McGraw-Hill

12 THE FAMILY AND INTIMATE RELATIONSHIPS • Global View of the Family • Studying the Family • Marriage and Family • Divorce • Diverse Lifestyles • Social Policy and the Family: Gay Marriage

Global View of the Family • Nuclear Family: nucleus or core upon which larger family groups are built • Extended Family: family in which relatives such as grandparents, aunts, or uncles live in same home as parents and their children • Composition: What Is the Family?

Global View of the Family • Serial Monogamy: when aperson has several spouses in his or her lifetime, but only one spouse at a time • Composition: What Is the Family? • Monogamy: form of marriage in which one woman and one man are married only to each other

Global View of the Family • Polygyny: marriage of a man to more than one woman at a time • Polyandry: marriage of a woman to more than one husband at the same time. • Composition: What Is the Family? • Polygamy: when an individual has several husbands or wives simultaneously

Global View of the Family • Kinship: state of being related to others • Bilateral Descent: both sides of a person’s family are regarded as equally important • Patrilineal descent: only the father’s relatives are important • Matrilineal descent: only the mother’s relatives are significant • Kinship Patterns: To Whom Are We Related?

Global View of the Family • Patriarchy: males are expected to dominate in all family decision making • Matriarchy: women have greater authority than men • Egalitarian family: family in which spouses are regarded as equals • Authority Patterns: Who Rules?

Global View of the Family • Figure 12.1: Households by Family Type, 1940–2003 Continued…

Global View of the Family • Figure 12.1: Households by Family Type, 1940–2003

Studying the Family • Reproduction • Protection • Socialization • Regulation of sexual behavior • Affection • Providing of social status • Functionalist View • Family serves six functions for society:

Studying the Family • Family reflects inequality in wealth and power found within society • Throughout human history, husbands have exercised power and authority within the family • View the family as an economic unit contributing to social injustice • Conflict View

Studying the Family • Focuses on the micro level of family and other intimate relationships • Interested in how individuals interact with each other, whether they are cohabiting partners or long-term married couples • Interactionist View

Studying the Family • Urged social scientists and social agencies to rethink notion that families in which no adult male is present are automatically a cause for concern • Feminists stress the need to investigate neglected topics in family studies • Feminist View

Studying the Family

Marriage and Family • Courtship and Mate Selection • Aspects of Mate Selection Incest taboo:social norm common to virtually all societies, prohibits sexual relationships between certain culturally specified relatives Exogamy:Requires mate selection outside certain groups, usually one’s own family or certain kinfolk Endogamy:Specifies groups within which a spouse must be found and prohibits marriage with members of other groups

Marriage and Family • Coupling of love and marriage is not cultural universal • Many of world’s cultures give priority in mate selection to other factors, such as in an arranged marriage • Courtship and Mate Selection • The Love Relationship

Marriage and Family • Figure 12.2: Percentage of People Aged 20 to 24 Ever Married, Selected Countries Source: United Nations Population Division 2001.

Marriage and Family • In upper class, emphasis is on lineage and maintenance of family position • Lower class families likely to have only one parent at home, and children typically assume adult responsibilities • Variations in Family Life and Intimate Relationships • Social Class Differences In poor families, women often significant source of economic support

Marriage and Family • Racial and Ethnic Differences • Subordinate status of racial and ethnic groups profoundly affects family life • Variations in Family Life and Intimate Relationships

Marriage and Family • Family patterns differ among racial and ethnic groups • Variations in Family Life and Intimate Relationships • Racial and Ethnic Differences

Marriage and Family • Figure 12.3: Rise of One-Parent Families among Whites, African Americans, Hispanic, and Asians or Pacific Islanders in the United States Continued…

Marriage and Family • Figure 12.3: Rise of One-Parent Families among Whites, African Americans, Hispanic, and Asians or Pacific Islanders in the United States

Marriage and Family • Parenthood one of most important social roles in U.S. • One recent development in family life in U.S. has been the extension of parenthood, as adult children continue to (or return to) live at home after college. • Child-Rearing Patterns in Family Life

Marriage and Family • “Allows for the transfer of the legal rights, responsibilities, and privileges of parenthood” to a new legal parent or parents (E. Cole 1985) • In many cases, these rights are transferred from a biological parent or parents to an adoptive parent or parents • Child-Rearing Patterns in Family Life • Adoption

Marriage and Family • Among married people between the ages of 25 and 34, 92% of men and 75% of women are in labor force • Child-Rearing Patterns in Family Life • Dual-Income Families

Marriage and Family • Family in which there is only one parent present to care for the children • In 2000, a single parent headed about: • 21% of White families with children under 18 • 35% of Hispanic families with children • 55% of African American families with children • Child-Rearing Patterns in Family Life • Single-Parent Families About 82% of single parents in U.S. are mothers

Marriage and Family • The rising rate of divorce and remarriage has led to significant increase in stepfamily relationships • Children raised in families with stepmothers likely to have less health care, education, and money spent on food than children raised by biological mothers • Child-Rearing Patterns in Family Life • Stepfamilies

Divorce • Perhaps most important factor in increase in divorce over last hundred years has been the greater social acceptance of divorce • Other factors include: • Factors Associated with Divorce Greater family income More opportunities for women More liberal divorce laws Families have fewer children

Divorce • Divorce rates in U.S. and many other countries began to increase in the late 1960s but then started to level off and even decline since the late 1980s • About 63% of all divorcees in the U.S. have remarried • Statistical Trends in Divorce

Divorce • Figure 12.4: Trends in Marriage and Divorce in the United States, 1920-2003

Divorce • It would be simplistic to assume that children are automatically better off following the breakup of their parents • Recent research suggests that impact of divorce can extend beyond childhood, affecting a grown person’s ability to establish a lasting marital relationship • Impact of Divorce on Children

Diverse Lifestyles • Male-female couples who choose to live together without marrying • Working couples are almost twice as likely to cohabitate as college students • Recent research documented significant increases in cohabitation among older people in U.S. • Cohabitation

Diverse Lifestyles • More people are postponing entry into first marriages • The trend toward maintaining a single lifestyle for longer period of time is related to growing economic independence of young people, especially women • Remaining single represents a clear departure from societal expectations • Remaining Single

Diverse Lifestyles • There has been a modest increase in childlessness in the U.S. • Regard themselves to be child-free, not childless. • Childless couples beginning to question current practices in workplace • Marriage Without Children

Diverse Lifestyles • Lifestyles of lesbians and gay men are varied • Because of inequities, many gay and lesbian couples demanding the right to marry • Lesbian and Gay Relationships

Social Policy and The Family • Idea of same-sex marriage strikes some people as the latest of many attacks on traditional marriage • To others, it seems an overdue acknowledgment of the formal relationships that faithful, monogamous gay couples have long maintained • Gay Marriage • The Issue

Social Policy and The Family • In 1999, Vermont gave gay couples the legal benefits of marriage through civil union, but stopped short of calling the arrangement a marriage • In 2003, the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled that under the state’s constitution, gay couples have right to marry • Gay Marriage • The Setting

Social Policy and The Family • Functionalists have traditionally seen marriage as a social institution closely related to human reproduction • Conflict theorists charged that denial of right to marry reinforces the second-class status of gays and lesbians • Gay Marriage • Sociological Insights

Social Policy and The Family • Interactionists focus on nature of same-sex households • Recent national surveys of attitudes toward gay marriage have been showing volatile shifts in public opinion • Gay Marriage • Sociological Insights

Social Policy and The Family • Recognition of same-sex partnerships is not uncommon in Europe • However, many nations have strongly opposed to such measures • In U.S. many local jurisdictions passed legislation allowing for registration of domestic relationships • Gay Marriage • Policy Initiatives

McGraw-Hill

McGraw-Hill

Presentation Transcript

McGraw-Hill

McGraw-Hill

McGraw-Hill

McGraw-Hill

McGraw-Hill

McGraw-Hill

McGraw-Hill

McGraw-Hill

McGraw-Hill

McGraw-Hill

McGraw-Hill

McGraw-Hill

McGraw-Hill

McGraw-Hill

McGraw-Hill

McGraw-Hill

McGraw-Hill

McGraw-Hill

McGraw-Hill

McGraw-Hill

McGraw-Hill

McGraw-Hill