Family Problems Exam 2 Study Guide Chapters 5 6 7 8 and 9 plus assigned articles Hypodecent rule a determinant of racial identity of people with mixed race backgrounds whereby an individual is always assigned the status of the subordinate group What are the problems with the umbrella groups ethnic and racial terms used to categorize people Because within each umbrella group ethnicity and racial identity there is such a large mix of different physical traits and even mixed races that they can t be generalized ex some people who consider themselves white for example may have darker skin and kinkier hair than some people who consider themselves black Pg 109 Characteristics of the rising African American middle class wealth and wage gaps and poverty economic restructuring 1 3 African American s are middle class Btw 1980 2004 income for blacks increased from 23 372 30 134 income has dropped a little in the past few years as it has for other ethnoracial groups Throughout those same years poverty rate among blacks dropped from 29 22 1 Reasons for the Decline in marriage among African Americans black women have less financial incentive to marry than other U S women because of their education 45 of black women aren t marrying because black men have a decrease in education and economics and an increase in incarceration Benefits of immigrant enclaves Cheap labor Melting pot assimilation Melting pot A metaphor popular in the late 19th early 20th centuries that depicted U S society as a place where different ethnicities and nationalities would blend together to form a new cultural pattern Assimilation the process by which members of minority groups change their own ways to conform to those of the dominant culture What is social class based on Income occupation and education a person s income education and occupation correlates to status and social class Social class ordering people by prestige honor privilege access to resources and worth of all resources Status group v class position status group group of people that share a common lifestyle and identify together class position a person s position is their relationship to means of production Four major groups basic differences between them Also know the Working poor and underclass massed wealth privilege prestige elite presidents of banks wives mostly don t 1 Upper work very little research on upper class secure and comfortable income live well professional in middle corporations have income meet minimum needs manual jobs layoffs no benefits live in apartments tenuous hold on economy periods of unemployment receive government 2 Middle benefits 3 Working 4 Lower assistance live paycheck to paycheck a Under substance abuse deal with persistent poverty every day unmarried parents early sexuality Wealth gap and income distribution patterns End of the Middle Class article Know the wealth distribution examples Annual income and wealth holdings The richest 1 of US households own 36 of all wealth The richest 10 of US households own 85 of all wealth The poorest 20 have an average annual income of under 25 000 Top 13 000 make what bottom 20 million make annually 2005 2009 net worth gap drop she said this would be on exam b c ppl were leaving class early o Whites 16 o Hispanics 66 o Blacks 53 The Great Compression what was it when did it happen and how long did it last per Krugman The Great Compression when income wage gaps began to narrow and maintain fairly equal This happened around world war II 1945 and lasted until the 1970 s when the first post war generation began widening the wage gaps once again Characteristics of people living in poverty race family type etc Underclass and persistent poverty African american are more likely to be poor The poor are more likely to live in high crime neighborhoods and live without heating air condition sewer and phones Wage gap non standard contingency employment Non standard contingency employment contingency workers without job security and benefits Which families are mostly likely to live in poverty lecture slides are helpful African American Women 50 Hispanic single women householder are poor To which class do Americans generally believe they belong Why Middle class because it s a modest self label for the upper class and a covering label for the lower class Most inclusive social category Kinsey report and the revelation that many people have same sex thoughts or actions the continuum An individual s sexual orientation may have both heterosexual and homosexual elements Rather sexuality is a continuum running from exclusively heterosexual behavior to exclusively homosexual behavior Only 4 reported exclusive homosexual behavior Emergence and consequences of Sexual identities Consequences 1953 Eisenhower signed an executive order banning homosexual men and women from federal employment Spiritual love vs romantic passionate love erotic love and marriage spiritual love learn to love through religious ways ex arranged marriages romantic passionate love the intense sexually thrilling feelings of attraction that mark the beginning of a relationship separation of erotic love and marriage lasted until the 20th century erotic love WAS done with a mistress not the woman you were married to Factors contributing to change from sex as reproduction to sex as pleasure recreational sex sex as pleasure relational sex sex as reproduction o both women and men indicate a preference for relational sex but if it is not available to have regular sex with the same partner men are more likely to engage in recreational sex What led to change in marital relationships introducing quality time couples needing a unique pattern of interaction a set of habits rules and shared reality started the idea of private culture Private culture their own particular way of dealing with the demands of everyday life such as how important decisions will be made what are appropriate expressions of sexuality and how household labor will be allocated o This includes weekly dinners Sunday morning breakfast in bed rituals Private culture gives marriages and individuals in relationships a sense of order and connection What impact has increased couple time had on marriages In other words x economic demographic or cultural changes that contribute to the change in focus of marital couples from subsistence to the quality of their emotional lives Recent trends in US Marriage like age at first marriage and cohabitation change 28 yrs for men 26 yrs for women