Download Ch. 11 The Family

Ch. 11 The Family
Defining the Family
• Family – a group of people
related by marriage, blood, or
adoption
– Had the greatest impact on
individual behavior
– Family of orientation – family
we are born into, provides
children with a name , an
identity, and a heritage
– Family of procreation –
established upon marriage
• Marriage – a legal union
based on mutual rights and
obligations
• 2 basic types of Families
– Nuclear family – family structure composed of one or
both parents and children
– Extended family – 2 or more adult generations of the
same family whose members share economic resources
and a common household
• How did family structures develop?
– 1st small nuclear families of hunters and gathers
– Then families started to raise animals and farm, which
needed large families to be successful – extended family
– Industrialization shifted the trend back to nuclear
families
• Patterns of Family Structure
– Who inherits?
• Patrilineal – descent and inheritance is passed through the
male line; ex. Iraq
• Matrilineal – passed through the female line; ex. Pueblo
Indians
• Bilateral – passed equally through both parents; ex. U.S. today
– Who is in authority?
• Patriarchy – the pattern in which the oldest man living in
the household has authority over the rest of the family
members; ex. Chine
• Matriarchy – oldest living women has authority
– This is so rare that there is a debate over if any society has ever
truly had a matriarchy
• Equalitarian – family structure in which authority is evenly
shared b/w the husband and wife; ex. Scandinavian
countries and U.S. today
• Where do couples live?
– Patrilocal – refers to the pattern in which married
couples live w/ or near the husband’s parents
– Matrilocal – couple lives w/ or near wife’s parents
– Neolocal – newly married couples set up their own
households
• Marriage Arrangements
– There are many different wedding rituals, and it is an
important ritual announcing that a man and woman
have become husband and wife, that a new family is
formed, and that any children born to the couple can
legitimately inherit the family name and property
– What forms do marriage
take?
• Monogamy – a marriage
consisting of one man and
one woman
– Most widely practiced form of
marriage in the world
• Polygamy – the marriage of a
male or female to more than
one person at a time
– Polygyny – the marriage of one
man to 2 or more women at the
same time
– Polyandry – the marriage of one
woman to 2 or more men at the
same time
» Only know to have be
practiced in Tibet and
among the Todas of India
• Choosing a mate
– All cultures and societies have norms and laws about
who may marry whom
– Exogamy – the practice of marrying outside one’s group
• The most important norms relating to exogamy are called
incest taboos
• Incest taboos – a norm forbidding the marriage b/w close
relatives
– Endogamy – marriage w/in one’s own group as required
by social norms
• Ex. Marring the same race
• Homogamy – the tendency to marry someone similar to
oneself
– Most common practice in America
• Heterogamy – marriage b/w people of differing social
characteristics
Theoretical Perspectives and the
Family
• Functionalism
– Socializing children
• Parents are role models and train and educate the child
through all stages of development
– Socioemotional function
• Socioemotional maintenance – provision of acceptance and
support
• Unconditionally accepted and loved
– Reproductive function
• Family provides an orderly means for producing new
members
• In many societies the failure of a wife to reproduce can lead
to divorce
• Regulation of sexual activity
– In no known society are people given total sexual
freedom
– It is up to the family to enforce the norms
• Transmition of social status
• Economic function
– Provides what is needed to survive
• Conflict Theory
– Historically and tradtionally
women have been considered
the property of men
– Gender relationships
• Males are dominant and in
control
• Women kept in a dependent and
powerless role
– Many feminists view the family
from the Conflict perspective
• Symbolic Interactionism
– The key to understanding behavior w/in families lies in the
interactions among family members and the meanings that
members assign to these interactions
– Self-concept
• Socialization begins in the family
• by sharing of meanings and feelings children develop self-concepts
• Relationships w/in family are constantly changing
Family and Marriage in the United
States
• The Nature of the American Family
– Families are nuclear
– Families are bilateral
– Families are democratic
– Families are neolocal
– Families are monogamous
• Romantic Love and Marriage
– In a poll 83% of men and women rated “being in love” as
the most vital reason to marry
– Romance might be one factor, but is not the only one
– Marriage rate – the number of marriages per year for
every 1000 member of a population
• Divorce rate – the number of
Divorces per year per 1000
members of population
• Causes
– The age of the people when
they married, the later in life
the lower the chance of
divorce
– How many years the partners
have been married, the longer
the marriage the less likely
– The nature and quality of the
relationship. The more
respect and flexibility exists
b/w the partners the lower
the chance
• 4 factors Sociologists attribute to change in
divorce rate
– Divorce rate rises during economic prosperity and
goes down when time are hard
– The rise in divorce rate after 1960 followed the
growing up of the baby-boom generation
– Increasing financial independence of women
means they are more willing to end bad marriages
– American values and attitudes about marriage and
divorce are changing
• The Future of marriage?
– Average age of first marriage in U.S. is increasing
– Baby-boomers are no longer in the age range for the
highest rate of divorce
– American couples are having fewer children, and
children are farther apart, which reduces pressure on
marriages
• Family Violence
– Domestic violence occurs at all class
levels
– According to a national survey
almost ¼ of adults in the U.S. report
having been physically abused as
children
– 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 10 boys are
victims of sexual aggression
– At least 4,000,000 women are
battered by their husbands annually
– Over 4,000 women are beaten to
death a year
– Men can be the victims
– Abuse can be verbal or psychological
– Most common form of family
violence is sibling violence
Changes in Marriage and Family
• Blended Families – a family formed
when at least one of the partners in a
marriage has been married before and
has a child or children from a previous
marriage
– Ex. Brady bunch
– About 40% of U.S. households are
blended
– Problems
• Money difficulties – child support
• Stepchildren’s antagonism
• Unclear roles – roles of stepparents are often
vague and ambiguous
Single-Parent Families
• ¼ American families are singleparent households
• Women are more likely to get
custody
• About 30% of American kids
live in a single-parent
household
Childless Marriages
• There are many reasons for remaining
childless
• Ex. – jobs, not wanting children, some couples
are unable to have children
• Dual-Employed Marriages – both spouses work
outside the home
• Cohabitation – a marriagelike livingarrangement
w/o the legal obligations and responsibilities of
formal marriage
• Same-sex domestic partners
– Because of social stigma of homosexuality it is
impossible to know the true proportion of the American
population that is homosexual
• Single Life
• Boomerang Kids – adult children who return to the
home of origin or who continue to live w/ parents
– More than ¼ of adults 18 to 34 now live w/ their parents