Chapter 1 Why Study Families and Other Close Relationships Colonial America Families were businesses central focus of economic production each household was nearly self sufficient schools formal schooling was rare parents educated the children churches worshipped and prayed together in their homes correctional jails were rare so they lived with more respected families in the community health and welfare institutions women took care of the sick because of no hospitals o African Americans and slavery First were indentured servants and then were considered Free and able to marry and buy own land Weren t always allowed to vote or be hired for jobs so many were poor unemployed and barely literate o Nuclear families family composed of adults and their children o Extended families family composed of parents children and other relatives such as grandparents Industrialized and Urbanized America Industrialization transformed the economy from a system based on small family farms to one of large urban industries Urbanization people moved from rural areas and farms to urban areas in search of jobs tore extended families apart Immigration people from Europe and Asia came to the US with the hopes of a better life provided the cheap labor that fueled this industrialization Separate work and home life waves of immigration o Poor working class middle upper class Housing was crowded substandard and often lacked appropriate sanitation facilities Alcoholism violence crime and other social problems stemming from demoralization plagued many families o Man goes to work woman maintains home Technology working from home or women outside home with equal status Companionate family a marriage based on mutual affection sexual attraction compatibility and personal happiness o Young adults freely dated without chaperones and placed greater emphasis on romantic love and attraction instead of relying on parents gparents o Average marriage used to be 19 for women and 20 for men Risk of divorce rises when spouses work between 12 8 am Modern America Examples of Types of Families 1950 s Leave It To Beaver White middle class Mother stays home father works Nuclear family non divorced family 1970 s The Brady Bunch Step family Challenging Rising divorce remarriage Change of norms Theme song shows it s a step family No child support or stress don t see the reality of step family 1980 s The Cosby Show Black family strong generationalites Both mother father were highly educated to draw in white black families emergence of female role model 1990 s Friends functions like a family challenges idea of relationships to family controversial depicted single opposite sex partners depicting young women spending time with men every day challenges parents face with kids pushing boundaries 2000 s The Osborne s first reality tv family lots of cursing privileged family not super scripted dedicated love each other 2012 s shows indicate diversity modern fam nuclear gay remarried 19 and counting life with 19 kids sister wives Mormon family 1 1 Types of Families 1945 Definition of a Family a group of persons united by the ties of blood or adoption constituting a single house hold interacting marriage and brother sister and creating and maintaining a common culture communication with each other in their respective social roles US Census Bureau definition of family two or more people living together related by birth marriage or adoption homo heterosexual who are r partners are excluded from this definition Family relationship by blood marriage or affection in which members may cooperate economically may care for children and may consider their identity to be intimately connected to the larger group Family of orientation the family that you are born into Family of procreation the family you make through marriage partnering and or parenthood Fictive kin Nonrelatives whose bonds are strong and intimate o Ex relationships shared among unmarried homosexual or heterosexual partners or very close friends o Provide important services and support for individuals including financial assistance or help through life transitions o Health insurance tax advantages 1 2 Functions of Families Marriage an institutional arrangement between persons to publicly recognize social and intimate bonds o Clear norms that that specify who is eligible to be married to whom and how many people an individual can marry what the marriage ceremony should be like and how married persons should behave William Stephens definition of marriage 1 it is a socially legitimate sexual union 2 begun with a public announcement 3 undertaken with some idea of permanence 4 assumed with a more or less explicit marriage contract that spells out reciprocal obligations between spouses and their children Regulation of Sexual Behavior o Who can have sex with whom and under what circumstance they can do so o Incest taboo forbids sexual activity and marriage among close family members including at least parents and their children and siblings Reduces the chance of inherited genetic abnormalities and forges broader alliances by requiring marriage outside of the inner family circle Reproducing and Socializing Children o Each society must produce new members and ensure Socialization the process by which people learn the rules expectations and culture of society o Societies generally prefer that reproduction occur within an established family rather than randomly among unrelated partners so that birth parents will be responsible for socializing children Property and Inheritance o Invention of agriculture made it possible for people to own property or to obtain a surplus beyond what they needed for survival making it important to identify heirs Monogamy ensured that men who know who their heirs were with out monogamy paternity was uncertain Economic Cooperation and Provision o Family is a group of responsible people for providing its members with food shelter clothing and other basic necessities Family members work with each other to provide these things and there is often gendered division of labor although what constitutes male tasks and female tasks varies from one society to the next Social Placement Status and Roles o Families give members a social identity and positions members find their place in the complex web of Statuses positions that people occupy in a group or in a society Roles the behaviors associated with these positions Ex families give us our initial social class position provide us
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