FSHD257 1st Edition Lecture 3 Outline of Last Lecture I. Chapter 2: Studying Marriage and Familya. How popular culture misrepresents family lifeb. Researching familiesi. Basic definitionsc. Conducting research on familiesi. Methods d. Macro-level theoriese. Micro-level theoriesf. Family Theories Outline of Current Lecture II. Chapter 3: Variations in American Family Lifea. American families across timei. The colonial era ii. Nineteenth-century marriages and families iii. Twentieth-century marriages and familiesb. How contemporary families differ from one anotheri. Aspects of contemporary families ii. Economic variations in family lifeiii. Racial and ethnic diversityCurrent LectureI. American Families across Time: i. American marriages and families are dynamicii. The colonial era (1607-1776)1. Native American Families a. 2 million Native Americans, over 240 groups b. Most patrilineal c. Most families were small d. High child mortality rate These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor’s lecture. GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes, not as a substitute.e. Average age of marriagei. 12-15 for girlsii. 15-20 for boys2. Colonial Families a. Family primary unit for producing goods & caring for its membersi. Large families – average of 6 children per familyb. Arranged marriages i. Needed parental approval was a law for 8/13 colonies ii. The wife was not seen as an equal, she was there to support the husbandc. Patriarchal Familiesi. No schools – fathers were in charge of educating children ii. Father or eldest son was seen as “in charge”iii. Fathers in charge of disciplining d. Bundling: mostly in rural areas, around New England, the man traveled to the woman’s farm (traveled far distances) stayed with each other, but stayed in a bed that was divided by a wood block i. So that they were intimate, but not sexual – this didn’t really work3. Colonial Concept of Childhooda. Children seen as evil by naturei. They were seen born out of original sin b. Childhood seen as small adult c. At age 10 children were often “bound out” – princesses, or domestic servantsi. Concept of adolescence was nonexistent4. African-American Familiesa. Enslaved Africans & descendants faced difficulty forming & maintaining familiesi. It was illegal to marryb. Childhood was often bitter & harshi. Children could work on plantations as early as 5 years oldc. Strong emotional bonds and family tiesiii. Nineteenth-Century Marriages and Families 1. Industrialization transformed families a. Wage-earning & increasingly urban2. Marriage and Families Transformeda. Family focused on feelings b. Love as the basis of marriagec. Ideal of male breadwinning and female homemakerd. Roles for women were housewife and mothere. Belief in childhood innocence f. Idea of adolescence is born 3. The African American Familya. The Slave Familyi. Loss of African heritageii. Slave children endured deep & lasting deprivationiii. Slavery did not destroy all aspects family lifeiv. Extended kinship networks & surrogatesb. African-American Families After Freedomi. Marriage became legalii. “The traveling time”iii. Poverty remained4. Immigration: The Great Transformationa. Between 1820 & 1920, 38 million immigrants came to the united statesb. Kinship groups were important for survivalc. Focus on family survival rather than individual successiv. Twentieth-Century Marriages and Families 1. The Rise of Companionate Marriagesa. Companionate marriage became idealb. Men and women shared household decision making and tasksc. Marriages expected to be romanticd. Wives expected to be sexually activee. Children treated more democratically – children encouraged to express their feelings, no longer expected to be protected 2. The Depression and World Warsa. Survival depended upon a combination of women’s earnings, children’s earnings, assistance from kin, or public assistanceb. Between 1941 & 1945 i. Increases in women’s employmentc. Families in the 1950s – an atypical timei. Family central to American lifeii. Marriage & birthrates were unusually highiii. Low divorce rates iv. Prosperous economyv. 1950s dream not true for allv. Aspects of Contemporary Families 1. Noticeable Trendsa. Rise in Cohabitation – true for those who have never been married, who are divorced, all races, all genders, etc. – across the boardb. Decline marriage rates – women are no longer dependent on men for survival i. Shifts in marriage and marital expectationsc. Rise of divorce, remarriage, and blended families – divorce peaked in the 80s, since the 80s it has been slightly declining i. More remarriage, more blended families, more of families living in different households d. Rise of unmarried motherhood and single-parent familiese. Marriages are undergoing significant changes – expectations people bring, the kind of relationship they want to construct are both different than how they used to bevi. Factors Promoting Change1. Economic changesa. A lot more women are working outside the home 2. Technological innovations3. Demographics4. Gender roles and opportunities for womenII. How Contemporary Families Differ From One AnotherIII. Social class: a category of people who share a common economic position in the stratified society in which they live a. Upper classi. 1% of the populationii. Income range from hundreds of thousands to millionsb. Middle classi. 45-50% of the populationii. Upper-middle class: highly paid professionals (lawyers, doctors, engineers), ~15% of populationiii. Middle-middle class comprises include white-collar services workers, earning between $40,000 and 80,000, ~30-35% of the U.S. populationc. Working class i. ~30% of the U.S. population is working classii. Tend to work as skilled laborers, earn between $20,000 and 40,000, and have high school or vocational educations society ind. Lower class (Working Poor and the Underclass)i. Between 12 and 20% of Americans are poorii. The poverty line Is determined by calculating the annual costs of a minimal food budget multiplied by 3iii. Incomes $1 above this is not classified as pooriv. Working poor 7.2% of population v. 22% of children live in poverty vi. Underclass concentrated in inner cities IV. Class and Family Lifea. Within upper-class familiesi. Sex-segregated marriages – more traditional division where women are housewives and husbands are earning the income b. Middle-class marriages tend to be more egalitarian and are often