14. Families and Intimate Relationships PDF

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Sociology Final Exam Notes Lecture 13 – Families and Intimate Relationships Family 1. Traditional Nuclear Family - male breadwinner, children, stay-at-home wife 2. Family of Agrarian Society - many children, to help farm Oxford Definition: - a group consisting of parents and children living together in a household Social Sciences Definition - a group of individuals related to one another by blood ties, marriage or adoption that form a unit, where the adult members are responsible for the upbringing of children Family or Household? - not the same thing - Household: Composed of one or more people who occupy a housing unit. Not all households contain families - Family households: consist of two or more individuals who are related by birth, marriage or adoption although they also may include other unrelated people - Non-family households: consist of people who live alone or share their residence with unrelated individuals (students sharing a flat) - Problem: households that consist of unmarried couples living together could be counted as nonfamily households even though they might share many characteristics of a family Romantic Love a Basis for Marriage - romantic love as opposed to passionate love (and its ultimate function: generating babies) - romantic love: idealization of the object - coincidence in the West thanks to the spread of popular novels - not a natural part of human experience; social and historical influences shape it Intimacy: historical records - in premodern Europe marriage usually began as a property arrangement, then raising children, and ended in love/ Few couples married for love, but many grew to love each other - by contrast, in most of the modern West, marriage begins with love, then raising children (if there are children), and ends about property (by which point love is absent or a distance memory) - examples: Common for widows/widowers to marry the surviving and unmarried sister/brothers of the defunct spouse Some New and Bizarre ideas - blending and harmony between the sphere of sexuality and love - open and emotional communication lay foundation for intimacy - Ideally: emotional relationships with (one or few) children

Sociology Final Exam Notes Reasons for Increased Lone Households - people are waiting longer to get married, if they choose to marry at all - married couples are more likely to get divorced than they were in 1970s - most of elderly people live alone after the death of a spouse Average size and composition of households reflects social and economic changes - an economic squeeze may prolong the time adult children living at home (or moving back to parents place) - increase in divorce rates: a rise in the divorce rates may increase the number of single-person household/single parents families - decline of marriage rates: relaxed social rules about marriage may boost the number of unmarried couples setting up house - decrease of fertility rate: increase of childless couples/individuals - aging society: elderly living alone - gender and sexual equality: same-sex families Demographical Trends Behind Family Differentiation - differentiation of family structures and relationships is connected with demographical trends 1. Union Formation: cohabitation, people living together in a sexual relationship without being married and marriage 2. Parenthood 3. Union Disruption: separation and divorce 4. Aging Population The Decline of Marriage - for younger cohorts, marriage does not seem to have any relevance as setting for sexual expression - furthermore, marriage is no longer seen as the only appropriate arrangement for childbearing. Many people who intend to have a child do not feel any rush to marry, and pregnancy is not a very strong determinant of marriage either Rising of Cohabitation - over time, cohabitation becomes increasingly popular and accepted by the society; normative form of entry into union - cohabitation is not necessarily competing with marriage - the degree of legal recognition of cohabiting couples and their children differs widely across countries - in most western societies, long-term cohabitation is more typical of economically disadvantaged couples  it is not just because of the cost of wedding but cost of divorce Childbearing - fertility rates are declining - total fertility rate: the average number of children that would be born to a woman over her lifetime if she were to survive from birth through the end of her reproductive life TFR = 2.1 (2.1 children per woman on average) - beginning from 1990’s, in western countries, TFR is below the replacement level

Sociology Final Exam Notes - slight increase during the 2000’s but the 2008 economic crisis had a strong negative effect on fertility during the last years The Increase of Divorce - the increasing economic independence of women made divorce increasingly possible - in some countries permissive legislation contributes to the normalization of divorce, also by reducing the economic cost of divorcing - divorce rates are not direct index of marital unhappiness: there are reasons for unhappy couples not to divorce, such as financial costs, emotional consequences, presence of children Aging Population - increasing median age of the population of a given region/country shifts the distribution of the population toward an older age - declining fertility - rising life expectancy - complex households including more than one nuclear family are still present in southern Europe, as well as in Central and Eastern Europe - this is also given by the necessity of taking care of older parents in a context where the welfare state does not provide support for caring elderly people  moving into child’s family Problems with giving a definition of family - due to the continuum of family variations across societies and cultures no single definition can encapsulate such a dynamic term - the underlying theme is the fact that a family, people are sharing resources and responsibilities such as living together, pooling economic resources and caring for young/elderly people Providing a clear definition is:  politically relevant. It is crucial for the political debates on civil rights (especially for homosexual couples (possibility of marriage and adoption) and on family polivies (parental leave)  Scientifically relevant. Also relevant for analytical aims (How to operationalize family) Sociological Approaches to Family Studies 1) Functionalist (Parsons) - family is an institution with important tasks (functions) in reproducing social order - industrialization: family is no longer an economic unit of production, but it is more focused on reproduction and socialization - Talcott parsons: Family is devoted to Primary Socialization: process through which children learn social norms Personality Stabilization: emotional caring - Nuclear-breadwinner family model: is more efficient in such a context: it adapts easily to the needs of the flexible economy (Ideological version of the family) - Criticism: no tools to understand phenomena such as increasing fivorce rates, single parent families, same sex unions (Increasing diversity) 2) Family According to Marxist Theories

Sociology Final Exam Notes - nuclear breadwinner family rises to meet capitalists desire of making profits Distinction between: Private Sphere: housework and childcare (women) Public Sphere: workplaces outside home (men)  Growing gender inequality: based on male breadwinner model of family  when women move into paid employment we don’t observe equal share of tasks in the family but women’s double burden of work and family Criticism: as for functionalists, attention on just one type of family + do not explore family practices 3) Feminist Approaches - 1970’s to 1980’s - challenged the functionalists – no attention to family structures but on family relationships - 3 main themes: 1. the domestic division of labour  crystallization of the male breadwinner model: man providing for the whole family through employment outside the home 2. The unequal power relationship within the family  domestic violence 3. The caring activities  not only childcare but also caring for else’s psychological well-being 4) Doing Family Approach - according to David morgan, more advantages in studying family practices: activities perceived by family members as part of the family life This perspective: 1. Catches the fluid characteristic of family life and network 2. Focuses on how people do families 3. Looks at the individuals and how they create family roles and routines Family displays: ways in which people demonstrate to others that they are enaged in appropriate family practices and relationships  Doing families is within the social life: need for social recognition Gender Inequalities reflected in Employment rates - institutional problem: absence of reconciliation policies allowing parents to meet work and family task - childcare services - parental leave system - smart working - cultural problem: the breadwinner model is still ihin our atitutdes towards the divisions of roles in the family - traditional gender role attitudes - gate-keeping  women protect their power in family by excluding men from housework and childcare responsibilities - trust in unknown others  trust in professionals caring for our children Women, and particularly mothers, are segregated into:  part-time jobs: allow to reconcile work and family tasks (lower salary)

Sociology Final Exam Notes  less renumerative jobs/less paid jobs: because of employers perceived cost of hiring women instead of men + self selection in family-friendly jobs  end of work career: difficulties to reconcile, not fully dedicated to her job Parents and Gender Inequality in earnings - gender pay gap: on average, women’s gross hourly pay is 17.5% lower than men’s one - this is especially true in families with dependent children - because women earn, on average less than men – they tend to remain economically dependent of their husbands Women still do most of the housework and childcare, even in dual earner couples  housework and childcare are women’s second shift - the fact that women are still perceived as the natural primary caregiver of their children creates social expectations about the divison of housework tasks - such expectations are obstacles to satisfy work-family preferences of: - career oriented women: women with high preference of being involved in work - family oriented men: men with high preference for being involved in family Towards a new Fatherhood - even in countries with generous parental leave (Sweden) fathers are not prone to take papa leave for fear of losing promotion opportunities or upsetting their employer - however, it seems some cultural changes are leading fathers to be more active in their parental role, especially among higher educated fathers  Fathers’ increasing involvement in family planning goes hand in and with men far less identifying themselves as the family breadwinner, in favour of a higher involvement in their roles of fathers and partners

Goldscheider et al. The Gender Revolution - compares 2 approaches, which offer different interpretations of the changes in family processes (Fertility, marraiges, divorces), happening in Europe and US in 1970’s 1) Second Demographic Transition 2) Two Steps Gender Revolution Second Demographic Transition - intoruced b Ron Lesthaeghe and Dirk van de Kaa in 1986 has profoundly influenced research on family and fertility behaviour - the First demographic transition refers to the original declines in fertility and mortality in western countries from the 18th and 19th centuries onward, as a consequence of the first industrial revolution - the second demographic transition is an interpretative approach of changes in family institution, based on a deep change in associated values since 1960-70’s - SDT addresses the changes in the patterns of sexual and reproductive behavioru which occurred in Nort America and Western Europe in the period from about 1963, when the birth control pill and other cheap effective contraceptive methods were adopted by the general population

Sociology Final Exam Notes - the spread of modern contraception facilitated changes in values and attitudes related to sexuality and reproduction which in turn, have led to the disconnection of marriage from procreation, and to the rise of new living arrangement (cohabitations) - combined with the increased role of women in society and the workforce, the resulting changes have affected the demographics of industrialized countries resulting in a decline in fertility The Two steps Gender Revolution - industrial revolution created the private and public spheres (Marxist theories) Public: work, politics, education  dominated by men Private: home, family  Women’s sphere First part of gender revolution: women enter into the public sphere. It took place during the 1970s’ Second part of gender revolution: men enter the private sphere. Has been delated, starting now - outcomes of the first part of the revolution (same characteristics of SDT) weakening of the family by: - delaying/reducing marriage, delaying/reducing fertility for women’s career plans in the labour market. Marriages become less stable (increase in divorce rates) - approval for nonmarital sexual relationship  increase in cohabitation and non-marital childbearing Second part of Gender Revolutino - evidence in Western countries that men are increasingly involved in housework-related roles (but more in childcare than in routines household chores) - significant evidence for younger, more highly educated fathers - second step of the gender revolution is ongoing - future scenario: new balance may emerge based on more equal relationship between men and women in both private and public spheres, strengthening family institution Comparing SDT and Gender Revolution - in the first half of gender revolution, the two approaches account for many of the same circumstances They differ in 1. theoretical approaches to explanation - SDT focus on values and prefernces - response to the devopment of new values  rooted in structural conditions (it privileges ideation over structural conditions in explaining human behaviours) - gender revolution: focus on social structure: - gender revolution is structural, the private and public spheres are separated and are the results of industrialization as a force structuring adult gender relationship 2. understanding the role of family in adult life - SDT: implies that adults rewarding relationships should not be considered among individual;s higher-order needs – individualism nad self-realization comes first

Sociology Final Exam Notes - Gender Revolution: there is evidence that family is still the most important value among young people. Studies show the increasing importance of fatherhood in men’s lives and a great increase in fathers’ involvement in childcare 3. views of the future SDT: negative view of the future of families: ultra low fertility will be permanent and marriage will become less and less important because of the rising of non-material needs and individualism associated with economic growth Gender Revolution: SDT trends are transitional. The continued progress of gender revolution will stabilize fertility and unions thanks to more mature (egalitarian) relationships between men and women - maybe more cohabitations and less marriages, but this does not mean more marital instability: also marriages are unstable  need for policies to sustain the new types of family Why the Delay in the second half of Gender revolution 1. Men have had little preparation for domestic roles, while women were usually employed prior to marriage (prepared for labour market) 2. Norm violation is more (financially) costly for men: competition with colleages, financial risks 3. Pressure for change in the private sphere is more recent: because of the structural changes in the world economy (globalization increased uncertainty in the labour market), couples need 2 incomes now 4. Gatekeeping: women tend to protect their control over the private spheres...