Ch. 10: Family

1. Ch. 10: Family • Global perspective • Family difficult to define • Western view • Polygyny- husband has more than one wife • Polyandry- wife has more than one husband • Trobriand Islanders

2. Family= 2 or more people who consider themselves related by blood, marriage, or adoption • Household= people who occupy the same housing unit or living quarters • Nuclear family • Extended family • Family of orientation • Family of procreation • Marriage= a group’s approved mating arrangements, marked by a ritual

3. Mate selection- norms of who marries whom • Endogamy • Exogamy • Incest taboo • Descent- how related to relatives • System of descent • Bilateral system • Patrilineal system • Matrilineal system

4. Inheritance- rights of inheritance follow lines of descent • Authority • Patriarchy- authority vested in males • U.S. patterns becoming more egalitarian • Naming patterns reflect patriarchy

5. Functionalism • Family is universal b/c it fulfills basic needs • Economic production • Socialization of children • Care of the sick and aged • Recreation • Sexual control • Reproduction

6. Functions of the incest taboo • Avoid role confusion • Exogamy • Extends social networks of bride and groom • Dysfunctions • Isolation of nuclear family • Emotional overload

7. Conflict theory • Gender and power • Power struggle over housework • Arlie Hochschild- “the second shift” • Affects marital relationship and wife’s self-concept • Men engage in strategies of resistance • Waiting it out • Playing dumb • Needs reduction • Substitute offerings

8. Symbolic interactionism • Gender and meanings of marriage • Closer husband and wife’s earnings, more likely share housework • Husband earns less than wife, does least amt. of housework

9. The family life cycle • Love and courtship in global perspective • Romantic love- 88% of societies • Role of love differs from one society to another • Sexual attraction and labels • Love and arranged marriage in India

10. Marriage • Love is socially channeled • Homogamy- tendency of people w/ similar characteristics to marry one another • Propinquity (spatial nearness) • 94% of Americans marry someone from same racial background

11. Childbirth • Education and income relationship • Marital satisfaction • Social class affects how couples adjust to arrival of children • Working class vs. middle class

12. Child rearing • 3 of 5 U.S. mothers work for wages • Married vs. single mothers similar child care arrangements • Day care • Nannies • Social class- parents socialize their children into the norms of their work worlds • Birth order- tendencies • First vs. second or later born

13. Family in later life • The Empty Nest • Married couple’s domestic situation after the last child has left the home • Difficult time of adjustment for women? • Rubin found that women’s satisfaction generally increases when last child leaves the home

14. The not-so-empty nest • Prolonged education • Household costs • 42% of all U.S. 24-29 year olds live w/ their parents (boomerang children) • Widowhood • Women more likely than men • Deal w/ “who am I” again

15. Diversity in U.S. families • Social class is primary distinction • African American families • Upper vs. middle class • Poverty- men unemployed, have few skills, women likely single mothers • 45% of families headed by women • Fictive kin- stretching of kinship • Marriage squeeze- imbalance in sex ratio

16. Latino families • Social class and country of origin significant • Cubans more likely headed by married couple than Puerto Rican families • Culture- language, religion, and family orientation • Machismo- emphasis on male strength and dominance

17. Asian American families • Structure almost identical to white families • 80% married couples, 13% female-headed • 20 countries and cultures • Nuclear family w/ Confucian values • More permissive than Anglos in child rearing • Native American families • Conflict- traditional values or assimilate • Permissive parenting • Elders play active role in family life

18. One-parent families • 1970- 85% lived w/ both parents • 2000- 69% lived w/ both parents • High divorce rate and increase in births to unmarried women • Strain and poverty- most one parent families headed by women • Kids more likely drop out of school, get arrested, have emotional problems • Cycle of poverty

19. Families w/out children • About 20% of married women do not give birth • Education • Race-ethnicity • Why remain childless by choice? • Not by choice- adoption, surrogate mothers, high tech reproduction

20. Blended families • Members were once part of other families • Gay and lesbian families • 1989- Denmark first to legalize same sex marriage • 2000- Vermont first legalized “gay unions” • Uneven distribution in U.S. • 1/5th previously married to heterosexuals • Have children? • 22% lesbian couples, 5% gay couples

21. Trends in U.S. families • Postponing marriage • Cohabitation • Adults living together in a sexual relationship w/out being married • Change in views on sexual morality • High divorce rate= marriage is fragile • 8 X more common today than 30 yrs ago • Essential difference? • Substitute for, step towards, trial, coresidential dating

22. Unmarried mothers • Industrialized nations experienced sharp increases in births to single women • Customs/values play large role • Grandparents raising grandkids • Skipped generation families • Parents are ill, homeless, incarcerated, addicted to drugs • Sandwich generation and elder care • Responsible for own kids and aging parents

23. Divorce • Problems in measurement • ½ as many divorces are given each year as marriages performed • When look at entire pool, divorce rate is 2% • Varies by where you live and race-ethnicity • Symbolic interactionism and the misuse of statistics • Self-fulfilling prophecy

24. Children of divorce • More hostility, anxiety, don’t do as well in school (accurate study?) • Conflict ridden intact families vs. kids of divorce • Live w/ same sex parent= better adjustment • As adults, less likely marry, more likely divorce

25. The Absent Father/ Serial Fatherhood • Divorced father maintains high contact 1st year or two after divorce-> meets new wife • Only 1/6 of kids who live apart from dad see him every week • Most divorced fathers stop seeing their kids altogether

26. The Ex-Spouses • Spouse who initiates divorce gets over it sooner • Cost of living increases • Remarriage • Most who divorce remarry, likely remarry other divorced people • Men more likely than women to remarry • Bring kids into new marriage, more likely to divorce again

27. Two sides of family life • Battering (spouse abuse) • Husbands and wives equally likely attack one another • Wives more often seek medical attention • Why stay in abusive relationship? • Child abuse • Each year about 3 million U.S. kids are reported as victims of abuse/neglect

28. Marital rape (intimacy rape) • 14% of married women report that their husbands have raped them • Most commonly occur during a separation or break up of a marriage • 3 types- nonbattering rape, battering rape, perverted rape • Incest • Sexual relations between certain relatives • More common when socially isolated • Most common offenders?

29. Successful marriages • 2/3 married Americans report they are “very happy” w/ their marriages • Long term marriages- 15+ years • 351 couples interviewed • 300 happy, 51 unhappy • Why stay together? • What makes a happy marriage? • Spend time together, express appreciation, committed to promoting one another’s welfare, religious, deal w/ crisis in positive manner