FAD 4265 EXAM 1 STUDY GUIDE 10 1 15 Chapter 1 Images ideals and myths It is difficult to be objective when studying families own family experiences and by the very familiarity of life o Our perceptions are guided by cultural visions of family by our o Too close to our families to see them dispassionately o Obscured by familiarity and mystification Mystification deliberate misdefinition of family matters or complicated stratagems to keep everyone in the dark o Secrecy secrets interpersonal relationship unsettling destructive implications when revealed Can occur in any family remain hidden for decades o Sacredness Set apart on a high moral ground Most private of institutions family life with private sphere Right to family privacy symbolizes decency Erik Goffman o Backstage area People are free to act in ways they wound not in public Deceptive quality of family relations o frontstage performances Behavior to maintain a proper appearance in front of Intimacy of family life is hidden behind stage others 3 main images of family Haven fulfillment encumbrance o We have a backstage view of our own families but we can judge others only in terms of their frontstage presentation o inside interpretations of other families outsides o Haven Haven in a heartless world Christopher Lasch Emerged as the country was becoming industrialized and breadwinners moved into factory jobs refuge or escape to a loving trusting and protecting space and love of a family after work o Fulfillment As we focused more on the individuals the family became a place for individuals to gain meaningful experiences of self discovery independent choice self actualization 1 FAD 4265 EXAM 1 STUDY GUIDE 10 1 15 intense relationship between partners and parents children o Encumbrance Other images of family The one image that doesn t portray family in a positive sense family or kids are seen as detrimental to fulfillment and fulfillment is gained in other areas such as career o More specific images that represent cultural trends in family living Sometimes becoming commonly used and or debated images Super mom Soccer mom Hurried child Tiger mom overprotective structured Deadbeat dad Helicopter parent safety educational health concerns parent speaks for child Ideals vs Realities reality o Ideals live by what would like to be o Reality live with what we actually do o Guilt is a common reaction to the discord between images and Why isn t my family like the one on television o Idealized fantasy overlooks the tensions and ambivalence that o Difference lies in the effects of family on the induvial are unavoidable in everyday life Haven fulfillment beneficial Encumbrance adverse All 3 images separate the family from society sense of inside out in which the family is not experienced in its own right but in relation to other circumstances and other pleasures o Relations inside the family are idealized as nurturing Social and economic conditions in the larger society make Women difficulties of balancing work and family are widely it difficult to attain the idealized family experience recognized superwomen new cultural ideal o SNAF standard north American family Distorts family reality glorifies the 2 parent family model 2 parents and kids is a class race specific ideal Ignores the reality of family life in many sectors of the population 2 FAD 4265 EXAM 1 STUDY GUIDE 10 1 15 Social and economic forces make the ideal inaccessible to all 6 myths of family o Myth of a stable and harmonious family of the past 2 reasons why belief is flawed romanticize the past over past few decades We tend to be selective about wat we remember Extraordinary changes in family life have occurred Idea that family is in trouble is as old as the nation NE settlers feared that kid were losing respect for authority and that this endangered the family Glorified family is historical fiction that never happened o Divorce rates lower but this doesn t mean that o Myth of separate worlds love was stronger empty marriages To avoid nostalgia for a mythic past and examine the real problems being faced by todays families Family is an escape from the outside world Myth assumes families are self sufficient units somewhat free from the outside social pressures Truth Not self sufficient and are judged inadequately Developed during industrialization new economic demands families changed as communities eased up on family life Ignores many ways in which family is linked to the outside world Families shape themselves in response to the demands of jobs careers schools and other social institutions Family Darwinism Blames families for structural failure Ignores effect of economic conditions Ignores the social inequalities that distribute resources differently o Myth of monolithic family form Mythical model of the typical U S family has Family is a nuclear unit Consists of a mother father and their children Exhibits gendered division of labor 3 FAD 4265 EXAM 1 STUDY GUIDE 10 1 15 Truth This model represents a small proportion of U S a set of social relationships kinship group Family Household Transitional families households residence or living arrangement carries out domestic functions members are spread out across national boundaries with a pattern of moving back in forth between countries Changes responsible for rise of family types o Global forces causing families and their members to cross geographic social and cultural borders in search of employment labor force o Women s unprecedented participation in the o New patterns in marriage and divorce o Decline in the number of kids women have o feminization of poverty Increasing number of mother only households and low SES that follows o Rise in nonfamily households More likely of young adults to move away from home early age Postponement on marriage High rate of divorce Demographic shifts of racial and ethnic Increase in elderly living alone balance THE FIRST THING TO REMEMBER ABOUT THE AMERICAN FAMILY IS THAT IT DOESN T EXSIST FAMILIES EXSIST o Myth of unified family experience glued together family Assume family member experience the family in the same way single unit with single set of concepts Truth 2 key components of all families o Gendered system o Age system o These produce different and conflicting interests among family members Jessie Bernard 4 FAD 4265 EXAM 1 STUDY GUIDE 10 1 15 Gendered institution o Every marriage is made up of 2 marriages his gender difference in decision and hers don t always coincide making house hold