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 Families a. American families across timeb. The colonial erac. Nineteenth-century marriages and families d. Twentieth-century marriages and families e. Aspects of Contemporary families f. Factors promoting changeg. How contemporary families differ from one another h. Class and family lifei. Definitions j. African-American familiesk. Hispanic families l. Asian-American families m. Native American families n. European ethnic familiesCurrent LectureI. American Families across Timea. American marriages and families are dynamicII. The colonial era (1607-1776)a. Native American Families i. 2 million Native Americans, over 240 groups ii. Most patrilineal 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.iii. Most families were small iv. High child mortality rate v. Average age of marriage1. 12-15 for girls2. 15-20 for boysb. Colonial Families i. Family primary unit for producing goods & caring for its members1. Large families – average of 6 children per familyii. 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 husbandiii. Patriarchal Families1. No schools – fathers were in charge of educating children 2. Father or eldest son was seen as “in charge”3. Fathers in charge of disciplining iv. 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 block1. So that they were intimate, but not sexual – this didn’t really workc. Colonial Concept of Childhoodi. Children seen as evil by nature1. They were seen born out of original sin ii. Childhood seen as small adult iii. At age 10 children were often “bound out” – princesses, or domestic servants1. Concept of adolescence was nonexistentd. African-American Familiesi. Enslaved Africans & descendants faced difficulty forming & maintaining families1. It was illegal to marryii. Childhood was often bitter & harsh1. Children could work on plantations as early as 5 years oldiii. Strong emotional bonds and family tiesIII. Nineteenth-Century Marriages and Families a. Industrialization transformed families i. Wage-earning & increasingly urbanb. Marriage and Families Transformedi. Family focused on feelings ii. Love as the basis of marriageiii. Ideal of male breadwinning and female homemakeriv. Roles for women were housewife and motherv. Belief in childhood innocence vi. Idea of adolescence is born c. The African American Familyi. The Slave Family1. Loss of African heritage2. Slave children endured deep & lasting deprivation3. Slavery did not destroy all aspects family life4. Extended kinship networks & surrogatesii. African-American Families After Freedom1. Marriage became legal2. “The traveling time”3. Poverty remainedd. Immigration: The Great Transformationi. Between 1820 & 1920, 38 million immigrants came to the united states ii. Kinship groups were important for survivaliii. Focus on family survival rather than individual successIV. Twentieth-Century Marriages and Families a. The Rise of Companionate Marriagesi. Companionate marriage became idealii. Men and women shared household decision making and tasksiii. Marriages expected to be romanticiv. Wives expected to be sexually activev. Children treated more democratically – children encouraged to express their feelings, no longer expected to be protected b. The Depression and World Warsi. Survival depended upon a combination of women’s earnings, children’s earnings, assistance from kin, or public assistanceii. Between 1941 & 1945 1. Increases in women’s employmentiii. Families in the 1950s – an atypical time1. Family central to American life2. Marriage & birthrates were unusually high3. Low divorce rates 4. Prosperous economy5. 1950s dream not true for allV. Aspects of Contemporary Families a. Noticeable Trendsi. Rise in Cohabitation – true for those who have never been married, who are divorced, all races, all genders, etc. – across the boardii. Decline marriage rates – women are no longer dependent on men for survival 1. Shifts in marriage and marital expectations iii. Rise of divorce, remarriage, and blended families – divorce peaked in the 80s, since the 80s it has been slightly declining 1. More remarriage, more blended families, more of families living indifferent households iv. Rise of unmarried motherhood and single-parent familiesv. 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 Changea. Economic changesi. A lot more women are working outside the home b. Technological innovationsc. Demographicsd. Gender roles and opportunities for womenVII. How Contemporary Families Differ From One Another a. Social class: a category of people who share a common economic position in the stratified society in which they live i. Upper class1. 1% of the population2. Income range from hundreds of thousands to millionsii. Middle class1. 45-50% of the population2. Upper-middle class: highly paid professionals (lawyers, doctors, engineers), ~15% of population3. Middle-middle class comprises include white-collar services workers, earning between $40,000 and 80,000, ~30-35% of the U.S. populationiii. Working class 1. ~30% of the U.S. population is working class2. Tend to work as skilled laborers, earn between $20,000 and 40,000, and have high school or vocational educations society in iv. Lower class (Working Poor and the Underclass)1. Between 12 and 20% of Americans are poor2. The poverty line Is determined by calculating the annual costs of aminimal food budget multiplied by 33. Incomes $1 above this is not classified as poor4. Working poor 7.2% of population 5. 22% of children live in poverty 6. Underclass concentrated in inner cities VIII. Class and Family Lifea. Within upper-class familiesi. Sex-segregated marriages – more traditional division