Transcript Families

Andrew Cherlin, author
6th Edition
McGraw-Hill Publishers
Prepared by Cathie Robertson, Grossmont College
© 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved
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Public and Private Families
2

On one hand, marriage-centered family life
remains the preference

On the other, there is much more toleration for
family life without the boundaries of marriage.

The idea to never marry is acceptable
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◦ Individualism:
 Pursuing own interest
 Priority on developing personally rewarding life
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◦ Utilitarian Individualism: Emphasis on:
 Self-reliance
 Personal achievement
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◦ Expressive Individualism: Emphasis on:
 Developing one’s feelings
 Emotional satisfaction
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
Most Americans want to marry

Feel less of a need (pressure)

Marriage may compete with:
◦ Staying in school
◦ Developing a career
◦ Cohabitating
◦ Having children outside of marriage
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How does the following chart indicate individualistic values?
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
Social Conservative definition—one “correct”
family
◦ Two parent
◦ Breadwinner-homemaker family

Economic definition—rules about who qualifies
to be family member
◦ Two or more persons residing together and related
by:
 Blood
 Marriage
 Or adoption
◦ Only those that “qualify” are eligible for benefits
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
Cultural definition—varies from culture to
culture
◦ Western Nations
◦ Monogamy—one husband and one wife
◦ Serial monogamy—one husband and one wife at a time
◦ African, Arabic and Asian nations
◦ Polygamy—more than one spouse at a time
 Polygyny—Men have more than one wife
 Polyandry—Women have more than one husband
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
Two key questions about public responsibilities
and private pleasures of a family
1. How well are families taking care of
children, the frail elderly, and the ill? (public
family)
2. How well are families providing emotional
satisfaction? (private family)
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
Cost and Benefits
Externalities:


Costs or benefits that accrue to others
When an individual or business produces
something
13

Negative externalities: Costs imposed
when an individual or business
produces something of value to itself
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 Positive externalities: Benefits received by
others when an individual or business
produces something that is not fully
compensated for to that business or individual
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


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDeh7kz
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Family ties
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iliLnQmaE
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•The externalities issue based on distinction
between private goods and services
•Use benefits only the consumer
•And public or collective goods
•Consumption affects the welfare of third or
"external" parties
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
Public Goods
◦ Things that might be enjoyed by or benefit people who
did not pay for or produce them:
◦ Children
◦ Social Security
◦ Highways
◦ National Defense
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◦ Functions for society:
◦ Families “produce” children
◦ Families care for young, poor, and
elderly
◦ Performing these tasks saves public
funds
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 The
free-rider problem
 Tendency for people to obtain
public goods
 By letting others produce the
goods that they enjoy
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
Definition of the “Public Family”:

One adult or two adults

Related by marriage, partnership, or
shared parenthood

Taking care of dependents

And the dependents themselves
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Provides:
 Intimacy
 Emotional support
 Love
 Financial support




Children first form attachments
Teenagers move toward independence
Adults share inner selves with someone else
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Definition:“Private


Family”:
Two or more individuals
Maintain an intimate relationship that
they expect will last

Live in the same household

Pool their income and household labor
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 Kinship
ties in Private Family
◦ Created kinship—have been
constructed
◦ Assigned kinship—have been
acquired
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

Objectivity—allows conclusions that
are unaffected by own beliefs
Scientific method – “systematic,
organized series of steps that
ensures maximum objectivity and
consistency in researching a
problem”
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 Hypothesis—a
speculative
statement about the relationship
between two or more variables
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 Rarely
possible for sociologists to
conduct randomized experiments
on families
 Research
generally done by one of
two methods:
1. Survey
2. Observation
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◦ Survey: Individuals are selected,
usually at random, and asked a set
of questions
◦ Observational study: Researcher
spends time directly observing
participants
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 National
Surveys
◦ Larger
◦ Use in-person interviews
◦ Longitudinal
◦ Intended to be public resources
◦ Conducted by academic researchers
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

Research Methods and Questions are
influenced by sociological theory
Four perspectives or theories
1. Exchange Perspective
2. Symbolic Interaction Perspective
3. Feminist Perspective
4. Postmodern Perspective
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•
•
•
Based on economic model
Calculation of Rewards and
Costs of relationships
Costs and benefits of family
members’ behaviors
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◦ Women exchange household &
childcare services for men’s income
◦ Men perform paid labor in exchange
for household & childcare services
performed by women
◦ When women earn own money, their
dependence decreases and husbands’
power over them decreases
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


Interpretation of symbols
Shared understandings of how people
should act (social roles)
Useful in analyzing family relations-interaction
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
Gender defines social roles

Domination of women by men

Focus on power & inequality

Men & women experience family life
differently
34

Personal life has changed over the last several
decades
 Modern era—Mid 19th century to mid-to-late 20th
century
 Late modern era began mid-to-late 20th century (aka
Postmodern era)
 In the modern era, individuals moved through a series
of roles (student, spouse, parent, housewife,
breadwinner) that seemed “natural”
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◦ In Postmodern era, individuals must make
choices about nearly all aspects of their lives
 Whether or not to get married, have
children; not necessarily both
 Self-identity: Person’s sense of who he/she
is & where she/he fits in social structure.
 Reflectivity: Process through which
individuals take in knowledge, reflect on it,
and alter their behavior as a result
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 Functionalist
 Conflict
Perspective
Perspective
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



Dominant in 1950s
Focus on men and women’s different but
complementary roles
Stability and cooperation
The family as a social institution contributing
to the stability of society
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
Conflict theory
◦ Focus on inequality, power, and social
change
◦ Male dominance:
◦ Physical force
◦ Control of economic resources
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
Treats family as a social institution

Recognizes major functions
◦ Rearing children,
◦ Caring for elderly
◦ Providing comfort and emotional support to its
members

Look at how individual actions change family
as an institution
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