Unit 4: The Family

List the two main family forms and changes.

1) THERE IS NO REAL "TYPICAL" FAMILY IN WESTERN SOCIETY TODAY. 2) Individuals and couples can choose not to get married and not have children

Men and Housework

Men tend to see their participation in housework in relation to their wives' housework, while women see their housework as necessary to family maintenance.

The Industrial Revolution created a division between work and home. Explain it.

Men were associated with the public world of wage-earning work. Women were relegated to the private world of managing a household and raising children, work for which they were not paid -- cult of domesticity.

Men and Childbearing

Men's participation with their children increase as children age. However, the increase of men's perceived share in the housework has to do with their work as fathers, and not as husbands.

Polygyny

a system of marriage that allows men to have multiple wives

Polygamy

a system of marriage that allows people to have more than one spouse at a time.

polyandry

a system of marriage that allows women to have multiple husbands.

nuclear family

(a.k.a the "traditional" family) is a family consisting of a father and mother and their biological children a couple and their dependent children, regarded as a basic social unit.

Men's share in the housework has increased significantly. How so?

1924: 10% of working class women said their husbands spend no time doing housework. 1960s - 1970s: mens' housework increased from 104 - 130 minutes per day (women's decreased from 7.4 - 6.8 hours). Today: Less than 2% of working-class women believe that their husbands spend no time doing housework. 15% of men admitted that they performed less than 1 hour of housework per week.

Andrew Cherlin (1948-present)

Andrew J. Cherlin is an American sociologist, focusing in economic disparities.

The future of families involve:

Divorce Blended Families (stepfamilies) Gay + Lesbian Couples Multiracial Families

The increase of men's perceived share in the housework has to do with their work as fathers, and not as husbands. Provide evidence.

Fathers spend on average 5 hours a week with their children, compared to mothers who spend on average 20 hours per week. 55% of fathers say that being a parent is more important to them than it was for their fathers. 70% percent of fathers say that they spend more time with their children today than their fathers spent with them. 21% of fathers say that they would prefer to care for their families if they had enough money to live comfortably

Feminism and Families

Feminist theory suggests that gender roles are learned in the family. The family acts as battleground for power over decisions about housing, raising children, household division of labor, money, etc

Talcott Parsons on the Functionalist Vision of the American Family

He believed family was necessary to modern industrial society because it fulfilled society's need for productive workers (men) and child bearers (women).

What created a division between work and home?

Industrial Revolution

What are the two transitions in the meaning of marriage

Institutionalized Marriage to Companionate Marriage From Companionate Marriage to Individualized Marriage

There is no typical family in western society today. Why or, at least, give examples.

Multiple generations can live together. Families can consist of step-siblings and half siblings; there are many single-parent families.

Individuals and couples can choose not to get married and not have children. Explain the obviousness of why this is okay, lol.

Our choice of romantic or life partner does not depend solely on our attraction to someone, how well we get along with him/her, or our shared life goals. There are also legal or cultural factors that affect our choice.

The "Not-So-Subtle" family revolution brought about what?

Significant changes in the organization of work and family life since the 1970s: increasing participation of women in the workforce (30% in 1950; 60% by 1990; 65% by 2009) decreasing marriage and fertility rates (106.2 births per 1000 in 1950; 67 births per 1000 by 2009) increasing divorce rates

Polyamory/Polyamorous

a consensual, openly conducted, multiple-partner relationship in which both men and women have negotiated access to additional partners outside of the traditional coupled relationship

Loving vs. Virginia (1967)

Supreme Court ruled laws prohibiting interracial marriage unconstitutional

What was The Nuclear Family in the 20th century?

The Nuclear Family: a response to the economic boom following World War II.

Median age at first marriage

The median age at first marriage was 25.9 for men in 1900, The median age at first marriage was 21.9 for women in 1900 The median age at first marriage was 28.2 for men in 2010, The median age at first marriage was 26.1 for women in 2010 Men and women are postponing marriage

How have society's ideals about marriage changed over time?

Two transitions in the meaning of marriage The decline of practical marriage has not diminished the symbolic importance of marriage.

The deinstitutionalization of American Marriage

Written by Andrew Cherlin. Explains social norms relating to marriage have weakened.

Arlie Hoschchild (1989)

Wrote The Second Shift: Working Families and the Revolution at Home The "supermom strategy" "The Overextended Families"

The decline of practical marriage has not diminished the symbolic importance of marriage. How so?

capstone rather than a foundation of one's own life. AND weddings as individual achievement.

Cohabitation

couples who are living together as a romantically involved, unmarried couple.

Diversity in families

endogamy exogamy

extended family

familial networks that extend beyond the nuclear family and may extend beyond the home. a family that extends beyond the nuclear family, including grandparents, aunts, uncles, and other relatives, who all live nearby or in one household.

Stepfamilies/Blended Families

families in which at least one partner has children from a previous marriage living either in the home or nearby.

Early modern families depended heavily on what?

kinship networks

civil union

legally recognized unions specifically intended to offer similar state-provided legal rights and benefits as marriage.

domestic partnerships

legally recognized unions that guarantee only select rights to same-sex couples.

Exogamy

marriage to someone from a different social group. Loving vs. Virginia (1967) Miscegenation

Endogamy

marriage to someone within one's social group (race, ethnicity, class, education, religion, region, or nationality).

kinship networks

systems of relationships between people related by blood and marriage Family relationships, based on biology, affinity or law, that form distinctive patterns (grandparents, parents, grandchildren) and networks; members of kinship groups may feel a special bond with and responsibility for other kin.

Cult of Domesticity

the ideal woman was seen as a tender, self-sacrificing caregiver who provided a nest for her children and a peaceful refuge for her husband, social customs that restricted women to caring for the house

monogamy

the practice of marrying (or being in a relationship with) one person at a time

Miscegenation

the technical term for interracial marriage, literally meaning a "mixing of kinds."

What is the second shift?

unpaid labor inside the home that is often expected of women after they get home from working at paid labor outside the home. the idea that there are two work shifts for females. They go to work, come back and feed, bathe, and put the kids to bed. They have to cook, clean, and do laundry