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Sociology 1201: Week Two

Sociology 1201: Week Two . Tuesday: Complete “Legacy” and meet in groups. Theoretical perspectives in sociology: Functionalism. Analyze social patterns in terms of the contribution they make to the well-being of society as a whole

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Sociology 1201: Week Two

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  1. Sociology 1201: Week Two Tuesday: Complete “Legacy” and meet in groups Sociology 1201

  2. Theoretical perspectives in sociology: Functionalism • Analyze social patterns in terms of the contribution they make to the well-being of society as a whole • Institution: a complex social pattern that meets a societal need • Family • Religion • Political System • Criminal Justice • Military • Educational system • Economic System • Mass media???? Sociology 1201

  3. Characteristics of institutions • Supported by tradition • Have moral authority • Institutions are interdependent • Usually change slowly because of these first three characteristics • Arlene Skolnick, Embattled Paradise: Look magazine invited a panel of scholars in 1962 to predict what America would be like in 25 years (1987)…They were very wrong; why? Video about future families from the 1960s Sociology 1201

  4. “Surprises” in family as an institution • Divorce revolution • Births outside marriage • Feminist Movement • Women in the work force • Gay/lesbian rights movement • Battered women’s movement Sociology 1201

  5. Sociological approaches to family • The scientific method: theory and research • Objectivity and the community of scholars • Science: the process of creating (and modifying) theories that are tested through systematic research. E.g. what are the consequences of divorce for children? (not primarily a matter of opinion or political views) Sociology 1201

  6. Research methods • Experiment: NOT FEASIBLE OR ETHICAL • Quantitative research methods: censuses, surveys and samples, government statistics • Qualitative research methods: field study, in-depth interviews • Cross cultural and longitudinal studies Sociology 1201

  7. Groups • Meet in groups to discuss your questions on the first three assignments in Promises I Can Keep • Remember to attach your questions to the project report sheet (these must be typed or initialed by me before class) Sociology 1201

  8. Family history: the colonial period • Patriarchy • Broad range of functions • Nuclear, not extended, both in norms and in reality • High death rates and low life expectancy • Children as miniature adults • African-American families: By 1790, 1 in 5 Americans were slaves (see “Africans in America”) Sociology 1201

  9. History: The Breadwinner/Homemaker family • Beginning in about 1820 although not the majority pattern until 1920 • Industrial capitalism and the division of labor by sex • Women as spiritual, men as practical/rational (legal powers, sexuality, voting) • Childhood and the need for nurture • Adolescence as a stage • White immigrant families (peak of immigration in late 19th/early 20th century) Sociology 1201

  10. 20th century and the rise of the companionate family • Less gender separation (e.g., my grandparents decision to sit together in church) • More emphasis on emotional intimacy (beginning with middle and upper classes) • Attention to female sexuality, again beginning with the middle and upper classes Sociology 1201

  11. 1950s family (really, 1946-1965) • Exception to longer trends of the 20th century (age at marriage, % who marry, birth rates, women in the workforce) • A golden age? • U.S. domination of the world economy • Peak of unionization in U.S. • Low death rates AND low divorce rates • Suburbs and family life… home ownership • Rapid increase in college education (GI Bill) Sociology 1201

  12. What was less golden in the 1950s? • Betty Friedan, The Feminine Mystique—”the problem that has no name” • The sexual double standard • Homosexuality as both a crime and a mental illness • The high rate of teen pregnancy • Battering and child abuse largely hidden • Can we define the “health” of society as a whole, apart from values? Sociology 1201

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