The Family The Modern Family

1. The FamilyThe Modern Family How would you define the word family?

2. Family Systems • Nuclear family • Consists of one or both parents and their children • Most recognizable to Americans • Extended family • Consists of two or more generations • Grandparents, parents, children, uncles, aunts, and cousins may all live in one house or grouping of houses or even in different countries.

3. Kinship • Refers to a network of people who are related by marriage, birth or adoption. • Primary- mother, father, sister, brother, spouse, daughter and son • Secondary- grandparents, grandchildren, in-laws, aunts, uncles, nephews and nieces • Tertiary- great grandparents, great children, great-aunts, great uncles, cousins

4. Marriage • Marriage Patterns • Monogamy • This is a norm that requires the marriage and partnership of one woman and one man for a lifetime. • Polygamy • This is a norm which permits and encourages a person to have multiple spouses  at the same time. • TLC Sister Wives

5. Marriage Cont. • Endogamy: • Marriage between members of the same category, class, or group • Exogamy:  • Marriage between members of different categories, classes, or groups • Polyandry:  • Marriage between one woman and more than one man

6. Cont… • Descent Patterns • Patrilineal descent • Descent is traced through the male line.  The woman marries and becomes part of her husbands family, as do the children. • Matrilineal descent • About 20% of known societies trace descent through the female line.  It is often the wife's brother who is the "head" of the family.  Children are brought up in their mother's family - with their mother's brother acting as their social father.  Property and name are passed through the female's side. • Bilateral descent • No distinctions are made between the wife's and husband's families.  Daughters and sons are treated equally in terms of inheritance.

7. The Functionalist Perspective: Functions and Dysfunctions of the Family • Regulation of Sexual Activity • Incest taboo - This is a norm that forbids people from having sexual relations with and marrying close kin. • Reproduction • To survive, societies mush replace members who die or move away • Socialization • The family is the first agent of socialization • Economic and Emotional Security • Romantic Love

8. The Conflict Perspective • Struggles between husbands and wives

9. The Symbolic Interactions Perspective: • Gender, Housework and Child Care

10. The Family Life Cycle • Love and Courtship in Global Perspective • On a survey of 166 societies all around the world, anthropologists found that 88% or 147 of these groups marriages are romantic love • Marriage • Childbirth • 19 Kids and Counting • Child Rearing • Rearing children is a primary function of a family. Being in a family provides children with a sense of identity. They learn the norms and values of their societies, as well as the norms and values of the smaller groups to which they belong. 

11. Trends in U.S. Families • The average age of American brides is the oldest it has been since records first were kept • Cohabitation is living together as an unmarried couple, and has increased ten times over the last 30 years • 60% have lived together before married • Increase in births to unmarried mothers • It’s becoming more common for grandparents to raise their children

12. Divorce and Remarriage http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzZsdL-EGwg