1. Chapter 3 American Families in Social Context

2. Chapter Outline  Historical Events  Age Structure  The Economy and Social Class  Race and Ethnicity  Religion

3. Families and Historical Events  Historical events and conditions affect options, decisions, and everyday lives of families.  Changes in society over time have meant changes in how family is defined, experienced, and understood.  A historical perspective allows us to understand past and present social forces as they influence the family experience.

4. Families and Historical Events  During the Depression, couples delayed marriage and parenthood and had fewer children.  During WWII, married women were encouraged to get jobs and place children in daycare.

5. Families and Historical Events  1950’s – people married young and had large families.  1960’s and 1970’s – marriage rates declined and divorce rates increased.  The present historical moment is one of adaptation to cultural changes and the economic ups and downs affected by globalization of the economy.

6. Age Structure  Historical change involves not only specific events but also the basic facts of human life.  One of the most dramatic developments is the increased longevity of the population.  In 1900, the life expectancy was 47 years.  An American child born in 2006 is expected to live to 78 years.

7. Age Structure  Aging itself has changed: the years that have been added to our lives have been healthy and active ones.  Results of increased longevity:  More years invested in education  Longer marriages  Longer retirement  Increased need for care for the elderly

8. Economic Inequality  Economic inequality is rising in the United States.  Not only lower income sectors, but also the middle class have failed to gain ground.

9. The Economy and Social Class  Life Chances: Opportunities for education, work, and health care depend on economic resources.  Income and class position also affect access to technology.  42% of people who make under $30,000 per year have access to broadband, whereas nearly 85% of those with incomes of $75,000 or more have access to broadband.

10. The Economy and Social Class  Class differences in economic resources affect a variety of options and choices:  Timing of leaving home  Marrying  Assuming caretaking responsibilities  Retirement  Nutrition  Safe and comfortable residences  Healthcare  Education  Recreation

11. Economic Change and Inequality: Income  6.4% of families were classified as “working poor” in 2007.  Programs of assistance for the poor have been cut.  Increased economic risk and volatility  Uncertainty about the future of such benefits as pensions and health insurance  Work being shifted to low-wage nations

12. Median Household Income, 1967 to 2008

13. Number in Poverty and Poverty Rate: 1959-2008

14. Flat Daddies and Mommies  Cardboard cutouts of a parent deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan serve as symbolic placeholders in the families left behind.  Flat Daddies and Flat Mommies serve as a reminder and emotional focus for the duration of a family member’s absence.

15. Facts about Families: Military Families  Military families today dramatically illustrate how history and current events impact family life.  Half of U.S. military service members are married, and almost three-quarters have children.  Effects include separation, risk of injury/death, anxiety, and financial issues.

16. Facts about Families: Women’s Roles in Military Replace with hi-res of this section of Figure 3.3

17. Race  Race is a social construction reflecting how Americans think about different social groups.  The term race implies a biologically distinct group, but scientific thinking rejects the idea that there are races distinguished by biological markers.

18. Race The 2000 census used five major categories: 1.White 2.Black or African American 3.Asian 4.American Indian or Alaska Native 5.Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander

19. Ethnicity  Ethnicity refers to cultural distinctions often based in language, religion, and history.  For U.S. Census purposes, there are two major categories of ethnicity: Hispanic and non-Hispanic.

20. Minority  African Americans, Hispanics, American Indians, Asians, and Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders are often grouped into a category termed “minority group.”  This conveys the idea that persons in those groups experience some disadvantage, exclusion, or discrimination in American society as compared to the dominant group: non-Hispanic white Americans.

21. Diversity in the United States  In 2008, the United States was:  65.6% non-Hispanic white  12% black  4.3% Asian  Less than 1% American Indian/Alaska Native  Less than 1% Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander  Hispanics are 15.4% of the population

22. Child Population  The child population of the United States is more racially and ethnically diverse than the adult population and will become even more diverse in the future.

23. African American Families  Between 2007-2008, African American households saw their median income decline 2.8% to $34,218.  A higher proportion of black children than those of most other racial/ethnic groups lives in poverty (33.9%), although by 2008 more Hispanic children were living in poverty (39.6%).  71% of births in 2007 were to unmarried mothers.  Divorce rates are higher as well

24. African American Families  Black women are more than twice as likely as whites to suffer the death of an infant.  Only 35% of African American children are living with married parents, compared to 75% of white and 64% of Hispanic children.  In the 1960s, more than 70% of black families were headed by married couples. In 2008, only 31.1% were.

25. Latino (Hispanic) Families  Many Latinos are recent immigrants from Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, or South America.  A majority of U.S. Latinos were born in this country, but 40% are foreign born.  Binational families are those in which some family members are American citizens while others are undocumented immigrants.

26. Latino (Hispanic) Families  28.3% of Latino children are poor, compared to 17.6% of all children.  Only 62.3% of Latinos graduate from high school and 13.3% from college.  Hispanics are most likely to be employed in service level occupations and to have higher rates of unemployment.

27. Latino (Hispanic) Families  Tend to marry at young ages  Birth rates are the highest of any racial/ethnic group, but vary by within- group ethnicity.  Half of births to native-born Latinas in 2007 were to unmarried women.  Families are more likely to be extended and larger than those of non-Hispanic whites.

28. Latinas  Latinas do not necessarily limit their lives to traditional roles. They enter the labor force and undertake important activities in the community.

29. Asian American Families  Asian Americans are one of the fastest growing of all racial/ethnic groups.  Asian Americans have the highest proportion of college graduates, high representation in managerial and professional occupations, and family incomes that are the highest of all racial/ethnic groups.

30. Asian American Families  A higher percentage of Asian Americans are married than among general population.  85% of Asian American children are very likely to live in married-couple families.  Only 10% live in single-mother families, 2% in single-father families, and 2% live with neither.

31. Asian American Families  Asian Americans are most likely of all groups to be caring for older family members.  More diversity exists among Asian Americans in terms of language, religion, and customs than in in other broad racial/ethnic group.  Discrimination against Asian Americans still exists, and Asian Americans are more likely than whites to be poor.

32. Pacific Islander Families  Major Pacific Islander groups in the U.S. are Native Hawaiians, Samoans, and Guamians.  Hawaiians are American citizens by birth, as are American Samoans, Guamians, and those born in the North Mariana Islands.  Relatively young population (median age is 29.8 years old); about 29% of the population are children  Just under half are married (47.4%).

33. Pacific Islander Families  Pacific Islander children are more likely to reside in family households (31.5%) than the U.S. population generally (21%).  Similar rates of marital stability as compared to non-Hispanic whites  Smaller proportion of college graduates  Median household incomes is slightly higher ($55,273 in 2007), and poverty is slightly higher (15.7%) than for the general U.S. population.

34. American Indian (Native American) Families  At present there are over 500 federally recognized tribes.  In the latter half of the 19th century, American Indians were forcibly removed from their original tribal lands to reservations, and some tribes were dissolved.  Assimilation policies led to the creation of boarding schools, where American Indian children were placed for years with little contact with family or tribe.

35. American Indian (Native American) Families  Significantly lower median income at $35,345  One-third have incomes of more than $50,000.  Poverty rate is high—25.3% on average for the years 2006-2008.  Childhood poverty rate for all children under the age of 18 is 46.1% in female-headed families.

36. American Indian (Native American) Families  One of the poorest groups, with poverty rate highest among those living on reservations  High rates of adolescent births and nonmarital births  Infant mortality rate and childhood mortality rate are higher than overall U.S. rates.  Higher rate of cohabitation and lower percentage of married couples  In 2006, 51% of children lived with two parents.  High rates of intermarriage and mobility of residence

37. Native American Families  These rural Navajo reservation children are learning to weave baskets to sell to tourists.  Even within a racial/ethnic group, families and individuals may differ in the degree to which they retain their original culture.

38. Miller’s Typology of Urban Native American Families  Traditional families retain Native American ways, with minimal influence from the urban settings,  Bicultural families develop a blend of native beliefs and necessary adaptations.

39. Miller’s Typology of Urban Native American Families  Transitional families have lost Native American culture and are becoming assimilated to the white working class.  Marginal families have become alienated from Native American and mainstream cultures.

40. Arab American Families  Arab American population is a little over 1.5 million.  Often the subject of media stereotyping and government suspicion  Have long been stereotyped as exotic, mysterious, and dangerous  After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, Arab American families have been the subject of harassment, intimidation, vandalism, physical attacks, discrimination, and murder.

41. Arab American Families  Family is very important, and Arab American families are often extended beyond American borders.  Religion is an important factor; 65% of Arab Americans are Christian.  Arab American women are employed at lower rates than other women.  Traditional gender roles are emphasized.

42. Immigration  Many immigrants to the United States start small businesses.  This immigrant family owns a bakery.

43. White Families  Non-Hispanic whites are the majority in the United States at 66% of the population.  The non-Hispanic white family appears more likely to be headed by a married couple and less likely to include family members beyond the nuclear family.  Older than other groups  Lower fertility rates

44. White Families  Higher incomes than all groups but Asians and lower poverty rates than all other racial/ethnic groups.  White women are less likely than black and Hispanic women to bear children as teenagers or to have nonmarital births.  In 2008, almost 73% of non-Hispanic white children lived with two parents.

45. Multi-Ethnic Families Multiracial families are formed through:  interracial marriage  formation of a nonmarital partnership  the adoption of children across racial lines

46. Multi-Ethnic Families  7% of married-couple households include spouses whose racial/ethnic identities differ.  15% of opposite-sex partners and male same- sex partners and 13% of female same-sex partners report different racial/ethnic identities.  The proportion of multiracial children in the population is likely to grow with increasing intermarriage and perhaps a greater tendency to acknowledge a mixed racial/ethnic heritage.

47. Religion  83% of American adults surveyed in 2007 indicated a religious identification, although in 2008 that percentage dropped to 75%.  Religious couples are less prone to divorce, because on average they enjoy higher marital satisfaction, face a lower likelihood of domestic violence, and perceive fewer attractive options outside the marriage than their less religious counterparts.  17% of the U.S population belongs to a mainstream Protestantism denomination.

48. Religion  7% identify with evangelical Protestantism.  Roman Catholics makes up 18.8%, Mormons 1%, and Jews.08% of the population.  “Born-again” Christians are less likely to cohabitate, but their divorce rates do not differ.  More than half of Jews do not have Jewish spouses, and in those marriages, more than 2/3 of children are not being raised as Jews.  Islamic families maintain a religious family life in a culture that does not share their beliefs.

49. Religious Diversity  At Arlington National Cemetery, Buddhist monks escort the coffin of an American soldier killed in Iraq.  The number of Buddhists more than doubled from 1990 to 2001 as the Asian American population increased through immigration.

50. Islam  Volunteers at the American Muslin Women’s Association work on a project for immigrants and refugees.  The organization works to reshape the roles of women in Islam.  Some Muslim women have adopted the head scarf to express an identification with Islam.

51. Quick Quiz

52. 1. _______________ are now the largest minority group in the United States. a) Latinos b) African Americans c) Asian Americans d) American Indians

53. Answer: a  Latinos are now the largest minority group in the United States.

54. 2. Much that is written about “the family” or “the American family” is grounded in common patterns among: a) middle class whites. b) African Americans. c) upper class Asian Americans d) Native Americans.

55. Answer: a  Much that is written about “the family” or “the American family” is grounded in common patterns among middle class whites.

56. 3. __________ percent of American adults surveyed in 2008 indicated a religious identification. a) Fifty b) Sixty c) Seventy-five d) Eighty

57. Answer: c  75% percent of American adults surveyed in 2008 indicated a religious identification.