Chapter 16, The Family

1. Chapter 16, The Family  • The Nature of Families • Perspectives on the Family • Dynamics of Mate Selection and Marriage

2.  The Family As a Social Institution Devoted to achieving important social goals: • Social control of reproduction. • Socialization of new generations. • Social placement of children in the institutions of the larger society.

3.  Defining the Family • A group of people related by blood, marriage, or adoption. • The nuclear family into which one is born and socialized is the family of orientation. • The nuclear family one forms through marriage or cohabitation is the family of procreation.

4. Variations in Family Structure

5. Trends: Single and Two Parent Families

6. Glick:Stages of the Family Life Cycle • Family formation: first marriage • Start of childbearing: birth of first child • End of childbearing: birth of last child • “Empty nest”: marriage of last child • “Family dissolution”: death of one spouse

7. Interactionist Perspective • Focuses on sources of tension and conflict within the family. • A basic tension in the family is the need to maintain individuality within a set of interdependent relationships.

8. Interactionist Perspective • Many families never succeed at encouraging each member to realize their full potential within the context of family life. • Research shows that the core problem is usually the failure of the adult couple, even in intact families, to understand and develop their own relationship.

9.  Conflict Perspective • Changes in the family as an institution cannot occur without conflict within the family and between the family and other institutions. • This conflict is illustrated by public debates over family policies and family values.

10. Functionalist Perspective • The family evolves in response to changes in the larger social environment. • Modern families play a vital part in early-childhood socialization, in the emotional lives of their members, and in preparing older children for adult roles.

11. Mate Selection • In all cultures mate selection is carried out according to rules of bargaining and exchange. • All cultures have norms that specify whether a person may marry within or outside the cultural group. • The mate selection systems of the U.S. gives love greater prominence than does other cultures.

12. Divorce • About 20% of first marriages end in annulment or divorce within three years. • The early years of family formation are the most difficult. • The divorce rate among couples who lived together before marriage is higher than for couples who have not done so.

13. Factors in Divorce • Age at marriage- marriages that take place when a woman is in her teens or thirties are more likely to end in divorce. • Marked differences in family backgrounds of the spouses. • Dependence on either spouse’s extended family.

14. Factors in Divorce • Patterns of marital instability in either spouse’s extended family. • Early pregnancy.

15. Impact of Divorce • Stress of divorce may continue for a year or more. • Both men and women have a diminished capacity for parenting after divorce and may come to depend on their children to help them cope with the demands of their own lives.