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Chapter Ten

Chapter Ten. Marriage and the Family. Define the term: FAMILY. Family.

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Chapter Ten

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  1. Chapter Ten Marriage and the Family

  2. Define the term:FAMILY

  3. Family • The family is a social institution that includes: beliefs about what a family is, values about what family ought to be, norms about how its members should act, and statuses and roles that specific who in the family holds what responsibilities.

  4. Questions to Ponder • Should homosexual couples be permitted to adopt a child/children? • Do you have to be related by blood to be considered a family member? • Should couples who can’t conceive naturally be afforded the opportunity of invitro? What if you already have a child? Two? Three? • How many members are TOO MANY in a family? • Is there such a thing as spousal rape?

  5. Marriage • Most societies have some form of ritual • Many societies have an economic contract • Monogamy: one man/one woman • Polygyny: one man/2 or more women • Polyandry: one woman/ 2 or more men

  6. Socially Approved Sexual Relations • Homosexuality: • Some cultures for all men at one stage (ie..adolescence) • Ancient China: allowed to take male lovers & concubines • Concubinage: extramarital sex • Common practice among affluent Chinese • Children usually didn’t inherit property/money • (unless….)

  7. Biological Descent • Create relationships that we treat the same as biological kin: • Adoption • Social Parenthood (society recognizes as a child’s parent) • Divorce, Death, Remarriage, Adoption, Foster Parent… • In most societies – acting like a parent = parent

  8. Sociological PerspectiveStructural Functional • Views the family as extremely important • Fills some of society’s most basic needs or functions • Any deviation to be dysfunctional or harmful to society

  9. Sociological PerspectiveStructural Functional • Functions: • Procreation • Socialization (teach new members cultural knowledge) • Regulation of sexual behaviors (Woody Allen) • Incest taboo • Sex is forbidden among certain family members • Provides for material or economic needs • Provide emotional support

  10. Sociological PerspectiveStructural Functional • Some believe that modern industrial society • Requires nuclear family vs. extended family • More mobile • Criticism: • 3 generations rare prior to industrialization • States extended family more common in modern industrial society

  11. Sociological PerspectiveSocial Conflict • Social benefit of the family benefits society’s most powerful groups • Family’s position in stratification system is the most important factor in determining the characteristics of the family

  12. Sociological PerspectiveSocial Conflict • Neo-Marxist • Ownership of the means of production is the source of power. Owners will force non-owners into family structures that benefit owners by providing them with cheap and plentiful labor • Slaveholders (forbade marriage / separation) • Low factory wages = the profits that pd. For services of poor women and children for domestic services • Powerful groups state that AA homes are fragmented, broken • But lived w/in stable supportive network (Stack)

  13. Sociological PerspectiveSocial Conflict • Feminist Theories of the Family • Men and women have unequal resources for power • Power and conflict power-plays between genders within the family • Abuse of power w/in family: spousal violence, marital rape, incest, child sexual abuse • Believe that wife abuse was a cultural norm to place men at the head of the household

  14. To Marry or Not Marry • Current median age to marry: • 27.1 for men • 25.3 for women • Increase in age since 1950 / but back to pattern of 100 years ago. • Less than 75% married in 19th century

  15. Sex Outside of Marriage • Colonial Period 1/3 of all brides pregnant at marriage • 2003: • 45.3 % females / 48% males – HS students 1 sexual experience • Slightly down from 1991

  16. Cohabitation • Heterosexual couples living together without formal marriage • Has increased over past decade but number of married couples have too • Nearly 50% of cohabitation end after 5 years • Half due to marriage • Economic differences suggest delay of marriage until man can fulfill societal norms

  17. Homosexual Relationships • Civil Union Legal Rights (same sex) • VT, CA, CT, HI, NJ, MD • France, Portugal, Denmark, Sweden, Germany • Partial Rights: UK, Israel, New Zealand, South Africa • Right to Marry: • Canada, Netherlands, Belgium, Spain • Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Washington, D.C.,

  18. Having Children • Birthrates declining (200+ years) • 33% of all babies born to an unmarried mother • Teenage birth rates have declined from 1960 – now • Today 25% are teenage mothers / 50% in 1970 • Greatest decline in unwed = AA

  19. The Place of Children • Before 20th century: Economic Assets • Emotional Assets

  20. Working Parents and Childcare • Census Bureau • Arrangements fluctuate (20% - 30% / 1985 – 2000) • Hinting at a lack of stability • Parental care • Relative care • Organized facility care • Non-relative care

  21. Working Parents and Childcare • Research (Harvey) • Few effects on mothers’ employment itself on the development and adjustment of children • The effects viewed were small and generally disappeared • Children over 6 months placed in high quality childcare suffer few adverse effects and may enjoy some advantages in social and intellectual development

  22. Housework • Women carry primary responsibility – even when in the labor market • Women are 2 x’s more likely to expect husbands to help with housework since 1960 • But.. Working women still put in 2x’s as much time as their husbands • Husbands claim 40 more minutes of leisure time • Lack of sharing in household tasks may contribute to wives’ increased thoughts about divorce

  23. Divorce • Declining for 25 years • Problems associated with divorce • Higher rate of poverty (households headed by females)

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