1. Social Institutions

2. Social institutions are established or standardized patterns of rule-governed behavior. They include the family, education, religion, and economic and political institutions.

3. Functions of Institutions
Simplify social behavior
Provide social relationships and roles
Act as agencies of coordination and stability
Control behavior
Example – Family

4. How behavior is regulated - Age at marriage Source: United Nations World Marriage data 2015, Priceconomics

5. How marriage and family is defined?
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6. Why it matters?
Marriage and families are seen of core institutions in any society –
Historical view:
Family is seen as a basic institution
Marriages create families

7. Marriage A general definition –
Marriage is a legally recognized social contract between two people, traditionally based on a sexual relationship and implying a permeance of the union
However, meaning of marriage and expectations associated with it vary significantly. Example- common law marriage

8. Sociologist define family as…
Socially organized group (joined by blood, marriage, cohabitation, or adoption) that forms an emotional connection
Basic economic unit of the society

9. Two basic forms of family
1. Family of orientation – determined by birth
2. Family of procreation – formed through marriage

10. Composition: types of Families
Nuclear family: nucleus or core upon which larger family groups are built
Extended family: family in which relatives live in same home as parents and children

11. Sociological views on what constitutes a family
Structural functionalist and Symbolic interactionist conceptualize family as a group in which participant view themselves as family members and act accordingly.
Functionalist-
Families provide vital functions to groups and society
Interactionist focus on subjective experience of belonging to a family

12. What constitutes a family?
The American view (Powell et al. 2010)
2010 Survey(Indiana University researchers)
98% - traditional family
83% Unmarried couples with children
40% unmarried couple without children
64% gay couples with children
33% gay couples without children

13. American view on family
Furthermore the survey revealed that having children was as key indicator in establishing family status.
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14. American view on family
A vast majority (76%) believe that family is the “most important” element of life – 2010, Pew research Center .
Most respondent also stated that their family is at least as close (45%) or closer (40%) than family they grew up in.

15. What constitutes marriage

16. Marriage partners – Cultural norms
Monogamy – most common form (78% cultures)
Polygamy – parts of Africa and Asia and middle east
Polygyny – although sanctioned by culture – not common (less than 10%)
Polyandry – very rare

17. Marriage Partners/ Spouses
Polygamy: when an individual has several husbands or wives simultaneously
Polygyny: marriage of a man to more than one woman at the same time
Polyandry: marriage of a woman to more than one husband at the same time; extremely rare
Marriage Partners/ Spouses

18. Composition: Number of partners/ Spouses
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

19. Where is Polygamy practiced?
Mormons in the US Shows such as “Big love” and “Sister wives” – make it seem like polygamy is common among Mormons. However, it is overestimated. Estimated -37,500 Mormons involved in Polygamy. This number is declining

20. Changing norms about marriage
2010 Pew research survey Survey – Changing views about marriage
39% agreed that marriage is becoming obsolete
Why??
Single parenting and Cohabitation is on a rise

21. Kinship Patterns: Whom Are We Related?
Kinship: state of being related to others
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 important

22. Residency and line of descent
Unilateral or bilateral?
Unilateral
Patrilineal – Patrilocal residence
Matrilineal – Matrilocal residence
Ambilineal

23. Authority Patterns: Who Rules?
Patriarchy: males are expected to dominate in all family decision making
Matriarchy: women have greater authority than men
Egalitarian family: family in which spouses are regarded as equals

24. Examples of matrilineal societies
The Asante, or Ashanti, of Ghana are one of the few matrilineal societies in West Africa in which women inherit status and property directly from their mothers.
The Minangkabau of Sumatra, Indonesia, are the world’s largest matrilineal society., In Minangkabau society, the man traditionally marries into his wife’s household, and the woman inherits the ancestral home.
Matrilineal societies in India are typified by the Khasi in Meghalaya state and by the traditional Nayar in Kerala.

25. Sociology in the real world – Evolution of TV families
What was common in these TV families?
Type of family?
Living arrangement?
Marital status?
Gender role?
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26. Portrayal of Nuclear families(Donna Reed show & Father knows best) Single parents (My three sons), not divorced or unwed
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27. Changes in the portrayal of family
“An American Family” 1973
Deal with divorce and sexuality (son comes out as gay)
1980s saw mix of shows focused on traditional families (Family ties and the Cosby Show) and less traditional families (Married with children, Roseanne)

28. A snapshot of changing family in media

29. Variation in family life
Ideal family (Census 2010)
99.8% believe in traditional family
However
66% live in household with two parents
3% children live with cohabitating parents
27% single parent families

30. The American Family today: Pew research center

31. Single parents Census data (2010)
27% children live in single parent households
23% live with mother (10% - cohabitating boyfriends)
4% live with fathers (20% cohabitating girlfriends)
Living with stepfather/ mother
4% (3 million children) live with guardians – 54% are guardians are grandparents)
Why is this relevant ?

32. Cohabitation

33. Cohabitation Estimated 7.5 million people in 2011 Changing perceptions
Only 38% think cohabitation negatively society (2010)
Who are those cohabitating
Majority non-Hispanic with no high school diploma and grew up in a single-parent households (census 2010)

34. Impact of cohabitation
Motivation
Save money
Trial run for marriage
Outcome
85% marry
Little effect on success of marriage
Delay in getting married

35. Same-sex couples Since 2000, 50% increase in same sex marriages
Better reporting
Greater acceptance
1% US household are same-sex
Variation by sate

36. Staying Single 25-29 age group - never married (2010)
62% women (11% of total population of this age group)
48% men (19% of total population of this age group)
More acceptance for men than women
Labels for women – “Old maid”
Racial differences

37. Functionalist Perspective
Main idea – families play a key role (function) in stabilizing societies
George Murdock – survey of 250 societies
Family serves 4 functions for society:
Sexual
Reproductive
Educational
Economic

38. Sociological Perspectives on the Family
Focus on role of power within the family
Engels: family the ultimate source of social inequality due to its role in transfer of power, property, privilege

39. Conflict Perspective
Family reflects inequality in wealth and power found within society
View family as economic unit that contributes to social injustice =Transfer or power and prestige

40. Conflict Perspective
In wide range of societies, husbands exercise power and authority within the family
The number of American troops killed in Afghanistan and Iraq between 2001 and 2012 was 6,488. The number of American women who were murdered by current or ex male partners during that time was 11,766. That’s nearly double the amount of casualties lost during war. (Source: FBI reports )
Marxists argue that the nuclear family performs ideological functions for Capitalism – the family acts as a unit of consumption and teaches passive acceptance of hierarchy.

41. Symbolic Interactionisn
Family is not a concrete objective reality
What people consider as family (also expectations from family) is subjective
The theory explains how we occupy statuses in the family and in accordance with the role expectations (for example role of a mom)

42. Challenges family face
Divorce and remarriage
Steady increase in divorce, peaked in 1980
Greater acceptance
Trend towards decline
Increase in age at marriage
Increased education levels for those who marry

43. Intersection of Race and Class
Southern states have higher marriage and divorce rate
Highest among Native Americans and Alaskan natives, followed by African Americans and Whites
Highest among lower education level and those who marry young

44. Race and Family

45. Race and Family: Birth among unmarried women

46. Reasons for Divorce Financial stress
Births of children – financial and emotional stress (having twins)
Decline in marital satisfaction
Impact on children
They are more like to divorce

47. Remarriage 19% have second marriages
91% after divorce, 9% after death of spouse
Most marry within 5 years of marriage
Who remarry – more men or more women?

48. Problems within marriage and family
Domestic violence – Intimate partner violence
More women are victimized
1 in 4 women have experienced some IPV in lifetime
IPV often starts are emotional abuse and leads to other forms of abuse
Structural Functionalism cannot explain such events

49. Profile of IPV victims Who are they? IPV is grossly underreported Race
Income (unemployment)
High rates of depression
Where it happens? - mostly home
Often involves substance abuse
IPV is grossly underreported

50. 2010- 3.3 million reported cases of child abuse (5.9 million children)
Forms of Abuse
Neglect (78%)
Physical abuse (11%)
Sexual abuse (8%)
Psychological maltreatment(7%)
Medical neglect (2%)
Most neglected are infants – high dependency- shaken baby syndrome
81% perpetrators are parents