Marriages are monogamous and consist of a small household unit with parents with Chapter 1 Why is Family Important Families are social institutions Families are important economically Combined income their children Ideal Family Breadwinner homemaker family leave it to Beaver family found in the extremely wealthy o not doing the homemaking found in very low income home Acceptable Family Types 1 Cohabiting partners with or without children this contradicts the idea of progress and gender equality is this ideal for most families o no cost of living is much more than in the past income has not risen o cost of child care transportation and clothes are more than staying at a Common among college students but most common among divorced 2 Divorced and remarried families 3 Childless families Political Debate Marriage Movement Conservatives and religious leaders Childrearing is the central purpose of marriage Stopped the public daycare system bill from passing o Daycare working like a public school Diversity Defenders Liberal activists feminists and social scientists Adults should be free to choose the style of life they find most satisfying Family life centered on marriage still preference of most Americans Individualism and Families How do we approach life today Individualism Utilitarian Individualism a person focused on career Expressive Individualism a person wants to find a emotion satisfaction in life o Good marriage friends etc o Why divorce rate is so high foundation of marriage is now emotional security instead of financial security What is Very Important to Americans The Public Family survey most likely to be people around age 40 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 What is important for the definition of public family is the act of taking care of dependents Public families produce valuable goods which are children Call people who don t have children free riders The Private Family Two or more individuals who maintain an intimate relationship that they expect will last indefinitely or in the case of a parent and child until the child reaches adulthood and who live in the same household and pool their income and household labor Basis for intimacy social support emotional support and love Public and private Families Methods for studying the Family Importance of Objectivity All studies start with a hypothesis Experiments Surveys Phone calls o Can only call people with landlines Leaving out low income young adult elderly in nursing homes o People hang up Elderly are the ones most likely to answer o Highest rate of abandonment o More likely to get a true response Internet Survey Mail Survey Interviews Types of Surveys o Longitudinal o Primary Analysis o Secondary Analysis Observational Study Field Research Theoretical Perspectives Functionalist perspective is organized Talcott parson s Robert Bales Attempts to determine the functions or uses of the main ways in which a society One adult member specializes in instrumental leadership husband and one group member to specialize in expressive leadership wife o Breadwinner homemaker families Conflict perspective Focuses on inequality power and social change Conflict theorists focus on how individuals or groups come to dominate others as well as the circumstances under which those who are dominated are able to reduce or eliminate the Randall Collins men are able to dominate women in terms of physical force and disadvantages they face control of economic resources Breadwinner homemaker family is an ideal setting for men to express control Exchange Perspective People are viewed as rational beings who decide whether to exchange goods or services by considering the benefits they will receive the costs they will incur and the benefits they might receive if they chose an alternate course of action Women often choose rationally to exchange the performance of household and childcare services in return for receiving the benefits of a man s income Symbolic Interactionist Perspective Focuses on people s interpretations of symbolic behavior George Herbert Mead human beings interpret other human beings symbols whose meanings we have come to understand Symbols gestures words appearances o The symbols we interpret from others modify our own behaviors Feminist Perspective This perspective was developed to better understand and to transform inequalities between women and men Central aspect of this theory is gender o Social and cultural characteristics that distinguish women and men in a society Gender roles create socially constructed gender differences These gender differences arise form culturally accepted norms of power and authority in men Living in a family is different experience for women that it is for men Modernity Perspective The modern era the long period that began with the spread of industrialization to the mid to late nineteenth century effectively ended in the last half of the twentieth century and has been replaced by a late modern era the period between the last few decades of the twentieth century and the present day Individuals today have more choices personal identity has become more People do the work of developing their identities through reflexivity the process through which individuals take in knowledge reflect on it and later their behavior as a result Evolutionary Psychology Perspective Differences in the roles of men and women have social cultural and biological important origins o Sexual orientation can have a biological component View that human behavior can be explained in terms of evolutionary pressure to behave in ways that maximize chances of reproduction Explains how why men and women pursue relationships differently o Hunter gather relationships Families are Social Instutions A social institution has a set of roles and rules that define a social unit of importance to society how to act in these roles o The rules of the role of parent spouse child etc offer us guidance about An institution can grow stronger or weaker over time it can take on somewhat different forms at different times and places and at times can be difficult to define o Is our understanding of family more public or private Chapter2 the history of the family 08 27 2009 About 10 000 years ago humans discovered the advantages of remaining in one place The Beginnings The first families were hunter gatherers and planting crops Patrilineages and