Ch. 10: Family  Global perspective  Family difficult to define  Western view  Polygyny- husband has more than one wife  Polyandry- wife has more than one husband  Trobriand Islanders

 Family= 2 or more people who consider themselves related by blood, marriage, or adoption  Household= people who occupy the same housing unit or living quarters  Nuclear family  Extended family  Family of orientation  Family of procreation  Marriage= a group’s approved mating arrangements, marked by a ritual

 Mate selection- norms of who marries whom  Endogamy  Exogamy  Incest taboo  Descent- how related to relatives  System of descent  Bilateral system  Patrilineal system  Matrilineal system

 Inheritance- rights of inheritance follow lines of descent  Authority  Patriarchy- authority vested in males  U.S. patterns becoming more egalitarian  Naming patterns reflect patriarchy

Functionalism  Family is universal b/c it fulfills basic needs  Economic production  Socialization of children  Care of the sick and aged  Recreation  Sexual control  Reproduction

 Functions of the incest taboo  Avoid role confusion  Exogamy  Extends social networks of bride and groom  Dysfunctions  Isolation of nuclear family  Emotional overload

Conflict theory  Gender and power  Power struggle over housework  Arlie Hochschild- “the second shift”  Affects marital relationship and wife’s self- concept  Men engage in strategies of resistance  Waiting it out  Playing dumb  Needs reduction  Substitute offerings

Symbolic interactionism  Gender and meanings of marriage  Closer husband and wife’s earnings, more likely share housework  Husband earns less than wife, does least amt. of housework

The family life cycle  Love and courtship in global perspective  Romantic love- 88% of societies  Role of love differs from one society to another  Sexual attraction and labels  Love and arranged marriage in India

 Marriage  Love is socially channeled  Homogamy- tendency of people w/ similar characteristics to marry one another  Propinquity (spatial nearness)  94% of Americans marry someone from same racial background

 Childbirth  Education and income relationship  Marital satisfaction  Social class affects how couples adjust to arrival of children  Working class vs. middle class

 Child rearing  3 of 5 U.S. mothers work for wages  Married vs. single mothers similar child care arrangements  Day care  Nannies  Social class- parents socialize their children into the norms of their work worlds  Birth order- tendencies  First vs. second or later born

Family in later life  The Empty Nest  Married couple’s domestic situation after the last child has left the home  Difficult time of adjustment for women?  Rubin found that women’s satisfaction generally increases when last child leaves the home

 The not-so-empty nest  Prolonged education  Household costs  42% of all U.S year olds live w/ their parents (boomerang children)  Widowhood  Women more likely than men  Deal w/ “who am I” again

Diversity in U.S. families  Social class is primary distinction  African American families  Upper vs. middle class  Poverty- men unemployed, have few skills, women likely single mothers  45% of families headed by women  Fictive kin- stretching of kinship  Marriage squeeze- imbalance in sex ratio

 Latino families  Social class and country of origin significant  Cubans more likely headed by married couple than Puerto Rican families  Culture- language, religion, and family orientation  Machismo- emphasis on male strength and dominance

 Asian American families  Structure almost identical to white families  80% married couples, 13% female-headed  20 countries and cultures  Nuclear family w/ Confucian values  More permissive than Anglos in child rearing  Native American families  Conflict- traditional values or assimilate  Permissive parenting  Elders play active role in family life

 One-parent families  % lived w/ both parents  % lived w/ both parents  High divorce rate and increase in births to unmarried women  Strain and poverty- most one parent families headed by women  Kids more likely drop out of school, get arrested, have emotional problems  Cycle of poverty

 Families w/out children  About 20% of married women do not give birth  Education  Race-ethnicity  Why remain childless by choice?  Not by choice- adoption, surrogate mothers, high tech reproduction

 Blended families  Members were once part of other families  Gay and lesbian families  Denmark first to legalize same sex marriage  Vermont first legalized “gay unions”  Uneven distribution in U.S.  1/5 th previously married to heterosexuals  Have children?  22% lesbian couples, 5% gay couples

Trends in U.S. families  Postponing marriage  Cohabitation  Adults living together in a sexual relationship w/out being married  Change in views on sexual morality  High divorce rate= marriage is fragile  8 X more common today than 30 yrs ago  Essential difference?  Substitute for, step towards, trial, coresidential dating

 Unmarried mothers  Industrialized nations experienced sharp increases in births to single women  Customs/values play large role  Grandparents raising grandkids  Skipped generation families  Parents are ill, homeless, incarcerated, addicted to drugs  Sandwich generation and elder care  Responsible for own kids and aging parents

 Divorce  Problems in measurement  ½ as many divorces are given each year as marriages performed  When look at entire pool, divorce rate is 2%  Varies by where you live and race-ethnicity  Symbolic interactionism and the misuse of statistics  Self-fulfilling prophecy

 Children of divorce  More hostility, anxiety, don’t do as well in school (accurate study?)  Conflict ridden intact families vs. kids of divorce  Live w/ same sex parent= better adjustment  As adults, less likely marry, more likely divorce

 The Absent Father/ Serial Fatherhood  Divorced father maintains high contact 1 st year or two after divorce-> meets new wife  Only 1/6 of kids who live apart from dad see him every week  Most divorced fathers stop seeing their kids altogether

 The Ex-Spouses  Spouse who initiates divorce gets over it sooner  Cost of living increases  Remarriage  Most who divorce remarry, likely remarry other divorced people  Men more likely than women to remarry  Bring kids into new marriage, more likely to divorce again

Two sides of family life  Battering (spouse abuse)  Husbands and wives equally likely attack one another  Wives more often seek medical attention  Why stay in abusive relationship?  Child abuse  Each year about 3 million U.S. kids are reported as victims of abuse/neglect

 Marital rape (intimacy rape)  14% of married women report that their husbands have raped them  Most commonly occur during a separation or break up of a marriage  3 types- nonbattering rape, battering rape, perverted rape  Incest  Sexual relations between certain relatives  More common when socially isolated  Most common offenders?

 Successful marriages  2/3 married Americans report they are “very happy” w/ their marriages  Long term marriages- 15+ years  351 couples interviewed  300 happy, 51 unhappy  Why stay together?  What makes a happy marriage?  Spend time together, express appreciation, committed to promoting one another’s welfare, religious, deal w/ crisis in positive manner