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The Family

The Family. Sociology 101. Family is a set of people related by blood, marriage, or adoption who shares the primary responsibility for reproduction and caring for members of society The family is a universal institution present in all cultures . Composition: What Is the Family?

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The Family

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  1. The Family Sociology 101

  2. Family is a set of people related by blood, marriage, or adoption who shares the primary responsibility for reproduction and caring for members of society • The family is a universal institution present in all cultures

  3. Composition: What Is the Family? Nuclear Family • The nuclear family consists of a married couple and their unmarried children living together

  4. Nuclear families have steadily decreased over the last 30 years. • By 2000, only about a third of U.S. family households fit this model

  5. Extended Family • An extended family is a family in which relatives such as grandparents, aunts, or uncles live in the same home as parents and their children. • Extended families provide greater emotional and financial support.

  6. Types of Marriage Monogamyis a form of marriage where one woman and one man are married only to each other

  7. Serial Monogamy A form of marriage where a person may have several spouses in his/her lifetime but only one spouse at a time.

  8. Polygamy is a situation where you are allowed to have more than one husband or wife. Polygamy takes two forms: • Polygyny is when a man marries more than one woman at the same time • Polyandry is when a woman marries more than one man at the same time.

  9. Authority Patterns: Who Rules? Patriarchy • When males are expected to dominate in all family decision making, that society is a patriarchy Matriarchy • When women have greater authority than men, that society is a matriarchy. Egalitarian family • A family in which spouses are regarded as equals

  10. Global View of the Family • Figure 14.1: Households by Family Type, 1940–2000 Source: Fields and Casper 2001.

  11. Studying the Family • Functionalist View • The family serves six functions for society: • Reproduction • Protection • Socialization • Regulation of sexual behavior • Affection • Providing of social status

  12. Studying the Family • Conflict View • The conflict view believes that family reflects the inequality in wealth and power found within society. • The conflict view recognizes that historically, husbands exercised power and authority within the family. • The conflict view sees the family as an economic unit contributing to social injustice.

  13. Studying the Family • Interactionist View • The interactionist view focuses on the micro level of family and other intimate relationships. • The interactionist view is interested in how individuals interact with each other, • cohabiting partners or • long-term married couples. Social-exchange analysis depicts courtship and marriage as forms of negotiation.

  14. Studying the Family • Table 14.1: The Four Major Perspectives on the Family Theoretical Perspective Emphasis Functionalist The family as a contributor to social stability Roles of family members Conflict The family as a perpetuator of inequality Transmission of poverty or wealth across generations Interactionist Relationships among family members Feminist Family as a perpetuator of gender roles Female-headed households

  15. Courtship and Mate Selection • Ninety percent (90) percent of all men and women in the U.S. will marry at least once • Many societies have explicit or unstated rules which define potential mates as acceptable or unacceptable

  16. Courtship and Mate Selection Aspects of Mate Selection Endogamy: Endogamy specifies the groups within which a spouse must be found and prohibits marriage with members of other groups. Exogamy: Exogamy requires mate selection outside certain groups, usually one’s own family or certain kin • Marriage between Blacks and whites have increased more than six fold in recent decades. Twenty percent of all married Hispanics have a non-Hispanic spouse.

  17. Courtship and Mate Selection - The Love Relationship • Our culture celebrates romantic love – affection and sexual passion for another person – as the basis for marriage • Industrialization erodes the importance of extended families, weakens traditions, and enhances personal choice in courtship

  18. Child-Rearing Patterns in Family Life • Dual-Income Families • Among married people between the ages of 25 and 34, 96 percent of the men and 72 percent of the women are in the labor force. • Majority of married people are dual-wage earners due to economic need • Nation’s declining birthrate, the increase in the proportion of women with college education contribute to this pattern.

  19. Single-Parent Families The U.S. has the highest rate of teenage pregnancy. • The majority of babies born to unwed teenage mothers are born to White adolescents. • 82 percent of single parents in the U.S. are mothers.

  20. Marriage and Family • Figure 14.3: Rise of One-Parent Families among Whites, African Americans, Hispanic, and Asians or Pacific Islanders in the United States Source: Bureau of the Census 1994:63; Fields and Casper 2001:7.

  21. Divorce • The US has by far the highest divorce rate in the industrialized world. • Divorce began to increase in the late 1960s and has declined since the 1980s • About two-thirds of divorced women and three-fourths of divorced men remarry • Of those who divorce before the age of 35, 70% remarry.

  22. Factors Associated with Divorce • Greater social acceptance • Relaxing of negative attitudes by religious denominations • States adopting more liberal divorce laws (no fault). • Marriage at an early age. • A short acquaintanceship before marriage • Disapproval of marriage by relatives and friends

  23. Limited economic resources and low wages. • A high school education or less. • Living in a big city as opposed to rural settings. • Risk of divorce is higher during the early years of marriage.

  24. Impact of Divorce • About 70 percent of all divorces creates unhappiness in children. • Women’s income usually decreases after divorce. Effects on Children • More likely to drop out of school • Suffer from drug/alcohol abuse • More psychological problems • More likely to divorce.

  25. The Family Cohabitation • Almost half of the couples who have married have lived together • Not an alternative to marriage, 98% of college students plan to marry at some point • Divorce rates appear to be higher for couples who have lived together

  26. Same Sex Couples • The National Health and Social Life Survey found that 2.8 percent of men and 1.4 percent of women report some level of homosexual or bisexual identity • Recognition of same-sex partnerships is not uncommon in Europe including Denmark, Holland, Switzerland, and Spain.

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