Understanding Modern Family Dynamics in American Society

1. Chapter 15 Families

2. Chapter Outline • Defining the Family • Comparing Kinship Systems • Sociological Theory and Families • Diversity Among Contemporary American Families • Marriage and Divorce • Changing Families/Changing society

3. Traditional Definition of Family • A social unit of people related through marriage, birth, or adoption who reside together in officially sanctioned relationships and engage in economic cooperation, socially approved sexual relations, and reproduction and child rearing.

4. Contemporary Definition of Family • A primary group of people—usually related by ancestry, marriage, or adoption—who form a cooperative economic unit and care for any young (and each other); who consider their identity to be intimately attached to the group; and who are committed to maintaining the group over time.

5. Features of Kinship Systems • Number of marriage partners permitted at one time. • Who is permitted to marry whom. • How descent is determined. • How property is passed on. • Where the family resides. • How power is distributed.

6. Functionalism and the Family Families exist to meet particular societal needs: • Socializing the young. • Regulating sexual activity and procreation. • Providing physical care for family members. • Giving psychological support and emotional security to members.

7. Functionalism and the Family • When society undergoes rapid change, families become disorganized and break down. • The high divorce rate and the number of single parent households are the result of social disorganization.

8. Conflict Theory and the Family • Family relationships reinforce and reflect inequalities in society. • Families in American society are shaped by capitalism. • Families socialize children to be obedient, subordinate to authority and good consumers.

9. Feminist Theory and the Family • Family is one of the primary institutions producing gender relations in society. • The family is a system of power relations and social conflict. • The family is a gendered institution and critical of perspectives that take women's place in families for granted.

10. Symbolic Interactionand the Family • Analyze how people define and understand family experience and negotiate family relationships. • Emphasizes the construction of meaning within families. • Roles within families evolve as participants define their behavior toward each other.

11. Diversity Among Families • Increase in female-headed households which are more likely than others to live in poverty. • Gay and lesbian households are more common and challenge traditional definitions of the family. • Single people make up more of the population, partly because people marry at a later age.

12. Female-headed Households • Half of all children can expect to live with only one parent at some point in their lives, most with mothers only. • Two primary causes for the growing number of women heading their own households: • High rate of pregnancy among unmarried teens. • High divorce rate.

13. Female-headed Households • Teen mothers are less likely to marry today than in the past. • Social problems are caused by economic stress rather than the absence of a husband. • Single fathers tend to get more help, typically from women, than do single mothers.

14. Married Couple Families • Most significant change has been the participation of women in the labor force. • Both men and women are working a month more per year than they did in 1970. • Women work a “double day” of paid employment and unpaid work in the home.

15. Stepfamilies • About 40% of marriages in the U.S. involve stepchildren. • Blended families demand the learning of new roles for both parents and children. • The lack of institutional support systems cause stress resulting in high probability of divorce among remarried couples with children. 

16. Gay and Lesbian Households • Tend to be less gender-stereotyped in household roles than heterosexual couples. • Negatively affected by the denial of benefits and privileges accorded legally recognized marriages. • Only Hawaii and Vermont legally recognize gay marriage.

17. Singles • Number has increased from 29% of the population in 1970 to 42% today. • People are marrying later partly due to longer life expectancy, higher educational attainment and cohabitation. • Changes in sexual attitudes and removal of stigma of being single have contributed to the happiness of singles.

18. Marriage • The U.S. has the highest rate of marriage of any Western industrialized nation. • Most marital conflicts are about finances and housework, not sexual jealousy. • Among couples where both partners are employed, only 28 percent share the housework equally. • Men have about 11more hours of leisure per week on average than women.

19. Marriage • Women continue to do more work at home and have less leisure time than men. • Men are working longer hours, but primarily in paid employment. • The majority of women in all social classes experience stress over the amount of work they have to do and their lack of free time.

20. Divorce • The U.S. has one of the highest rates of divorce in the world. • More than 20 million people have divorced. • More women than men remain divorced, as men are more likely to remarry. • Despite the emotional pain and economic struggle women experience following divorce, most are glad that their marriages ended.

21. Factors in the High Rate of Divorce in the U.S. • Continuing rise in life expectancy, has an effect on the length of marriages. • Cultural orientation toward individualism may predispose people to terminate a marriage in which they are personally unhappy. • Women are less financially dependent on their husbands, even while they continue to earn less.

22. Family Violence • Majority of domestic violence cases go unreported. • Estimated that 1 in 3 women will be physically assaulted by her husband. • Belief that the batterer will change, financial constraints, and mandatory arrest laws keep the victim in the relationship.