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Explore the diverse facets of contemporary American families influenced by sociological theories, changing roles, and societal norms. Delve into kinship systems, marriage, divorce, and the evolving concept of family.
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Chapter 15, Families • Defining the Family • Comparing Kinship Systems • Sociological Theory and Families • Diversity Among Contemporary American Families • Marriage and Divorce • Changing Families/Changing society
Variation in 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.
Extended Families • Common among groups that share labor and economic resources to survive. Examples: • African-American othermothers who assist bloodmothers by sharing mothering responsibilities. • Compadrazgo or godparents among Chicanos.
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.
Functionalism and the Family • When society undergoes rapid change, families become disorganized and break down. • The family is shaped by society. • The high divorce rate and the number of single parent households are the result of social disorganization.
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.
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.
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.
Families Are Changing • 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.
Female-headed Households • Result of the high rate of teen pregnancy and the high divorce rate. • Teen mothers are less likely to marry today than in the past. • Teen mothers are among the most economically and educationally disadvantaged groups in U.S. Society.
Female-headed Households • Divorced women experience a decline in income and most receive little financial support from their former husbands. • 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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. • Most couples agree that childcare should be shared, but only 38% of couples think that housework should be shared.
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.
Divorce • Sociologists estimate that 1 in every 2 marriages made today will end in divorce. • Divorced men are more likely than women to remarry and to remarry faster. • Despite the emotional pain and economic struggle women experience following divorce, most are glad that their marriages ended.
Family Violence • The majority of domestic violence cases go unreported. • It is currently 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 discourage reporting and keep the victim in the relationship.
Violence in the Family Two perspectives: • Family violence approach - violence occurs in families because the society condones violence. • The feminist approach - places inequality between women and men at the center of analyses of violence in the family.
