Chapter 1 Are Becca and Karen a family Other types of family are INCREASING while traditional families are DECREASING US Census Bureau describes are two or more people living together who are related by birth marriage or adoption Heterosexual or homosexual unmarried partners are excluded from this Other definition family is a relationship by blood marriage or affection in which members may cooperate economically may care for children and may consider their identities to be intimately connected to the larger group Family of Orientation family that you are born into Family of Procreation family that you make through marriage partnering and or parenthood Fictive Kin nonrelatives whose bonds are strong and intimate Unmarried homo or heterosexual couples or very close friends Financial Marriage institutional arrangement between persons to publically recognize social and intimate bonds William Stephens 1 Socially legitimate sexual union 2 Begun with a public announcement 3 Undertaken with some idea or permanence 4 Assumed with more or less explicit marriage contract that spells out reciprocal obligations between spouses and between spouses and their children All marriages in all cultures include functions as 1 Regulation of Sexual Behavior incest taboo in Western 2 Reproducing and Socializing children socialization people learn the rules expectations and culture of the society Productive children in society 3 Property and Inheritance agriculture usually stays in the family 4 Economic Cooperation male and female tasks vary support you until you can support yourself 5 Social Placement Status and Roles Statuses and Roles born into certain families gives you certain rights and privlages social interaction and social roles 6 Care Warmth Protection and Intimacy food shelter and clothing Household size is INCREASING b c of the economy now Social Structure stable framework of social relationships that guides our interactions with others Elements of social structure shape our daily experiences privileges and constraints Micro Level individual Relationship dynamics personal choices or constraints Our relationships are fairly predictable b c they operate within the larger social structure Family Religious Classroom Peers Macro Level interconnectedness of marriage families and intimate relationships with the rest of society Political Economics Society Culture Nationally Social Institution major sphere of social life with a set of beliefs and rules that is organized to meet basic human needs Families are a social institution In early civilizations families were center of most activities Status the social position that a person occupies Daughter son student employee friend roommate parent Master status the major defining status or statuses that a person occupies Dominate others Sex race ethnicity social class High divorce rate in the United States people do still want to marry 92 of Americans believe that it is morally wrong for married men or women to have an affair Afghanistan the Taliban did not allow girls to go to school or women to work outside the home 2 3 of whites were very satisfied while 41 blacks and 53 Hispanics Micro personal choices behaviors feelings communication decisions constraints values Macro culture history power and inequality social institutions including the economy political system or dominant religion social status including sex race ethnicity and social class social movements or social change Terry Lynn Many people are concerned with the number of single parent households run by females Single parent households have been blamed on wide variety of social ills They are FAR more LIKELY to be poor than other families High unemployment rate of inner city urban dwellers contributes to their Poor women value marriage quite highly gold standard or too highly low marriage rate Many poor women see marriage to inner city men risky b c the men cannot support families on their meager wages Shortage of employed men whom those women see as good marriage prospects Changing economy Significant effect on individual relationship choices Homicide violence drugs incarceration in YOUNG BLACK MEN Choices economic conditions crime rates immigration policies technological advances changes in women s opportunities new conceptions of fatherhood a wide variety of social and political movements Human Agency ability of human beings to create viable lives even when they are constrained or limited by social forces Monogamy marriage consists of only two people Polygamy either wife or husband to have more than one spouse at a time Polygyny husband can have more than one wife Illegal in US but if in US than 4 wives and 27 children Africa Middle East SAmerica shows wealth educations and other dimensions of high status Polyandry one wife is married to multiple husbands Where poverty is high Tibetans in Nepal or rural China or India Often Brothers Share resources Family Infanticide birth of infant girl may seem as burdensome Patriarchy men have the natural right Matriarchy women have the natural right theoretical alternative Egalitarian both men and women have the power and authority US headed in this direction Bilateral descent traced back through male and female sides Patrillineal lineage traced back through man Matrillineal lineage traced back through women Neolocal expectation that newly married couple establishes a residence and lives there independently Patrilocal newly married couple lives with husband s family Matrilocal newly married couple lives with wives family China Arranged Marriages were very popular and free marriage is still not legal today One Child Policy girls virtually disappeared or encouraged to abort Adoptions of female China kids is DOWN from 2005 Life in Colonial America Families were the cornerstone or center of colonial society 1 Businesses 2 Schools 3 Churches 4 Correctional Institutions Jails 5 Health and social welfare institutions AA and slavery 1800 stopped slave family more children and families were Team women were the husbands helpmate NOT his equal split up now single families b c that s how it was in slavery times used to running alone Parents were VERY STRICT with children b c original sin with no concept of adolescence Industrialization farms to factories Work away from home Urbanization rural to urban Immigration a lot of Europe and Asia Nuclear Families adults and their children Most lived in nuclear families married LATE with A LOT of kids Husband and wives
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