
 The
scientific method and forming a
hypothesis
 Random samples/selection
 Survey method
 Observational study
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The National Survey
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Five Views of the Family

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Functionalist Perspective
Conflict Perspective
Exchange Perspective
Symbolic Interaction Perspective
Feminist Perspective
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Functionalist Perspective

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Focuses on stability and cooperation
Each partner performed certain
functions
Husband worked outside the home
Wife did housework and childcare
Breadwinner-Homemaker Model
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Conflict Perspective

Conflict Theory
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Focuses on inequality, power, and social
change
Male dominance = physical force and
control of economic resources
Men cannot be as dominant in societies
where women produce valuable goods and
the state regulates physical force
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Exchange Perspective

Exchange theory
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Women choose to exchange
performance of household and
childcare services in return for
benefit of men’s income
Men choose to perform outside labor
in exchange for household and
childcare services performed by
women
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Exchange Perspective


When men are sole earners, they are
in a “bargaining position”
When women earn money, they are
less dependent on men economically
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Symbolic Interaction
Perspective

Symbolic Interaction Theory

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We interpret symbols of how people act
Shared understandings of how people
should act creates the basis of social
roles that people play
Spouse, parent, breadwinner, homemaker,
child, etc.
 Valuable in these times of more stepfamilies,
dual career marriages, and single parent
families

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Feminist Perspective

Feminist Theory

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Gender defines social roles and cultural
characteristics
These roles have no biological reason
behind them, but are culturally dictated,
therefore are socially constructed
These roles appear to be constructed to
give men power
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Perspectives From
Evolutionary Psychology

Evolutionary Psychology


Women reproduced and tried to find
men who provided protection and support
Men maximized their reproductive
potential by impregnating many women
and controlling sexual access to women
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