THE FAMILY AND INTIMATE RELATIONSHIPS

2. 12 THE FAMILY AND INTIMATE RELATIONSHIPS

3. Chapter Outline • Global View of the Family • Studying the Family • Marriage and Family • Divorce • Diverse Lifestyles • Social Policy and the Family: Reproductive Technology

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

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

6. Global View of the Family • Composition: What Is the Family? • Polygamy • --Polygamy is a form of marriage allowing an individual to have several husbands or wives simultaneously. • Polygyny • --Polygyny, a type of polygamy, is the marriage of a man to more than one woman at a time. • Polyandry • --Polyandry, a type of polygamy, is the marriage of a woman to more than one husband at the same time.

7. Global View of the Family • Kinship Patterns: To Whom Are We Related • Kinship • --Kinship is the state of being related to others. • Bilateral Descent • --Both sides of a person’s family are regarded as equally important.

8. Global View of the Family • Kinship Patterns: To Whom Are We Related • Patrilineal descent • --In patrilineal descent, only the father’s relatives are important. • Matrilineal descent • --In matrilineal descent, only the mother’s relatives are significant.

9. Global View of the Family • Authority Patterns: Who Rules? • Patriarchy • --When males are expected to dominate in all family decision making, that society is a patriarchy. • Matriarchy • --When women have greater authority than men, that society is a matriarchy. • Egalitarian family • --A family in which spouses are regarded as equals.

10. Global View of the Family Figure 12.1: Types of Family Households in the United States, 1980, 1997, and 2010

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

12. Studying the Family • Conflict View • The conflict view believes that family reflects the inequality in wealth and power found within society. • The conflict view recognizes that historically, husbands exercised power and authority within the family. • The conflict view sees the family as an economic unit contributing to social injustice.

13. Studying the Family • Interactionist View • The interactionist view focuses on the microlevel of family and other intimate relationships. • The interactionist view is interested in how individuals interact with others, whether they are cohabiting partners or long-term married couples.

14. Studying the Family • Feminist View • Feminist theorists have urged social scientists and social agencies to rethink the notion that families in which no adult male is present are automatically a cause for concern. • Feminists stress the need to broaden family research to include not only gender, race, and social class, but human sexuality and the aging process.

15. Marriage and Family • Courtship and Mate Selection • Aspects of Mate Selection --Endogamy: Endogamy specifies the groups within which a spouse must be found and prohibits marriage with members of other groups. --Exogamy: Exogamy requires mate selection outside certain groups, usually one’s own family or certain kin.

16. Marriage and Family Figure 12.2: Percentage of People Aged 20 to 24 Ever Married, Selected Countries

17. 5 or more people 4 people 3 people 2 people 1 person 1970 1980 1990 2000 Marriage and Family Households by Size: 1970 to 2000 Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census. 2001. The Population Profile of the United States: 2000. Figure 5-2. (Internet Release) accessed at http://www.census.gov/population/www/pop-profile/profile2000.html#cont.

18. Marriage and Family • Variations in Family Life and Intimate Relationships • Racial and Ethnic Differences --The subordinate status of racial and ethnic groups profoundly affects their family life. • --Family patterns differ among racial and ethnic groups. • --Family ties can serve as an economic boost within racial and ethnic groups.

19. Marriage and Family • Child-Rearing Patterns in Family Life • Parenthood and Grandparenthood • --One of the most important roles of parents is socialization of children. • --Recently, the United States has witnessed the extension of parenthood, as adult children continue to (or return to) live at home. This phenomenon is referred to as the “boomeranggeneration” or “full-nest syndrome.”

20. Marriage and Family • Child-Rearing Patterns in Family Life • Adoption • --Adoption is a process that “allows for the transfer of the legal rights, responsibilities, and privileges of parenthood” to a new legal parent or parents. • --The largest single category of adoption in the United States is adoption by relatives. In most cases, a stepparent adopts the children of a spouse.

21. Marriage and Family • Child-Rearing Patterns in Family Life • Dual-Income Families • --Among married people between the ages of 25 and 34, 96 percent of the men and 72 percent of the women are in the labor force.

22. Marriage and Family • Child-Rearing Patterns in Family Life • Single-Parent Families • --A single-parent family is one in which there is only one parent present to care for the children. • In 1998, a single parent headed about: 19% of White families with children under 18 34% of Hispanic families with children 54% of African American families with children

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

24. Live births per 1,000 females Percent of all births 180 40 Births to unmarriedfemales (right scale) Birth rate for marriedfemales 15-44(left scale) 160 35 140 30 120 25 100 20 80 Birth rate for unmarriedfemales 15-44(left scale) 15 60 40 10 20 5 0 0 1940 1945 1950 1955 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 Marriage and Family Birth Rates for Married and Unmarried Females Source: Office of the President. 2000. Economic Report of the President: Transmitted to the Congress, February 2000. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, Chart 5-3 on p. 171.

25. Marriage and Family Births to Unmarried Women, by Country: 1980 to 1998 Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census. 2001. Statistical Abstract of the United States 2001. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. Table 1331 on p. 836. Also accessible at http://www.census.gov/prod/2002pubs/01statab/stat-ab01.html.

26. Marriage and Family • Child-Rearing Patterns in Family Life • Stepfamilies • --The rising rates of divorce and remarriage have led to a significant increase in stepfamily relationships. • --Stepfamilies are an exceedingly complex form of family organization. • --The exact nature of these blended families has social significance for children and adults alike, and re-socialization is often required for children and adults alike.

27. Neither parent present Percent of children under 18who live with a grandparent Only father present 6 Only mother present Both parents present 5 4 3 2 1 0 1970 1980 1990 1998 Marriage and Family Grandchildren in Grandparent’s Homes by Presence of Parents Source: Office of the President, 2000. Economic Report of the President: Transmitted to the Congress, February 2000. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, Chart 5-5 on p. 174.

28. 2,000 Female victims 1,600 1,200 800 Male victims 400 0 1976 1982 1988 1994 1998 Marriage and Family Number of Victims Murdered by an Intimate Partner Source: Callie Marie Rennison for the Bureau of Justice Statitics. 2001. Intimate Partner Violence. NCJ 178247, p. 1. Accessible at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/ipv.pdf.

29. Intimate partner violenceper 1,000 females or males in each age category 25 20 15 10 Female 5 Male 0 12-15 16-19 20-24 25-34 35-49 50-64 65 or older Marriage and Family Rate of Intimate Partner Violence by Age, 1993--1998 Source: Callie Marie Rennison for the Bureau of Justice Statitics. 2001. Figure 6 in Intimate Partner Violence. NCJ 178247. Accessible at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/ipv.pdf.

30. Divorce • Statistical Trends in Divorce • Approximately one-third of all people in the United States will marry, divorce, and then remarry. • Divorce rates increased in the late 1960s but then started to level off and even decline since the late 1980s.

31. Divorce • Factors Associated with Divorce • Divorce rates have increased largely because of the greater social acceptance of divorce. • Other factors include: • more liberal divorce laws • families have fewer children • greater family income • more opportunities for women

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

33. Divorce Figure 12.4: Trends in Marriage and Divorce in the United States, 1920-2001

34. Divorce Lifestyles • Cohabitation • Male-female couples who choose to live together without marrying engage in cohabitation. • People who cohabitate include: college students working couples the elderly

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

36. Divorce Lifestyles • Lesbian and Gay Relationships • Lifestyles of lesbians and gay men vary greatly. They: live in long term monogamous relationships live in relationships and have adopted children. live with children from former heterosexual marriages • Many lesbians and gay men do not publicly acknowledge their homosexuality.

37. Divorce Lifestyles • Marriage Without Children • An increasing number of couples today choose not to have children. • They consider themselves to be child-free, not childless. • Many practices in the workplace like childcare and scheduling are being questioned by child-free couples.

38. Social Policy and The Family • Reproductive Technology • The Issue • --Today we are witnessing aspects of reproductive technology that were regarded as so much science fiction just a generation ago. • --To what extent should policy encourage or discourage innovative reproductive technology?

39. Social Policy and The Family • Reproductive Technology • The Setting • --While using technology to enhance the ability to reproduce is a recent phenomenon, the first successful artificial insemination actually took place in 1884. • --The ability to preserve sperm, beginning in the 1970s, made the process much simpler.

40. Social Policy and The Family • Reproductive Technology • Sociological Insights • --Advances in reproductive technology allow childless couples to fulfill their personal, and societal, goals. • --Conflict perspective analysts would note that available technologies are often accessible only to the most affluent. • --Conflict theorists further note the irony that while lower-class women have broad access to contraceptive coverage, they have limited access to infertility treatments. Continued…

41. Social Policy and The Family • Reproductive Technology • Sociological Insights • --Feminist theorists are concerned that in societies where men enjoy a higher status, use of this technology will effectively reduce the presence of women. • --Interactionists observe that the quest for information and social support connected with reproductive technology has created new social networks.

42. Social Policy and The Family • Reproductive Technology • Policy Initiatives • --The legal and ethical issues connected with reproductive technology are immense. • --Industrial societies are hard-pressed to deal with present advances in reproductive technology, much less future ones.