Study Guide Exam 3 Fall 2011 What is a family Nuclear family Extended family Family social institution found in all societies that unites people in cooperative groups to care for one another including any children Nuclear Family a family composed of one or two parents and their children also known as a conjugal family Extended Family a family composed of parents and children as well as other kin also known as consanguine family What are the functions of the family Structural Functional Analysis Socialization Parents help children develop into well integrated members of society Mothers and Fathers learn as much from their children as their children learn from them Regulation of Sexual Activity Reproduction between close relatives of nay species can result in mental physical damage to offspring Reproduction between close relatives would hopelessly confuse kinship ties and threaten the social order Social placement Parents pass on their own social identity in terms of race ethnicity and social class to their children at birth Material and Emotional Security Families offer physical protection emotional support and financial assistance Social Conflict and Feminist Analysis Property and Inheritance Families concentrate wealth and reproduce the class structure in each new generation Patriarchy Some believe families transform women into the sexual and economic property of the man Race and Ethnicity People marry others like themselves Endogamous marriage supports racial and ethnic inequality Endogamy marriage between people of the same social category Exogamy marriage between people of different social categories Symbolic Interaction Analysis The fact that parents act as authority figures often limits their closeness with younger children but as young people approach adulthood kinship ties open up to include sharing confidences with greater intimacy The influences of Patriarchy Feminists link the family to patriarchy A century ago in the U S most wives earnings belonged to their husbands Today women still bear most of the responsibility for childrearing and house work Second Shift Men may be taking over house and childrearing responsibilities women are slowly proving to become even more equal in the professional world Physical violence partner and child abuse emotional physical or sexual abuse of one family member by another Family Violence Partner to Partner Family brutality often goes unreported to police Estimates of 550 000 people are victims of domestic violence each year Women are 3 times as likely to be victims than men Women are more likely to be injured by a family member than to be mugged or raped by a stranger or hurt in an auto accident Many years ago a man could not be charged with raping his wife but now there are marital rape laws Victims of domestic violence are rarely able to trust others or form relationships Child Abuse Yearly 3 5 million reports of alleged child abuse or neglect Can involve more than physical injury can also damage a child s well being Almost all abusers were abused as children Characteristics of household division of labor especially among dual earner families Division of Labor specialized economic activity job specialization According to Durkheim Pre industrial societies were held together by mechanical solidarity shared moral sentiments members of society viewed everyone as mostly alike doing the same work and belonging together With modernization the division of labor becomes more and more pronounced Based more upon organic solidarity mutual dependency between people engaged in specialized work Put simply organic societies are not held together by likeness but by difference Household division of Labor even in married dual earner families traditional household rules generally take place Ex woman does the laundry man does the yard work Impact of Industrialization on family types and family size In Pre industrial societies extended families were most common With industrialization social mobility and geographic migration gave rise to the nuclear family Most of the world s societies at some point have permitted more than one marital partner but most of those marriages remained monogamous Monogamy marriage that unites two people Polygamy marriage that unites people with two or more spouses Polygyny marriage that unites one man and two or more women Polyandry marriage that unites one woman and two or more men Breadwinner Homemaker model In traditional family roles the father or the male in the household is considered the breadwinner because he obtains an income for the family What are the social forces that uphold a patriarchal family form Traditional family roles Man is the breadwinner and woman takes care of the house and kids Current divorce rates factors reasons noted for increase in divorce Modern remarriage patterns in the US Today almost 4 in 10 marriages end in divorce All people over the age of 15 that have been married 21 of men have been divorced and 23 of women have been divorced The U S divorce rate is the highest in the world About 1 times as high as Canada and Japan and 4 times higher than Italy and Ireland Causes Individualism is on the rise Today people are more concerned with themselves and their personal and professional happiness rather than their partner and family Romantic love fades Romantic love ends as sexual passion fades Women are less dependent on men The woman s financial dependency is much greater now due to their increasing participation in the labor force Marriages today are stressful People have less time for family life Children stabalize some marriages but most divorced couples get divorced in the first few years of their marriage when young children are presented Divorce has become socially acceptable Divorce no longer carries the powerful stigma it did just a few generations ago Family and friends are less likely to discourage divorce Legally a divorce is easier to get Today all states allow divorce if a couple simply states that the marriage has failed The easiness of divorce has made some states consider rewriting their marriage laws Remarriage Patterns in U S 3 out of 4 people who divorce get remarried most within 4 years Remarriage creates blended families composed of parents that are biological and step parents Although blended families require a great deal of new adjustment they also offer both young and old the chance to relax rigid family roles Why did divorce increase as women moved into the workforce Women
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