McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 1 FAMILY SYSTEMS WHAT “FAMILY” HAS MEANT AND WHAT IT MEANS TODAY 14

McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 2 The Family: A Global View Composition: What Is the Family? –Family: set of people related by blood, marriage, adoption, or some other agreed-upon relationship

McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 3 Self-Test Do you want to get married? Why or Why not? Do you feel as though society demands you get married? If your parents could choose your husband or wife, who would they choose? (specific individual / type of individual) How different would your choice be?

McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 4 The Family: A Global View –Nuclear Family: Consists of one or both parents and their children Extended Family: family in which three or more generations live in same home (becoming increasingly rare) –Monogamy: form of marriage in which one woman and one man are married only to each other Serial Monogamy: when a person has several spouses in his or her lifetime, but only one spouse at a time

McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 5 Your second cousin Vinny

McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 6 The Family: A Global View Composition: What Is the Family? –Polygamy: when an individual has several husbands or wives simultaneously (common) –Two types of Polygamy: –Polygyny: marriage of a man to more than one woman at a time –Polyandry: marriage of a woman to more than one husband at the same time (rare)

McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 7 The Family: A Global View Kinship Patterns: To Whom Are We Related? –Kinship: term describing being related by marriage, birth, or adoption Bilateral Descent: both sides of a person’s family are regarded as equally important Patrilineal descent: only the father’s relatives are important Matrilineal descent: only the mother’s relatives are significant

McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 8 The Family: A Global View Authority Patterns: Who Rules the family? –Patriarchy: males dominate –Matriarchy: females dominate –Egalitarian family: family in which spouses are regarded as equals

McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 9 Sociology of Marriage Functionalist look at marriage as a societal need that serves six purposes: 1.Protection: nurture young / next generation 2.Socialization: establish norms and values 3.Reproduction: making new people 4.Regulation of sexual behavior: when and who 5.Affection and companionship: Life partners 6.Provision of social status: Who we marry says a lot about our place in society.

McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 10 US Households by family type Figure U.S. Households by Family Type, 1940—2003 Source: Fields 2004; see also McFalls, Jr. 2003:23

McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 11 Sociology of Marriage CONFLICT THEORISTS Marriage perpetuates wealth, status and class distinctions and protects rigid class boundaries. Homogamy is subtly enforced by society to repress the lower classes.

McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 12 Mate Selection Incest Taboo: social norm common to virtually all societies prohibiting sexual relationships between certain culturally specified relationships

McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 13 Mate Selection The Love Marriage –Believed by Americans to be the only “right” way to choose a partner Coupling of love and marriage not universal America: Men still had to ask the father’s “permission” (ask for her hand) Increasingly unsuccessful (50% divorce rate)

McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 14 Figure Percentage of People Aged 20 to 24 Ever Married, Selected Countries Source: United Nations Population Division 2005

McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 15 SELF TEST IDENTIFY FOUR REASONS FUNCTIONALISTS GIVE FOR MARRIAGE. WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN POLYGNY AND POLYANDRY? WHY ARE ARRANGED MARRIAGES MORE SUCCESSFUL?

McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 16 Arranged Marriages Still common in many parts of the world: India, Japan, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan. Facts: –Initially husband and wife had no choice today more flexibility about choice of spouse –In poorer societies many marriages are still forced –Arranged marriages tend to be very stable Because they are better or divorce is frowned upon??

McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 17 Diverse Lifestyles Figure Unmarried-Couple Households by State Source: T. Simmons and O’Connell 2003:4

McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 18 Alternatives to “traditional” families Cohabitation Remaining Single Marriage without Children Lesbian and Gay Relationships

McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 19 Social Policy The Alternatives to traditional marriage: –Domestic Partnerships –Civil Unions (Marriage Light) Same sex couples receive most of the rights of heterosexual married couples. –New Jersey offers both options

McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 20 Social Policy and The Family Gay Marriage – The issues Social acceptance of homosexuality has been slow to develop Opponents claim gay marriage is a threat to the institution of marriage. Opposition is usually rooted in religious beliefs about marriage. Proponents believe that if two consenting adults wish to marry one another the government should not stop them (equal protection under law) = 14 amendment)

McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 21 Social Policy and The Family –Gay Marriage: Sociological Insights Functionalists: 1. Religious views toward marriage cannot be ignored 2. Hundreds of thousands of gay people want to marry their partners Conflict theorists: denial of right to marry reinforces second-class citizenship

McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 22 Lately… –The Trend After suffering defeat around the nation same-sex marriage is staging a comeback –2014, Gay marriage lega in seventeen states[2] (California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington), as well as the District of Columbia [2]California ConnecticutDelawareHawaiiIllinoisIowaMaine MarylandMassachusettsMinnesotaNew Hampshire New JerseyNew MexicoNew YorkRhode Island VermontWashingtonDistrict of Columbia –Thirty-one states have constitutional amendments banning gay marriage. –Six states have laws banning gay marriage. Federal government now recognizes gay marriage for tax and inheritance purposes and over 1,000 other federal rights

McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 23

McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 24 Divorce Factors Associated with Divorce Impact of Divorce on Children –About a third of children benefit from divorce because it lessens exposure to conflict Greater social acceptance of divorce More liberal divorce laws Fewer children Greater family income More opportunities for women

McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 25 Divorce Statistical Trends in Divorce –Divorce rates increased in late 1960s, started to level and decline since late 1980s –About 63% of all divorces in U.S. remarry

McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 26 Divorce US DIVORCE RATES The divorce rate for first marriage is 41% The divorce rate for second marriage is 60% The divorce rate for third marriage is 73%

McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 27 Divorce State with the lowest divorce rate –Massachusetts (2.4 per 1,000 population) State with the highest divorce rate –Nevada (9.1 per 1,000 population) Percentage of US population that is divorced –10% Median number of years people wait to remarry after their first divorce –For Males: 3.3 yrs –For Females: 3.1 yrs. Average length of divorce proceedings –1 year.

McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 28 –Step / Blended families: Children from previous relationships brought into a new marriage: Rising rate of divorce and remarriage led to significant increase in “step” relationships The most common form of a blended family is a mother and stepfather arrangement, since mothers often maintain custody of the children The “Cinderella Effect” – abusive treatment of stepchildren

McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 29 Marriage and Family Child-Rearing Patterns in Family Life –Parenthood and Grandparenthood One of most important roles of parents is socialization of children Recently, U.S. witnessed extension of parenthood with adult children living at home –“Boomerang generation”or –“full-nest syndrome”

McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 30 Marriage and Family Child-Rearing Patterns in Family Life –Adoption Process that “allows for the transfer of the legal rights, responsibilities, and privileges of parenthood” to a new legal parent or parents Process that “allows for the transfer of the legal rights, responsibilities, and privileges of parenthood” to a new legal parent or parents

McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 31 Divorce: Figure Rise of Single-Parent Families in the United States, Source: Bureau of the Census 1994:63; Fields 2001:7