Chapter 11- Families and Society PDF

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Chapter 11: Families and Society 

Family o two or more individuals who live together and have a legally or normatively recognized relationship  May be based on marriage, birth, adoption o Reproduction of a community and citizenry o Socialization and transition of culture o Care of the young and old o Contribute to the economy as consumers o Allocation of social roles o Extended families: one or more parents, children, other kin, several generations, living in the same household  Eastern/southern Europe, Africa, Asia, Central/Latin America  In the United States, more common in lower income, rural immigrant, minority families o Nuclear families: parents living with biological children, apart from other kin  Northern/Western Europe, Canada, United states, Australia

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Marriage o legal or culturally normative relationship between two individuals  Functions: economic cooperation, emotion intimacy, sexual relations  Legitimatized by law, religion, cultural norms o Endogamous marriage: limited to partners who are members of the same social group o Monogamy: person may have only one spouse at a time o Polygamy: person may have more than one marital partner at a time  Polygyny: man may have multiple wives  Polyandry: women may have multiple husbands o Serial monogamy: practice of having more than one wife or husband, but only at a time; characterizes patterns in the United States

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Parson’s Sex roles in U.S kinship o Family is a “factory of personalities”  Women socialized into expressive roles (e.g., emotion work)  Men socialized into instrumental roles (e.g., task work)  Complementary roles are positively functional  Ensure cooperation rather than conflict  Status of family derived from male’s position

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o Parsons worried that social change in roles could have negative consequences  Fundamentally changes economic structure with dual income Feminist/conflict theories o Emerged from women’s movement during the 1970s o Sexual division of labor: dividing production by gender (men produce, and women reproduce)  Designating different spheres of activity, the “private” to women and “public to men  Gives males privileged access to money, status, independence, opportunity His and her marriages o His marriage: defines himself as burdened, constrained, while experiencing authority, independence, and right to sexual, domestic, and emotion services of life o Her marriage: defines herself as fulfilled through marriage, while experiences dependence and subjugation to husband o Stress indicators  Married women, unmarried men score highest  Unmarried women, married men score lowest The family evolves o Pre-industrial/agricultural: families were social and economic units  Multiple generations, children valued for production, enduring marriages o Industrialization/urbanization: families shrink as children become a cost rather than a wage-earning benefit o Nuclear family model: mother-as-homemaker and father-as-breadwinner evolved among middle class families in the 19th century  Less common among working-class families  Post-World War II era, suburbanization, economic growth, consumption, “baby boom”  Black families segregated into urban areas, barred from subsidized mortgages (recall redlining)  The female mystique: women’s discontent born of exclusion/marginalization in the workplace, feelings of unfulfillment  Primarily middle-class, white women Social class and Childbearing o Concerted cultivation: middle-class; negotiation, discussion, questioning authority, cultivation of talents through activities, autonomy  Sense of enlightenment, higher skilled careers, negotiate with people in authority o Accomplishment of natural growth: working-class; directives, obedience, meet basic needs, unstructured play, independence

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 Lower skilled jobs, respect for authority and obedience Student debt and Family formation o Students graduating with higher levels of debt than ever before o 14% responded that loans delayed marriage o 20% responded that they delayed having children because of loans o Among low income Pell-grant recipients:  19% indicted they delayed marriage  24% delayed childbearing due to debt Domestic violence o Physical or sexual abuse committed by one family member against another  Adults towards children, spousal, among siblings, adult children against elderly parents  1/3 women, 1/4 men have experienced IPV (intimate partner violence)  Cyclical: about 30% may become abusers  11% of elderly experience abuse/neglect o Leading cause of homelessness nationally, especially for women...