Marriages and Families: Changes, Choices, and Constraints Seventh Edition Nijole V. Benokraitis

1. Marriages and Families:Changes, Choices, and ConstraintsSeventh Edition Nijole V. Benokraitis Chapter One The Changing Family

2. What Is a Family? For the purposes of this class, a family is an intimate group of two or more people who Live together in a committed relationship. Care for one another and any children. Share activities and close emotional ties.

3. Describing a Family? • Does your “family” include fictive kin? (Individuals who are accepted as part of the family group but have no blood ties.)

4. Five Functions of the Family 1. Regulation of sexual activity 2. Procreation and socialization 3. Economic security 4. Emotional support 5. Social class placement

5. Regulation of Sexual Activity The family provides norms for sexual activity including the incest taboo. Why not? - increased risk of birth defects. Families also prevent doubts about the legitimacy of children and property rights in some cultures.

6. Procreation and Socialization Procreation is an essential function of the family because it ensures that society will continue. Through socialization, children learn the rules and customs of their culture and the first place they are socialized is in the family.

7. Economic Security The family is an important economic unit that provides financial security and stability.

8. Emotional Support Emotional support is probably one of the most important aspects of family. Family is an important primary group (Charles Horton Cooley) – characterized by close, long-lasting, intimate, and face-to-face interaction providing nurturance, love, and emotional support.

9. Social Class Placement A social class is a category of people who have a similar standing or rank in society. We are all born into a specific social class based on things like our parents’ income, education, job, attitudes, and values. Social class affects many aspects of family life.

10. Let’s learn some terms.

11. What Is Marriage? Marriage is a socially approved mating relationship that people expect to be stable and enduring. Some form of marriage is practiced in every society, although there are many forms.

12. What Is Marriage? Ceremonial marriage is one in which the couple follows procedures specified by the state or other jurisdiction. It is like a legal contract.

13. What Is Marriage? Common-law marriages – couple who consider themselves husband and wife, however, they have never performed a ceremony to solidify their commitment. Common law marriage was abolished in Georgia beginning on January 1, 1997 and any common law marriage entered into on or after that date is not valid O.C.G.A. §19-3-1.

14. Endogamy and Exogamy Endogamy (homogamy) requires people to marry or have sexual relations within a certain group. These might include racial or ethnic groups or clans or tribes. (95% of Americas marry within their race.) Exogamy requires/encourages marriage outside of one’s own group. For example in the United States, 24 states prohibit marriage between first cousins.

15. Nuclear Families Western societies tend to have nuclear families (Individualistic society) Because the rates of unmarried people who are living together are high, nuclear families comprise only 23% of all U.S. families, down from 40% in 1970.

16. Extended Families • In much of the rest of the world, however, extended families are much more common, where parents and children and other kin such as aunts, uncles, and cousins all live under the same roof. (Collectivistic society) • Extended families, however, are becoming more common in industrialized countries as single-parent families become more common and need more support.

17. The Family and Society Because much of the world’s population lives in developing countries, many of the world’s children live in extended families. By contrast, in the U.S. (by 2007) one in four children lives in a mother-only home.

18. Where Do Families Live? In a patrilocal residential pattern, the newly married couple lives with the husband’s family. In a matrilocal residential pattern, the couple lives with the wife’s family. In a neolocal residential pattern, the couple sets up its own household.

19. Monogamy and Polygamy In monogamy, one person is married exclusively to one other person.

20. Monogamy and Polygamy Polygamy is when a man or a woman has two or more spouses. Over 1,000 cultures worldwide allow some form of polygamy.

22. Diversity of Family Life Clearly, there are many family forms throughout the world and we cannot measure any one type against another type. We sometimes think of “idealized” families as what we would call “nuclear families” but these expectations are changing as well.

23. Myths about Families Myths about families can be functional and dysfunctional. Myths are dysfunctional when they have negative consequences that disrupt a family. Myths can be perpetuated by the mass media and we can try to live up to these “idealized” standards of family behavior and function.

24. Myths Abound There are several types of myths about families in our society: Myths about what is natural—for instance is it “natural” to grow up and get married and have a family? Myths about the self sufficient family—most families need some support at one time or another during their lifetime.

25. Myths Abound • Myths about the family as a loving refuge—of course one of the main functions of families is to provide emotional support, but family also tends to be the most violent social system in our society. • Myths about the perfect marriage or the perfect family—often our expectations about marriage and the reality we face when we get married clash.

26. Three Opposing Views The family is deteriorating: This view of the family says that divorce, economic decline, and the decline of two-parent intact families have hurt the institution of family.

27. Three Opposing Views • The family is changing: • This view looks at the changes in family life as just that, changes. Proponents of this view say that families are indeed changing, but adapting, to a new economic environment in which it is necessary for both parents to work outside the home.

28. Three Opposing Views The family is stronger than ever: This views the family as much more loving than it was in the past. Because people are living longer, more generations are getting to know one another and becoming stronger family units.

29. Trends in Changing Families The family is changing due to demographic transformations. The racial and ethnic composition of families and economic transformations all play a role in these changes.

30. Demographic Changes U.S. birthrates have declined in recent years. The average age of the population has risen from 17 in the mid-1800s to 37 in 2007!

32. Racial and Ethnic Diversity Ethnic families are booming. America’s multicultural umbrella includes about 150 distinct ethnic or racial groups. By 2025, only 58% of the population will be white. Because of huge waves of immigrations, one in five people are either foreign born or first-generation U.S. citizens. Ethnic families speak many languages, thus making the U.S. more multilingual.

34. Macro-Level Influences Economic Forces In the later part of the 20th century, many manufacturers moved their factories overseas to save money, thus unemployment rates went up, especially for low-skilled jobs.

35. Macro-Level Influences • Technological Innovations • We live longer. • Other technological changes like email, the Internet, instant messaging, texting, and cell phones have helped and hurt our families and their ties to each other and to outside resources.

36. Other Macro-Level Influences The mass media, including television and video games, have had a huge impact on our overall culture. Popular culture which includes television, the Internet, pop music, magazines, radio, advertising, sports, hobbies, fads, fashion, etc., is especially influential in informing and misinforming us about family and culture.

37. Other Macro-Level Influences Social Movements civil rights movement, the gay rights movement, and most recently a marriage movement.