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Chapter 15. Families and Intimate Relationships. Chapter Outline. Families in Global Perspective Theoretical Perspectives on Families Developing Intimate Relationships and Establishing Families Child-Related Family Issues and Parenting Transition and Problems in Families
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Chapter 15 Families and Intimate Relationships
Chapter Outline • Families in Global Perspective • Theoretical Perspectives on Families • Developing Intimate Relationships and Establishing Families • Child-Related Family Issues and Parenting • Transition and Problems in Families • Family Issues in the Future
Traditional Definition of Family • A group of people who are related by blood, marriage, or adoption, live together, are an economic unit, and bear and raise children.
New Definition of Family • Relationships in which people live together with commitment, form an economic unit and care for any young, and consider their identity to be significantly attached to the group.
How Much Do You Know About Trends in U.S. Family Life? • True or False? • Today, people in the United States are more inclined to get married than at any time in history.
How Much Do You Know About Trends in U.S. Family Life? • False. • Census data show that the marriage rate has gone down by about one third since 1960. In 1960, there were about 73 marriages per 1,000 unmarried women age 15 and up, whereas today the rate is about 49 per 1,000.
How Much Do You Know About Trends in U.S. Family Life • True or False? • Most U.S. family households are composed of a married couple with one or more children under age 18.
How Much Do You Know About Trends in U.S. Family Life? • False. • Less than 25 percent of all family households are composed of married couples with one or more children under age 18.
Family Structure and Characteristics • Kinship refers to a social network of people based on common ancestry, marriage, or adoption. • Family of orientation is the family into which a person is born and in which early socialization usually takes place. • Family of procreation is the family a person forms by having or adopting children.
Family Structure and Characteristics • An extended family is composed of relatives in addition to parents and children who live in the same household. • A nuclear family is composed of one or two parents and their dependent children, all of whom live apart from other relatives.
Question • A social network of people based on common ancestry, marriage, or adoption is known as: • kinship. • a family. • a clan. • subculture.
Answer: a • A social network of people based on common ancestry, marriage, or adoption is known as kinship.
Question • All things considered, how satisfied are you with your family life?
Question • The strength of the American family is declining. • Strongly agree • Agree somewhat • Unsure • Disagree somewhat • Strongly disagree
Marriage • Legally recognized arrangement between two or more individuals that carries certain rights and obligations. • Monogamy is the only form of marriage sanctioned by law in the United States. • Establishes a system of descent so kinship can be determined.
Question • If you are currently married: • Taking things all together, how would you describe your marriage? Would you say that your marriage is: • Very happy • Pretty happy • Not too happy
Patterns of Descent and Inheritance • Patrilineal descent is a system of tracing descent through the father’s side of the family. • Matrilineal descent is a system of tracing descent through the mother’s side of the family- women may not control property. • Bilateral descent is a system of tracing descent through both the mother’s and father’s sides of the family.
Power and Authority in Families • A patriarchal family is a family structure in which authority is held by the eldest male (usually the father). • A matriarchal family is a family structure in which authority is held by the eldest female (usually the mother). • An egalitarian family is a family structure in which both partners share power and authority equally.
Residential Patterns • Patrilocal residence refers to the custom of a married couple living in the same household (or community) as the husband’s family. • Matrilocal residence is the custom of a married couple living in the same household (or community) as the wife’s parents. • Neolocal residence is the custom of a married couple living in their own residence apart from both the husband’s and the wife’s parents.
Question • The custom of a married couple living in their own residence apart from both the husband's and the wife's parents are known as: • isolated residence. • neolocal residence. • neutral local residence. • exogamous residence.
Answer: b • The custom of a married couple living in their own residence apart from both the husband's and the wife's parents are known as neolocal residence.
Marriage Patterns • Endogamy is the practice of marrying within one’s own group. • Homogamy is the pattern of individuals marrying those who have similar characteristics, such as race/ethnicity, religious background, age, education, and/or social class. • Exogamy is the practice of marrying outside one’s own social group or category.
Functionalist Perspective: Four Functions of Families • Sexual regulation • Socialization • Economic and psychological support for members. • Provision of social status and reputation.
Conflict Perspective • Families in capitalisteconomies are similar to workers in a factory: • Women are dominated at home the same way workers are dominated in factories. • Reproduction of children and care for family members reinforce subordination of women through unpaid labor.
Symbolic Interactionist Perspective How family problems are perceived and defined depends on: • Patterns of communication. • The meanings people give to roles and events. • Individual interpretations of family interactions.
Postmodern Perspective • Families are diverse and fragmented. • Boundaries between workplace and home are blurred. • Family problems are related to cyberspace and consumerism in an age characterized by high-tech “haves’ and “have-nots.”
Question • According to functionalists, all of the following are key functions of families, except: • provision of social status. • economic and psychological support. • maintenance of workers so that they can function effectively in the workplace. • sexual regulation and socialization of children.
Answer: c • According to functionalists, maintenance of workers so that they can function effectively in the workplace is not a key functions of families.
Cohabitation • Cohabitation refers to a couple who live together without being legally married. • Based on Census Bureau data, the people who are most likely to cohabit are under age 45, have been married before, or are older individuals who do not want to lose financial benefits (such as retirement benefits) that are contingent upon not remarrying.
Cohabitation and Two-Stage Marriage • Cohabitation somewhat follows the two-stage marriage pattern set out by anthropologist Margaret Mead. • Mead suggested marriage should occur in two stages: • Individual marriage - two people make a commitment to each other but agree not to have children during this stage. • Parental marriage - couple decides to have children and share responsibility for them.
Question • Do you agree, disagree, or neither agree or disagree with the following statement • It is alright for a couple to live together without intending to get married?
Domestic Partnership • Household partnerships in which an unmarried couple lives together in a committed, sexually intimate relationship and is granted the same rights and benefits as those accorded to married heterosexual couples.
Why People Get Married • Being "in love." • Desiring companionship and sex. • Wanting to have children. • Social pressure. • Attempting to escape from their parents' home. • Believing they will have greater resources.
Housework and Child-Care Responsibilities • Today, over 50% of all marriages in the United States are dual-earner marriages - marriages in which both spouses are in the labor force. • In 2001 more than 76% of employed mothers with children under age 6 worked full time • The second shift is the domestic work that employed women perform at home after they complete their workday on the job.
Deciding to Have Children • Society's bias is to assume having children is the norm. • Infertility affects nearly five million U.S. couples, or one in twelve couples in which the wife is between the ages of fifteen and forty-four. • 44% of pregnancies are intended, 56% are unintended.
Question • What do you think is the ideal number of children for a family to have?
Question • How important is having children to you? • Important • Somewhat important • Not important
Primary Reasons for Teen Pregnancy: Microlevel • Many sexually active teens don’t use contraceptives. • Teenagers may receive little accurate information about the use of contraception. • Some teenage males believe females should be responsible for contraception. • Some teenagers view pregnancy as a sign of male prowess or as a way to gain adult status.
Myths of Teenage Fathers • They engage in sexual activity early and often. • They sexually exploit unsuspecting females. • They have a need to prove their masculinity.
Myths of Teenage Fathers • They have few emotional feelings for the women they impregnate. • They are rarely involved in caring for and rearing their children.
Question • If a man and woman have sex relations before marriage, do you think it is: • Always wrong • Almost always wrong • Not wrong at all