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Chapter 11
The Family
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2. Family, Marriage, and Intimate Relationships
The family is a universal social institution that is central to social life.
The family is defined as a group of people who are related by descent, marriage, or adoption.
Sociologists are interested in the relationship between family and marriage, the forms that families take, how families are formed and maintained, how they expand, contract and even dissolve.
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Basic Concepts
Marriage: the socially acknowledged, approved, and (often) legal union of two people. Marriage takes many shapes:
Monogamy involves a family with one wife and one husband.
Polygamy involves multiple spouses.
Polygyny involves multiple wives.
Polyandry involves multiple husbands.
Cenogamy involves group marriage.
Endogamy involves marrying a person with similar social characteristics
Exogamy involves marrying someone with different social characteristics
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4. Family, Marriage, and Intimate Relationships
Intimate relationships involve partners who have a close, personal, and domestic relationship.
Passionate love tends to involve idealization of the one who is loved.
Companionate love develops more gradually and is tied less to sexual attraction and more to rational assessments of the one who is loved.
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5. Broad Changes in Marriage and the Family
There has been a significant and consistent decline in marriage and nuclear families.
In 1950, married couples constituted 78% of all households.
In 2010, only 48% of all American households were married.
In 1960, 72% of those 18 and older were married.
In 2010, 51% of those 18 and older were married.
In 2010 only 20% of households contained nuclear families
Figure 11.2
Figure 11.3
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6. Perspectives on the Decline of Marriage
Changes in marital patterns are said to be the result of reflexive modernity, a social characteristic of Western society where people are free of social constraints and flexible in terms of relationship patterns.
Andrew Cherlin: the deinstitutionalization of American marriage – social norms relating to marriage have weakened.
Anthony Giddens: self-disclosing intimacy– much higher levels of intimacy due to the practice of “telling all” makes those relationships more intimate and more vulnerable; A pure relationship is one that is entered into for its own sake, or for what each partner can get from it, and those involved remain in it only as long as each derives enough satisfaction from it. .
Figure 11.1
Figure 11.2
Figure 11.3
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7. The Resilience of Marriage
There are many who remain committed to the traditional notion of marriage:
Marriage naturalists
Marriage planners
Roughly 20% of Americans are marriage naturalists
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8. Non-family Households
Non-family households are those in which a person lives either alone or with nonrelatives.
1970: 13% of all households
2011: 27% of all households
Increasing affluence
The growth of individualism
Rising status of women
Social connection through communications technology
Mass urbanization
An aging population
Figure 11.4
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The Family Household
The family household is a residential unit of people occupying a domicile who are related by blood, marriage, or adoption.
In 1940, 90% of households were family households.
In 2003, 68% of households were family households.
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10. Alternate Forms of Families
Cohabitation
Couples sharing a home and a bed without being legally married.
Single-Parent Families
The United States has the highest rate (29.5% of all households with children), while Japan has the lowest rate (4.9%).
Figure 11.5
Table 11.1
Table 11.2
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11. Alternate Forms of Families
Non-resident parents and the masculinization of responsibility
Stepfamilies involve two adults who are married or cohabiting, and at least one of them has a child from a previous marriage living with them.
A blended family includes some combination of children from the partners’ previous marriage or relationship along with one or more children of the currently married or cohabiting couple.
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12. Alternate Forms of Families
Lesbian and Gay Families
Gay and lesbian couples tend to be more reflexive and democratic in their family decisions and practices that straight couples.
The Netherlands was the first country to extend marriage rights to same-sex partners (in 2000).
Vermont was the first state in the United States to legalize same-sex marriages.
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Theorizing the Family
Structural/Functional
The family is a structure that benefits society as a whole
The family is viewed as an efficient and effective structure that clearly defines expressive (female) and instrumental (male) roles
Families provide various functions for society:
Replenishment of the population
Physical and emotional care for children
Socialization of children
Share resources to meet economic needs
Intergenerational support
Control of sexual behavior
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Theorizing the Family
Conflict/Critical Theory
The family is an arena of gender conflict.
A key issue is the conflict over resources, and males have traditionally been the winner.
Issues based on gender, age, and power dynamics, along with the division of labor, lead to inequality in the family.
The young in a family are dominated by the adults.
Feminist theory argues that the gendered relationships within the family are a mirror of patriarchy in overall social structure.
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Theorizing the Family
Inter/actionist Theories
The family is a setting for a variety of interactions that hold together over time.
A key factor is the roles played within each family.
Exchange theory and the family – analyze the choices made by and in families on the basis of rewards and/or costs.
Family members are likely to confront role ambiguity.
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16. Problems in the Family: Conflict
Conflict often resonates within the family, Typically in the form of divorce, violence, an oppression
There are five basic models of family conflict:
The Deficit Model contends that deficits in socialization contribute to family conflicts.
The Overload Model argues that because the public sphere has declined, the private sphere (including the family) has become responsible for correcting the ills of society.
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17. Problems in the Family: Conflict
The “Cultural Tension” Model suggests that the strains traceable to family commitments and responsibilities, coupled with an increased emphasis on self and individualization results in family conflict.
The “Conflict of Interest” Model analyzes the tension between structural inequalities in society and increased inequality in the family.
The “Anomie” Model suggests that family conflict stems from internal stressors, failed negotiations, and a lack of organizing within the family uni.
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18. Problems in the Family: Abuse and Violence
Violence within the family can be either emotional or physical.
Child Abuse
Can be in the form of physical and/or emotional abuse, sexual abuse, and neglect
The most common forms are hitting a child with an object, kicking, biting, or hitting a child with fists.
There is often a cycle of violence and abuse toward children that stretches across several generations.
There are heavy social costs associated with child abuse, including the costs of providing social services and health care, including incarceration and treatment.
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19. Problems in the Family: Abuse and Violence
Domestic Violence
Involves exerting power over an intimate partner through intimidation, harassment, and/or physical violence.
Several generalizations can be made about domestic violence:
Women are 5 times more likely to suffer at the hands of an abuser
Women are 6 times more likely to be assaulted by intimates
Poor females between 16 and 24 are the most likely victims
Domestic violence is a major cause of homelessness
One third of all female homicide victims are killed by intimate partners
Elder abuse is a form of domestic violence.
In a large national study, about 10 percent of elderly respondents reported some type of abuse
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20. Problems in the Family: Poverty
There is a direct relationship between poverty and family structure.
Debate: does family structure cause poverty? Or does poverty cause problems that negatively influence family structure?
There is an increased likelihood of poverty for female-headed households, referred to as the feminization of poverty – a global phenomenon.
Figure 11.6
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Problems in the Family
Consumption and the Great Recession
Many families had a lot less to spend on consumption of all kinds.
Gender Inequalities
In the amount of time devoted to household tasks
In the variation in power and decision-making ability
Head-complement model
Junior/senior partner model
Figure 11.7
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Problems in the Family
Divorce
The United States has the highest divorce rate in the world.
Factors in divorce include the increasing cultural emphasis on the self and individualism, the decline in negative attitudes and values relative to divorce, and changing material circumstances surrounding the conditions of divorce.
Table 11.3
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Global Families
Just as the nation-state is eroding in the face of globalization, it could be argued that the traditional family is also declining in the face of globalization.
New hybrid forms of the family are being created to meet the demands of globalization.
Families are increasingly liquid.
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Global Families
Global Flows That Involve the Family
Entire families can move from one part of the globe to another with relative ease.
Individual family members can move to a different part of the world and then bring the rest of the family along later.
Individuals can immigrate in order to create a new family.
Transnational adoptions generally involve the flow of children from less to more developed countries.
Figure 11.8
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Global Families
Global Flows That Affect the Family
Global Migration
Global Human Trafficking
Global Economic structures
Global Conflict and the “marriage squeeze”
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