Transcript family

Families and Intimate
Relationships
Chapter 9
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The big issues
• What do sociologists mean by family?
• What have families looked like across time and
space?
• What are current trend in families in the
United States and around the world?
• What are alternatives to traditional families?
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What is “the family”?
• The family is a critical social institution that
functions as part of society.
• The family is also a distinct social group with
its own roles, patterns, and behaviors.
• Family is a cultural universal, though its
structure varies across time and space.
• A family is two or more people who consider
themselves related by blood, marriage, or
adoption
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Family concepts
• Kinship
• Marriage
• Nuclear versus extended family:
When we think about nuclear and extended families, we
are talking about with whom we actually live. A
nuclear family is made up an adult and or adult
couple, and their children. An extended family is one
that goes beyond those two generations or that
includes, aunts, uncles, cousins, and so on.
• Family of orientation versus procreation
•
Monogamy versus polygamy
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Family concepts
• Family of orientation versus procreation
Family of orientation is the nuclear family we are
born into, our parents and siblings. Family of
procreation is the family we create by marrying
and becoming partners.
• Monogamy versus polygamy
(polygamy: in which a man may be married to more
than one woman at the same time, and
polyandry: in which a woman may have two or
more husbands simultaneously).
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• Patrilineal
children taking the surname of the father.
• matrilineal
surnames, and often property, pass down the
female line.
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• matrilocal - the newly weds settle in an
area close to where the bride's parents
live
• Patrilocal - the couple lives near or with the
groom's parents
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Changes in families worldwide
• The spread of Western culture appears to be
affecting families around the globe.
– Example: increased attention to romantic love
• In some countries there have been systematic efforts
by governments to alter family size and structure.
• Rural-urban migration has led to a change in family
structure.
• Worldwide shift toward the nuclear family model
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Seven important global trends
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2.
3.
4.
Declining influence of clans and kin groups
Increasing freedom of mate selection
Expanding rights for women
Fewer kin marriages
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Seven important global trends
5. Increasing degree of sexual freedom
6. Declining birthrates
7. Increasing room for children’s rights
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Trends in U.S. families today
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Rising age at first marriage
Increasing numbers of people living alone
Sharp rise in cohabitation
Increasing numbers of single-parent and
stepparent families
• Ongoing high rate of divorce
• Sharp rise in dual-earner families
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Families in poverty
• Poor families, especially poor black families
(USA), adapt by creating extensive kin and
quasi-kin networks.
• For poor, young women there is typically high
value placed on having and raising children.
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After divorce
• Women and children often experience a
significant decline in economic status.
• Men often experience an improved financial
situation.
• The majority of divorced individuals will
remarry.
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Effects on children
• There is disagreement on this topic among
scholars of divorce and family.
• Some research—which is mostly
psychological in nature—suggests that a
period of initial trauma followed by
adjustment is the norm.
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Effects on children
• Other research suggests that there continue
to be deficits in some outcomes.
– Education
– Occupation
– Future marital success
• The cause of these differences appears to be
economic and social.
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Why so much divorce?
• Perhaps just as many people were in unhappy,
difficult, and maybe even violent marriages before
that time, but the barriers to divorce were too high.
As divorce became easier to obtain and more
common, it also lost a great deal of the social stigma
once attached to it.
• Declining stigma
• Less connection to extended family obligations or to
property between families
• Women’s economic independence
• Unrealistic expectations plus an easy escape hatch
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Risk factors for divorce
Which of these increase one’s risk of divorce? Which decrease risk?
1.
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14.
Married at a young age (under age 21)
Have divorced parents
Lived with your romantic partner prior to marrying
Have been divorced at least once
Had a child prior to marrying
Have a childless marriage
Knew your partner for a short time prior to marrying
Experience fi nancial hardship
Have less than a college degree
You and your partner are similar with respect to social class background, age, and religion
You or your partner is depressed
You or your partner frequently drinks alcoholic beverages
You fear disapproval from family and friends
You believe married people should stay together “for the sake of the kids”
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Risk factors for divorce
IF YOU CHECKED YES:
Married at a young age (under age 21)
Have divorced parents
Lived with your romantic partner prior to marrying
Have been divorced at least once
Had a child prior to marrying
Have a childless marriage
Knew your partner for a short time prior to marrying
Experience financial hardship
Have less than a college degree
You and your partner are similar with respect to
Social class background, age, and religion
You or your partner is depressed
You or your partner frequently drinks alcoholic
Beverages
You fear disapproval from family and friends
You believe married people should stay together “for
the sake of the kids”
Increase risk
Increase risk
Increase risk
Increase risk
Increase risk
Increase risk
Increase risk
Increase risk
Increase risk
Decrease risk
Increase risk
Increase risk
Decrease risk
Decrease risk
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Figure 11.5 Number of Single-Parent Families, in Millions
Essentials Of Sociology, 3rd Edition
Copyright © 2011 W.W. Norton & Company
Single-parent families
• Approximately half of children in the United States
spend of part of childhood in single-parent families.
• These families are nearly always headed by women.
• For most, though, single parenting is related to
divorce or factors related to poverty and deprivation.
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Figure 11.6 Increases in Cohabitation
Essentials Of Sociology, 3rd Edition
Copyright © 2011 W.W. Norton & Company
Cohabitation
• About 50 percent of you will cohabit prior to
marriage (USA).
• Cohabitation is now understood as a stage in the
relationship process preceding marriage.
• The main reason people give for cohabitation is
to ensure future compatibility.
• Interestingly, statistics show that those who
cohabit prior to marriage are more likely to
divorce.
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Gay-parent families
• Despite ongoing dissent, there is slow
movement toward acceptance of gay marriage
and gay parenting.
• This shift is taking place globally: the
Netherlands, Norway, Canada, Uruguay, the
United Kingdom, and others have already
legalized either civil unions or gay marriages.
• In the United States, only Florida prevents gay
couples from adopting children.
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