1. Family
Macionis, Sociology, Chapter Eighteen

2. Family Concepts Family Kinship Family Unit
A social institution found in all societies that unites people into cooperative groups to oversee the bearing and raising of children
Kinship
A social bond, based on blood, marriage, or adoption
Family Unit
A social group of two or more people, related by blood, marriage, or adoption, who usually live together . U.S. Census definition of family

3. Family Variations Extended family Nuclear family Families of affinity
Includes parents and children as well as other kin. Also called “consanguine families”
Nuclear family
Composed of one or two parents and their children. The predominant family form. Also called “conjugal family”
Families of affinity
People with or without blood ties who feel that they belong together and want to define themselves as a family

4. Structural-Functional Analysis
The family serves basic functions
Socialization – creates well-integrated members of society
Regulation of sexual activity – maintenance of kinship and property rights, incest taboos found in all societies
Social placement - births to married couples are preferred
Material and emotional security – home can be a haven for people
Critical evaluation
Glosses over the great diversity of family life, how other institutions are taking over its roles and negative aspects like patriarchy and family violence

5. Social-Conflict Analysis
The family perpetuates social inequality:
Property and inheritance – concentrates wealth and reproduces class structure
Patriarchy – to know their heirs men must control women who still bear the brunt of child rearing and housework duties
Racial & ethnic inequality – endogamous marriage shores up racial hierarchies
Critical evaluation
Ignores that families carry out functions not easily accomplished by other means

6. Micro-Level Analysis of the Family
Symbolic-Interaction:
Opportunities for sharing activities helps build emotional bonds
Social-Exchange:
Courtship & marriage as a negotiation to make the “best deal” on their partner
Critical evaluation
Misses the bigger picture, family life is similar for people in similar social backgrounds and varies in predictable ways

7. STAGES OF FAMILY LIFE Courtship
Arranged marriages versus romantic love
Homogamy: marriage between people with same social traits
Settling in
Ideal vs. Real marriage
Childrearing
Industrialization transformed children from assets to liabilities
Later life
Empty nest
Sandwich generation – spends as many years caring for their children as for their aging parents

8. DIVORCE In The U.S. Nine Out Of Ten Persons Will Marry.
Four Out Of These Marriages Will End In Divorce.
Individualism on the rise
Romantic love often subsides
Women are less dependent upon men
Many of today’s marriages are stressful
Divorce is socially acceptable
Legally, A divorce is easier to get
Those at the highest risk of divorce are young people who marry after a short courtship

9. REMARRIAGE
Four out of five people who divorce remarry, most within five years.
Remarriage often creates blended families, composed of children and some combination of biological parents and stepparents.
Although blended families require that members adjust to their new circumstances, they offer both young and old the change to relax rigid family roles.

10. Violence Family Against women Against children
Of 791,000 reported accounts of abuse between intimate partners, 85% are against women
32 percent of all women murdered are the victims of their partners, or ex-partners
All states have marital rape laws, half have “stalking laws” on the books
Against children
3 million children a year are abused, 1 million of these involve serious harm including 1,100 deaths
Abusers are as likely to be women as men with no simple stereotype

11. Alternative Family Forms
One-parent families
28 percent of U.S. Families with children under 18 have only one parent in the household
75 percent of these families are headed by women
Cohabitation
10 percent of all couples, or 5.6 million, only 50% decide to marry
Gay and lesbian couples
Although some European countries accept same-sex marriage the U.S. Congress has banned it. Some states are legalizing it.
Singlehood
In % of U.S. Women aged were single, by 2003 the number had risen to 75%

12. “When the door of happiness closes, another opens, but often times we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us.” – Author Unknown