1 10 2013 Chapter 1 How Do We Define Family Legal vs social science Definitions A relationship by blood marriage or affection in which member may Family cooperate economically may care for children and may consider their identity to be intimately connected to the larger group o Blood mom dad and siblings o Marriage husband wife o Affection best friends co workers pets Youngest children tend to stay close to family Other definitions of family 1 The family as a system moving through time A Carter Betty and MsGoldrick Monica describes family as people who have a shared history and a shared future They encompass 3 5 generations held together by blood legal and or historical ties p 1 2 Pauline Boss 2002 defined family as a continuing system of interacting persons bound together by processes of shared rituals and rules even more than by shared biology The Function of Families The family you were born into The family you make through marriage Nonrelatives whose bond are strong and intimate Family of Orientation Family of Procreation partnering and or parenthood Fictive Kin o Co workers o Pets Marriage recognize social and intimate bonds An institutional arrangement between persons to publically o Anthropologist William Stephens definition Socially legitimate sexual union Public announcement Undertaken with some idea of permanence Assumed with a more or less explicit marriage contract Regulation of Sexual Behavior Reproducing and Socializing children Property and Inheritance Economic Cooperation Social Placement Status and Roles Care Warmth Protection and Intimacy Linking Micro and Macro perspective on families Mircro level Focus on the individual and his or her interactions in a specific a stable framework of social relationships that gives out Social Structure interactions with other don t need to know for exam setting know relationships wit the rest of society know Macro level focus on interconnectedness of marriage families and intimate Families are Always Changing Marriage Patterns o Monogamy o Polygamy gender unspecified Patterns of Authority Marriage between one man and one woman a system that allows for more than one spouse at a time o Patriarchy A form of social organization in which the norm is that men have a natural right to be in positions of authority over women Men have authority Woman have to cook clean do laundry etc o Matriarchy the power and authority in society would be vested in women A form of social organizations in which the norm is that The expectation that power and authority are equally Women have authority o Egalitarian vested in men and woman Used today What most of class will use o Bilateral Patterns of Descent sides of the family man s family line woman s family line o Matrilineal o Patrilineal descent that can be traced through both male and female A descent pattern where lineage is traces through the A descent pattern where linage is traced through the The expectation that a newly married couple establishes a o Neolocal Residence Patterns residence and lives there independently lives with men s family lives with women s family o Patrilocal o Matrilocal Families in Transition o Families in china o History of Family Life in the U S Family life in colonial America European Colonists Dependent on how Europe lived Colonial America African Americans and slavery Social Science Theory and Research Common Research Methods to study families o Survey o In depth interview o Experiment o Focus group o Observational Study o Secondary analysis Empirical Approach systematic collection and analysis of data An approach that answers questions through a Goals of Family Research o Describe some phenomena o Examine the factors that predict or are associated with some phenomena o Explain the cause and effect relationship or provide insight into why certain events do or do not occur Methods of Research o Survey a form of research that gathers information about attitudes or behaviors through the answers that give people possible answers brought together examines cause and effect relationships for obtaining information from small groups of people o In depth interview o Experiment o Focus Group a general framework explanation or tool used to understand and Theory describe the real life world o Help us make sense of the world Levels of analysis from Macro to Micro o Conflict social inequality results in unequal resources resulting in o Structural functionalism the family as an institution and how it functions to maintain its own needs and those of society inevitable conflict minority status especially women maximize rewards and control costs Principle of Least Interest o Social Exchange Family life as a rational exchange designed to o Feminism investigation of family life as experience by those with o Symbolic Interaction o Developmental Theory Family interaction governed by symbolic communication that defines reality Family life predicted my passage through normative stage and the accomplishment of corresponding tasks circular interactions among the system member resulting in functional or dysfunctional outcomes o Systems Theory
View Full Document
Unlocking...