Chapter 15: The Family

Most Important Worldwide Changes in Family Patterns

1) Clans and other kin groups are declining in influence 2) There is a general trend toward the free choice of a spouse 3) The rights of women are more widely recognized, with respect both to initiating marriage and to making decisions within the family 4) Kin marriages are less common 5) Higher levels of sexual freedom are developing in societies that were formerly very restrictive 6) There is a general trend toward extending children's rights There may however be differences in the speed at which these changes are occurring in different societies, and reversals/counter trends are all occurring Given the ethnically diverse character of the US, there are considerable variations in family and marriage patterns within our country (striking difference between white and black family patterns)

Nuclear Family

A family group consisting of a wife, a husband (or one of these), and dependent children; two adults living together in a household with their own or adopted children In most traditional societies, the nuclear family was part of a larger kinship network

Extended Family

A family group consisting of more than two generations of relatives living within the same household or very close to one another When close relatives in addition to a married couple and children live in the same household or in a close and continuous relationship with one another May include grandparents, brothers and their wives, sisters and their husbands, aunts, nephews, and so on

Stepfamily

A family in which at least one partner has children from a pervious marriage (one of the adults is a stepparent), living either in the home or nearby Many who remarry become stepparents of children who regularly visit rather than live int eh same household Stepfamilies give rise to kin ties resembling those of some traditional societies in non-western country; children may now have two "mothers: and two "fathers"= their natural parents and their step parents Some stepfamilies regard all the children and close relatives from previous marriages as parts of their family

Patrilocal

A family system in which the wife is expected to live with or very near the husband's parents

Polygyny

A form of marriage in which a person may have two or more spouses simultaneously

Polygamy

A form of marriage in which a person may have two or more spouses simultaneously In over 80% early 1900s societies, polygamy was found

Polyandry

A form of marriage in which a woman may simultaneously have two or more husbands Much less common than polygyny

Family

A group of people directly linked by kin connections, in which the adult members take care of the children A group of individuals related to one another by blood ties, marriage, or adoption, who form an economic unit, the adult members of which are responsible for the upbringing of children All known societies involve some form of family system, although the nature of family relationships varies widely While in modern societies the main family form is the nuclear family, extended family relationships are also found

Kinship

A relation that links individuals through blood ties (lines of descent; mother, father, offspring, grandparents, etc), marriage, or adoption Kinship relations are by definition part of marriage and the family, but extend much more broadly While in most modern societies few social obligations are involved in kinship relations extending beyond the immediate family, in other cultures kinship is of vital import ace to social life

Marriage

A socially acknowledged and approved sexual relationship between two individuals; when two people marry, they become kin to one another, but the marriage bond also connects a wider range of kinspeople as well (blood relatives of one person become kin to the partner's blood relatives through marriage) Almost always involves two people of the opposite sex, but in some cultures, homosexual marriage is tolerated Marriage normally forms the basis of a family of procreation; it is expected that the married couple will produce and bring up children Some societies permit polygamy, in which an individual may have several spouses at the same time

Personality Stabilization

According to the theory of functionalism, the family plays a crucial role in assisting its adult family members emotionally Marriage between adult men and women is the arrangement through which adult personalities are supported and kept healthy; especially important in industrial societies since the nuclear family is often geographically distant from its extended in and cannot draw on larger kinship ties

Gay Parents vs Straight Parents

All but 2 US states allow same-sex couples to adopt children Children of same sex parents fare no better or worse (show no type of comparative disadvantage) than the children of heterosexual parents, provided the parents have a stable relationship Parental sexual orientation has no effect on ones capacity to be a loving parent; experiences at school and with peers are very similar to other children regardless of their parents romantic preferences Children of gay parents are just as happy, healthy, and academically successful as their peers raised by heterosexual parents, and they may have more flexible views of gender and gender-types behaviors

David Popenoe

Argues that family has changed for the worse since 1960, as divorce rates, non marital births, and cohabitation rates have increased while marriage and fertility rates have decreased He believes that these trends of the postmodern family underlie social ills such as child poverty adolescent pregnancy, substance abuse, and juvenile crime These postmodern family trends of increasing divorce rates and non-marital births have created millions of female headed households and have removed men from the child-rearing process- which is bad for the children Maintains that two parents- a father and a mother- is better for a child than one parents; fathers make distinctive, irreplaceable contributions to their children's welfare: they offer a strong male role model for sons, act as a disciplinarian for trouble-prone children, provide daughters for info about relationships, and teach children about teamwork, competition, independence, self-fulfillment,self-control, and regulation of emotions. Mothers teach their children about communion (feeling connected to others). Both needs can be met only through gender-differentiated parenting of a mother and father He and other conservatives elevate the married, two-parent family as the ideal family form and condemn nontraditional family forms (harmful to the children who live with gay or lesbian parents); states that marriage must be re-established as a strong social institution Argues that employers should stop relocating married couples with children and should provide more generous parental leave, and supports a two-tiered system of divorce law: marriages with young children should only be dissolvable by mutual agreement or on grounds involving a wrong by one party against the other (source of skepticism for feminists)

Single-Parent Households

As a result of increasing divorce rates and births before marriage, about 1/2 of all children spend some time in a single-parent family The vast majority of single-parent households are headed by women, because the other usually obtains custody of the children after a divorce Single-parent households are generally among the poorest groups in contemporary society; many single parents face social disapproval and economic insecurity (whether previously married or not) Single-parent household category is diverse: majority of never-marreid women live in rented accommodations, majority of widowed women are homeowners; the majority of single-parent households are the result of separation of divorce Growing minority of people choose to have a child or children without the support of a partner: "single mothers by choice" who possess enough resources to establish a single-parent household For the majority of single mothers, there is a high correlation between the rate of births outside of marriage and indicators of poverty and social deprivation (black families)

Divorce Rates

Based on the number of divorces per 1,000 married men or women per year Have fluctuated in the US in different periods: they rose after WWII, topped off before increasing steeply from the 1960s to 1980; has fallen somewhat since Not a direct index of marital unhappiness

Judith Stacey

Believes that the "traditional" or "modern" families of the 1950s (with a typical male breadwinning father, and a child-rearing stay-at-home mother) is a dated and oppressive institution Stated that the traditional, "modern" family had perpetuated the segregation of the sexes by extracting men from, and consigning white married women to, an increasingly privatized domestic domain Instead, the modern family has been replaced by a "postmodern" family (single mothers, blended families, cohabiting couples, lesbian and gay couples, communes, 2 worker families) Believes that this postmodern family is better suited to meet the challenges of the current "postmodern" economy and is an appropriate setting for raising children who need capable, loving parents regardless of they gender, marital status, or sexual orientation Believes that instead of condemning nontraditional forms, policy-makers should develop strategies to mitigate the harmful effects of divorce and single parenthood on children by restructuring work schedules and benefit policies to accommodate familial responsibilities, redistributing work opportunities to reduce unemployment rates, enacting comparable-worth standards of pay equity to enable women as well as men to earn a family wage, providing universal healthcare, prenatal and child care, and sex education, and rectifying the economic inequities of divorce

Black Families

Blacks have higher rates of childbearing outside of marriage (highest of all ethncity/race), are less likely ever to marry, and are less likely to marry after having a nonmarital birth, and have the highest birth rates These trends are important to sociologists because single parenthood in the US is associated with high rates of poverty Blacks are disadvantaged: circumstances of slavery prevented them from maintaining he cultural customs of their societies of origin, and even after emancipation, new forms of discrimination on against blacks, changes in the economy (ex: sharecropping) put them at a disadvantage The divergence between black and white family patterns has become greater since the 1960s Very low percentage of black families that contain a married couple, and the proportion of female-headed households has increased far beyond that of white families; female headed families are more prominently represented among poorer blacks perhaps due to a lack of "marriageable black men" One of the best predictors of whether parents marry after a non marital birth is the availability of eligible partners in a geographic area Black families are often embedded in larger and more complex family networks than whites, but these ties are a source of both support and strain; families adopt to poverty by forming large, complex support networks Older black women are most likely to live with and help raise grandchildren

Critiques of Functionalism

By emphasizing the important of family, functionalism undermines the importance of other social institutions in socializing children Neglects family forms that do not reflect the nuclear family, since families that did not conform to the white, suburban, middle-class ideal were considered deviant, including childless families or families in which husbands were not primary breadwinners

Census Data

Can tell what the statistical norm for families today, or those behaviors that are objectively more or less common in the US today

Feminist Approaches

Challenges the vision of family as protective and harmonious; explores the phenomenon of the captive wife and the damaging effects of suffocating family settings on interpersonal relationships; directed attention away from studying the structures of family, historical development of nuclear and extended family, and importance of kinship ties to examine the women's experiences in the domestic sphere Dominating family perspective during the 70s and 80s Freidan: wrote of "the problem with no name" during the 1960s: the isolation and boredom of many suburban American housewives trapped in an endless cycle of child care and housework (the "captive wife") Rather than acting as a cooperative unit based on common interests and mutual support, instead unequal power relationships within the family meant that certain members benefited more than others 3 main feminist themes: the domestic division of labor, unequal power relationships, and caring activities Mainly focused on trends within the domestic realm as opposed to trends and influences ouside the home

Consequences of Nonmarital Childbirth for Children

Children born to unmarried mothers are more likely to grow up in a single parent household, experience instability in living arrangements, live in poverty, have lower educational attainment, have sex younger, have a premarital birth, to be idle (neither in school or unemployed), have lower occupational states and income, and more troubled marriages and more divorced than those both to married parents Not the single mothers problem, but the economically disadvantaged conditions that both give rise to and follow from non marital childbearing

The Experience of Divorce

Divorce is almost always emotionally stressful, and may create financial hardship- especially for women "Uncoupling" refers to the social separation that occurs before the actual physical parting- at least one of the partners develops a new life pattern, following new pursuits and making new friends in contexts apart from the other (may involve keeping secrets or a relationship with a lover); often begins unintentionally Oftentimes, one individual, the "initiator", becomes more dissatisfied with the relationship than the other and creates an independent "territory" of actives Before uncoupling, the initiator may have tried unsuccessfully to change the partner by fostering interests and so forth; when this fails, the initiator believes that the relationship is fundamentally flawed and become preoccupied with the way in which the relationship or the partner is defective Opposite of falling in love

Third Phase

Emerged in mid-1700s from affluent families and persisted through the mid 1900s Gave rise to the type of family system widespread in the West today: family tied by close emotional bonds, domestic privacy, and child rearing Marked by affective individualism; sexual aspects of love became glorified within marriage instead of in extramarital relationships (in premodern Europe, marriage usually began as a property arrangement and then was about raising children, and then lastly about love; now is the other way around ) The family became geared to consumption rather than consumption as a result of workplaces being separate from the home Women became associated with domesticity, and men with being the breadwinner

"Postmodern Economy"

Employment has shifted from unionized heavy industry to non-unionized clerical service sectors, where oftentimes men can no longer earn enough to support the whole family and become dependent on a second income from the wife- especially during recessionary times where they may be prong to longer periods of unemployment The demand for clerical and service labor, escalation of consumption standards, increases in women's educational attainment, and continuing high divorce rates have led women to seek employment outside the home

Spousal Abuse

Has occurred at least during some point in almost a quarter of marriages, however this definition does not differentiate between severe acts (beating up and threatening with or using a weapon) or less severe acts (pushing, slapping, shoving) (majority of this percentage is from less severe acts) Women perpetrate about the same amount of violent acts as men; contrasts evidence that physical abuse is almost exclusively a male domain. - May be a result of sample error between two different groups of women: extreme abuse experienced by many shelter samples was patriarchal terrorism perpetuated by feelings of power and control, the violence reported in a national survey is common couple violence, which generally related to a specific incident and is not rooted in power or control

Children of Single-Parent Households

High proportion of children of single-parent households do not do as well as their two-parent counterparts largely for economic reasons, and for other reasons such as inadequate parental attention and lack of social ties Sudden drop in income associated with divorce for women = not as economically well off Weakened connection between child and father Strong support networks and extended family ties are not as available as thought Although children of single-parent homes are typically disadvantaged, it may be better for the children's mental health if parents are in extremely high -conflict marriages divorce rather than stay together

Asian American Families

Historically have been characterized by interdependence among members of the extended family; helps them to prosper financially, resulting in a median family income that is higher than that for non-hispanic whites As asian families become increasingly acculturated to life in the US however, it is predicted that they will come to resemble white families more and more Family concerns take priority over individual concerns in many asian cultures Chinese/Japanese women have much lower fertility rates than do any other racial or ethnic group, due partly to their high levels of educational attainment Asian women have lower non marital fertility than all other racial and ethnic groups and low levels of divorce

Divorce and Children

How conscientious the relationship is between the parents before separation, the ages of the children, whether there are other relatives or siblings, the children's relationship with their individual parents, and how frequently the children continue to see both parents all affect the adjustment process Children often suffer marked emotional anxiety right after their parent's separation, but these effects are relatively short-lived (preschoolers confused and frightened and blamed themselves, older children understood but were angry and worried about the effects on their own futures) At the end of a 5 year period, most seemed to be coping reasonably well with their home lives, but 1/3 remained dissatisfied, were subject to depression, expressed feeling lonely (even if parents got remarried) Almost all feel that they suffer from their parent's mistakes; those who managed the best had supportive relationships with one or both parents Majority of people with divorced parents did not have serious mental health problems; but divorce does have the following general effects on children: 1) almost all children experience an initial period of intense emotional upset after their parents separate. 2) most resume normal development without serious problems within two years after the separation, and 3) a minority of children experience some long-term problems as a result of the breakup that may persist into adulthood Divorce may benefit children growing up in high-conflict households while harming children whose parents have relatively low levels of marital conflict before divorcing

Purpose of Cohabitation

In the 80s and 90s, cohabiters said it was to be sure they were compatible for marriage Today, the main reason is because the partners love spending time together, and to share love, intimacy, and space

Same-Sex Couples

Increasing number of gay couple households About 1/5 of these households have children; most of which are the biological child of one of the two partners, while others are either stecjildren or adopted Majority of same-sex hush olds includes unmarried partners, since they are still denied the right to legally marry in most states Nation's first same-sex couple marriage in MA 35 states still ban same sex marriage

Native American Families

Kinship ties are very important; kinship networks constitute tribal organization that converse identity for Native Americans For those who live in cities or away from reservations, kinship ties may be less prominent Have the highest rates of intermarriage than any other racial or ethnic group High percentage of non marital fertility, but a low overall birthrate (the lowest of any ethnic group in the US) even though it used to be the highest Had the youngest mean age of birth High divorce rate and at a particularly high risk of domestic violence

Mexican American Families

Live primarily in multigenerational households and have a high birth rate Are more economically successful than Puerto Rican families, but less so than Cuban families More than half go all Mexican American women are n the labor force, mainly due to necessity rather than desire (would prefer the breadwinner-homemaker model but are constrained by finances)

Functionalism

Mandates that families perform important tasks that contribute to society's basic needs and help perpetuate social order Regards the nuclear family as fulfilling specialized roles in modern societies With the advent of industrialization, the family became less important a a unit of economic procreation and more focused on bearing, rearing, and socializing children Talcott Parsons: states that the two main functions of families are primary socialization and personality stabilization; regarded the nuclear family as best equipped to handle the demands of industrial society since the specialization of roles allows for the man to adopt the "instrumental" role as breadwinner and the wife assumes the "affective" or emotional support role in domestic settings (outdated and inadequate in today's terms, but made more sense in the post WWII time period)

Causes of Change in Family Patterns Worldwide

Many family forms exist today; in some remote areas, traditional family systems are essentially unchanged; in most developing countries however, changes are occurring rapidly Origins of change in family structure include: the spread of western ideals of romantic love, centralized government in areas previously comprising of autonomous smaller societies (governments attempt to a later traditional ways of behavior (ex: advocating smaller families, use of contraception, etc)), large-scale migration from rural to urban areas (weakens traditional forms and kinship systems), and employment opportunities away from the land and in organizations such as government bureaucracies, mines, plantations, and industrial firms disrupt family systems previously centered on landed production in the local community These changes are creating a worldwide movement toward the predominance of the nuclear family, breaking down extended family systems, and other types of kinship groups

Myths of the Traditional Family

Many people today feel that family life is being undermined; they contrast the apparent decline of the family with more traditional forms of family life Many admire the colonial family as disciplined and stable, but it suffered from the same disintegrative forces as its counterparts in Europe: especially high death rates meant that the avg. marriage was less than 12 years. Its discipline was rooted in the strict authority of parents over their children, which would seem exceedingly harsh by todays standards Victorian family of 1850s was also less than ideal, wives were virtually forcibly confined to the home; women were supposed to be virtuous, while men were sexually promiscuous; partners barely communicated. for poor families, they were exploited to work all day and barely had time for the home In the 1950s, the time of the "ideal" family, many women felt miserable and trapped in their oppressive domestic role. Lost jobs from WWII as soon as men came back again. Men were still emotionally removed from their wives and observed the sexual double standard (had a lot of sex but restricted their partners) and were barely home

Class-Based Cultural Practices

Middle-class and working-class parents have different cultural practices for raising children Social class, in addition to race and ethnicity, is also crucial to understanding the differences in family life in contemporary United States (Laureau's studies) Laureau emphasizes that the differences between working-class and middle-class culture do not reflect radically different values and priorities but, instead, aptly different levels of income and wealth; if poor and working-class people had more money, their child-rearing strategies would be likely to change

Middle-Class Children Raising

Middle-class parents tend to engage in "concerted cultivation" for child-rearing: work hard to cultivate their children's talents through many non-school based activities as well as continuous linguistic interaction As a result, middle-class children tend to develop a sense of entitlement and value an individualized sense of self; they become comfortable questioning authority and making demands on adults and institutions

Historical Perspectives on Families

Most premodern (pre-industrial) families existed in the extended form; premodern household size was much larger on average than it is today Children as young as age 7 or 8 oftentimes worked by helping their parents on the farm, or would leave their family early to engage in an apprenticeship or to do domestic work for others (rarely saw their parents again) Rates of mortality (number of deaths per 1000 of the population in any one year) for people of all ages was much higher; people died before 1, during child birth, and the notion of staying married until old age was not realized due to mortality; death shattered familial relations

Cuban American Families

Most prosperous of all the Hispanic groups but less prosperous than whites Most have settled in the Miami area, forming enclaves with one another The relative wealth of Cuban Americans is driven largely by family business ownership Have lower levels of fertility than non-hispanic whites and equally low levels of nonmarital fertility

Typical American Family?

No such thing in the modern 21st century; there is no one family form or structure that accounts for the majority of American households today Less "stay at home moms" Only 21% of families consist of a married man and woman with children under the age of 18

Single People and Happiness

Number of people living alone in the US has increased dramatically in rent decades Reasons: 1) people are marrying later than ever 2) the rise and stabilization of divorce rates over the past half century mean that many people are living on their own when their marriage ends 3) they graying of the US population is accompanied by growing numbers of older adults whose partners have died and who now live alone as widows or widowers Durkheim: social ties, esp. marriage and parenthood, are essential to one's physical, social, and emotional eel-being. Divorced and widowed people report more sickness, depression, and anxiety compared with their married counter parts, however much of this disadvantage reflects the strains that precede a martial transition as well as strains that follow from the dissolution (ex: financial worries or legal battles) People who live long-term alone by choice however find that living alone can promote freedom, personal control, and self-realization= all prized aspects of contemporary life -Have more social interaction than their married coutner parts that they sought out by choice (ex: hanging with friends, volunteering, arts events, classes, and other meetings that rounded out their lives) -Living along and choosing how and with whom they spend they time is a soguht-after luxury -People who live alone by choice ar eno better or worse than their partnered peers

Other Factors that Show a Positive Correlation to the Likelihood of Divorce

Parental divorce (people whose parents divorce are more likely to divorce) Premarital cohabitation (people who cohabit before marriage have a higher divorce rate) Premarital child-bearing (people who marry after having children are more likely to divorce) Marriage at an early age (people who marry as teenagers have a higher divorce rate) A childless marriage (couples without children are more likely to divorce) Low incomes (divorce is more likely among couples with low incomes)

Defense of Marriage Act

Passed by Bill C Allowed states to refuse to acknowledge same-sex marriages from other states, and defined marriages as one man and one woman at the federal level (this part was declared unconstitutional; but left states up to define marriage) Civil unions: allow gay people to have access to all of the state granted rights, privileges, responsibilities of marriage

Families Today

People who live alone Stepfamilies Single parents with children Grandparents who share a home with their grandchildren Gay and lesbian couples with/without children Cohabiters with/without children Divorced spouses who still live together because they cannot be economically dependent Communes (according to Stacey) Sociologists study what the "cultural" norm for families are, and why Nontraditional families have grown rapidly in number over the past half decade

Divorce

Recent decades have seen major increases in divorce rates and more relaxed attitudes towards divorce (Western marriage used to be regarded as indissoluble, today, most countries are making divorce easily available Used to be common for divorced women to move back to their parent's homes, today most set up their own households Men are more likely to remarry than woman; remarriage rate however is substantially lower for blacks: black children are half as likely as white childen to live with both parents or one parent and a step parent Has an enormous impact on children

Child Abuse

Refers to serious physical harm (trauma, sexual abuse with injury, or willful malnutrition) with intent to injure Cohabiting couples are no more less likely to abuse their children than married couples (3% of married couples admit to child abuse, but a high percentage of child deaths from abuse or neglect are not recorded) Almost half of all substantiated cases of child abuse and neglect fell into the neglect category (almost half), followed by physical abuse, and then sexual abuse A large majority of child abuse/neglect is perpetrated by the child's parents, and a smaller percentage is from other relatives of he victim Almost half of all child abuse victims are white, and a smaller percentage is black Reported cases of child abuse are declining from higher rates in 1994

Caring Activities

Regards the process of being attuned to someone else's psychological or physical well-being (grounded in love and emotion, but also require an ability to listen, perceive, negotiate, and be creative); often involves long spells of unpaid labor and these responsibilities limit women's ability to work for pay outside of the home Caregiving indirectly contributes to women's relative economic disadvantage in society Not only are women expected to do household chores, but are also expected to invest significant emotional labor in maintaining personal relationships

Contemporary Perspectives in the Sociology of Family

Second shift: refers to women's dual roles at work and at home Contemporary perspectives draw on feminist perspectives, but are not strictly informed by them; centered around the larger transformations in family forms, including the formation and dissolution of families, the evolving expectations within personal relationships, and shifting gender roles within families (traditional roles have converged and even crossed over, especially since the recent recessions have hit traditionally male industries such as financing and manufacturing harder than those of women's) Explores the rise in single parenting, the emergence of reconstituted families and gay families, and the popularity of cohabitation These transformations within our families are inextricably tied to the larger changes occurring at the societal, and even global, level

Why Has Divorce Become More Common?

Several reasons that involve the wider changes in modern societies and social institutions 1) Changes in the law have made divorce easier 2) Except for a few wealthy people, marriage no longer reflects the desire to perpetuate property and status across generations; as women become more economically independent, it is easier for them to establish a separate household (the fact that little stigma now attaches to divorce is partly the result of these developments and also adds momentum to them) 3) There is a growing tendency to evaluate marriage in terms of personal satisfaction; rising divorce rates do not indicate dissatisfaction with marriage, but an increased determination to make it a rewarding and satisfying relationship as well

No-Fault Divorce Laws

Some argue that no-fault divorce laws have helped recast the psychological context of divorce positively (reducing some of the hostility it once generated) but have negatively affected the economic position of women Laws designed to be gender neutral have had the unintended consequences of depriving divorced women of the financial protection provided under the old laws Although more women are working today, women are still more likely to put their careers second to their work as homemakers, perhaps causing them to lack the qualifications and earning power of men; the average standard of living for women falls after divorce, while the average standard of living for men increases following divorce

Marriage and Families in the United States

The US has long had high marriage rates (over 90% of people in mid 50s are or have been previously married) The age at which marriage occurs has risen over since the 1970s: possible reasons for the delay include increases in cohabitation among younger people, increases in post-secondary enrollment (esp. among women), women's increased participation in the labor force (many prefer to establish careers before marrying and starting a family, and they have also become more economically independent- somewhat deteriorating men's economic position) Modernization and a secular change in attitudes promote individualism and downplay the importance of marriage To say that we are increasing age of marriage is only in relation to the 1950s; it might therefore be more accurate to say that the 1950s generation married at a relatively young age as the age since the 1970 is more reflective of that of the 1890-1940 period Increase in cohabitation (couples who live together without being married); for most people in the US, cohabitation is seen as a precursor to marriage, yet a sizable minority also says they're not sure if they will ever marry their cohabiting partner An increase in proportion of people living alone in the US (especially in the 24-44 age group): reflects high levels of marital separation and divorce (more than 1 in every 4 households now consists of just one person) A substantial proportion of the population now lives either in single parent households or in stepfamilies compared to those living in a "traditional family" Increase and high proportion of women who work; dual career marriages and single-parents families are now the norm . The majority of women working outside the home also cares for one or more children ; the standard of living of many US couples now depends on the wife's income and her unpaid work in the home Women having children later on in life and are leaving larger gaps between the birth of children (birth rates rose sharply after WWII and again during 1950s)

The Domestic Division of Labor

The allocation of tasks among household members, in which women often specialize in homemaking and childrearing and men specialize in breadwinning Although domestic division of labor existed before industrialization, capitalist production caused a sharper distinction between the domestic and work realms, resulting in a crystallization of "male spheres" and "female spheres" as well as the power relationships that persist today Until recently, the male breadwinner model has been widespread in most industrialized societies Questions the concept of the symmetrical family: the belief that, over historical time, family roles and responsibilities are becoming more egalitarian Women still bear the main responsibility for domestic tasks and enjoy less leisure time than men, event hough more women are working in pair employment outside the home than before (men are still much less likely to do housework, and when they do they do much less)

Affective Individualism

The belief in romantic attachment as a basis for contracting marriage ties; marriage based on personal selection, sexual attraction, or romantic love

Class and the American Family

The differences between black and white extended family relationships are mainly due to contemporary differences in social and economic class positions of group members; cultural differences are less significant Race and class each have distinctive and often complicated influences on family behavior Lower and working class young adults are more likely than their wealthier peers to get pregnant prior to marriage, to marry young, and subsequently divorce (since they often do not attend college and get married instead, they often have kids before they are financially ready) Delaying marriage until they are emotionally and financially ready is one of the key reasons college-educated, middle-class young whites have lower rates of divorce than their more economical disadvantaged counterparts Middle-class black families are more likely than their less economically advantaged peers to live in married couple households, there is a new form of middle-class black family: the single-person household especially among young adults (shortage of marriageable men, so college-educated black women often must live on their own or without a romantic partner)

Families of Orientation

The families into which individuals are born or adopted

Families of Procreation

The families that individuals initiate through marriage or by having children as one becomes older

"Marriagable Men Hypothesis"

The increased economic independence of women leads to a relative deterioration of men's economic position that makes them less attractive as mates and less ready to marry Explains the especially low marriage rates among blacks, since black men have suffered the worst economic conditions in recent decades

Nonmarital Childbearing

The number of children born out of wedlock today is more than 6x higher than it was in the 1950s; rate is highest in blacks, second highest in native american women, third highest in hispanic and then in whites Nearly one-half of all nonmarital births take place in cohabiting unions, meaning that many of these children are raised by 2 parents who just happen not to be legally married to one another

Primary Socialization

The process by which children learn the cultural norms of the society into which they are born Primary socialization occurs largely in the family; the family is the most important site of personality development

Unequal Power Relationships

The unequal power relationships within many families, especially the phenomenon of family violence Feminist sociologists consider how the family serves as an arena for gender oppression and physical abuse

Why do low income women continue to have children out of wedlock?

These women still highly value marriage, but believe that getting married at that time would make things worse- either committing them to terrible relationships or leading to divorce; believed a failed marriage would be worse than having children on their own when men were more likely than ever to be in prison or were unemployed 2/3 of the pregnancies in the study were neither planned nor actively avoided; women stop usin contraception when the relationship becomes serious Why have children out of wedlock in the first place?: 1) Young people in poor communities feel very confident about their ability to raise children, more so than most middle-class people do, 2) because most of the pregnant mothers came from social environments in which young people helped raise other children in a family , and also because the poor place a super high value on children, perhaps even higher than middle-class do, and 3) changing meaning of marriage in low income communities; what qualifies a man as a potential marital partner has changed; women have become more selective (in the 1950s, all but the most marginally employed men found women who were willing to marry them) When women who value motherhood highly also set the bar higher for marriage, higher rates of non marital fertility will follow

The Development of Family Life

Three Phases from the 1500s to the 1800s

Second Phase

Transitional form of family from the early 1600s to the beginning of the 1700s Mainly observed within the upper reaches of society, but from it spread attitudes that have since become almost universal: the nuclear family became more of a separate entity, distinct from other kin and the local community Growing stress on marital and parental love, although authoritarian power of fathers also increased

Cohabitation

Two people living together in a sexual relationship of some permanence without being married to one another Has become increasingly widespread in most Western societies; used to be regarded as scandalous but has increased since the 1980s Widespread among college students, although they did not initiate this trend: the cohabitation phenomenon starters with lower-educated groups in the 50s, probably as a substitute for marriage, which may involve economic constraints Although some see cohabitation as a substitute for marriage, many see it as a set in the process of relationship building that precedes marriage; young people usually drift into cohabitation instead of heavy planning it For most, cohabitation is a temporary state that leads to either marriage or breakup; the changes of cohabitation leading to marriage is associated with the socioeconomic factors of race (white women are more likely to get married than hispanic and black), higher education, the absence of children during cohabitation, higher family income, and communities with low male unemployment rates -Cohabitation oftentimes ends in a breakup; rather than being a stage in the process of marriage, may be an end in itself Fewer unmarried couples, whether cohabiting or not, are marrying before the birth of their child; for some, cohabitation may be marriage-like with the involvement of children, companionship, support, and love (women don't feel as pressured to marry when they become pregnant) and is becoming increasingly so Cohabitiation is less stable than marriage; about half of cohabiters break up whereas less first marriages get divorce Cohabitation experiences are highly varied; although some see it as a satisfying marriage like union, others living together see it as a trial, and view it a s amore serious form of dating

Contemporary Research on Families

Unified by 4 key themes: 1) family structure continues to change and evolve 2) there is tremendous variation in what families look like; our family experiences are powerfully shaped by our social group memberships (race, social class, religion, sexual orientation, age) 3) families are an important influence on health and well-being of both adults and children 4) while the family has been historically thought of as a dafe haven, there is also a dark side where family members may inflict abuse on one another

Puerto Rican Families

When barriers to immigration are high only the most able (physically, financially, and so on) members of a society can move to another country; but because Puerto Ricans face fewer barriers, event he least able can manage the migration process The most economically disadvantaged of all the major hispanic groups Have a higher percentage of children born to unmarried mothers than any other Hispanic group (only blacks and native americans had higher births to unmarried women), but this usually happens in consensual unions (cohabiting relationship in which couples consider themselves married but not legally)

Remarriage and Stepparenting

With the progressive rise in divorce rate, the level of remarriage also began to climb, and in an increasing proportion of remarriages at least one person was divorced People who have been married and divorced are more likely to marry again than single people in similar age groups are to marry for the first time; at all age levels, divorced men are more likely to get remarried than women In statistical terms, remarriages are less successful than first marriages in that divorce rates are higher for remarriages; may be the result of higher expectations of marriage than those who remain with their first spouses and may be more ready to dissolve new marriages Second remarriages that endure are often more satisfying than the first Stepparenting can lead to many difficulties: there is usually a biological parent living elsewhere whose influence over the child remains powerful cooperative relations between divorced individuals often become strained when one or both remarry, considerable possibility for clashes of outlooks and habits Girls experience more detrimental outcomes from stepfamily living (threatens relationships with mom), whereas boys demonstrate more negative outcomes from single-parent family living (generally means living with mother only and not having a father figure)

Working-Class and Poor Children Raising

Working-class and poor parents tend to adopt a different style of child-rearing called "accomplishment of natural growth": talk is brief and instrumental, and children learn to be more compliant with adult directives, and they have few organized activities outside of school Children learn to occupy themselves, often playing with neighborhood friends Promotes a sense of constraint in children, who become more cautious in dealing with adults, bureaucratic institutions, and authority Working-class and low income parents stress close ties to kin: thus these children develop closer relationships to siblings, cousins, and other relatives

First Phase

1700s to the early 1600s: main form was a type of nuclear family that lived in fairly small households but maintained deeply embedded relationships within the community, including with other kin The family was not a major focus of emotional attachment or dependence for its member; individual choice in marriage or other matters of family life were subordinated to the interests of parents, other kin, or the community Erotic or romantic love was regarded as a sickness; the family during this time was an authoritative, unemotional institution and was short-lived

Matrilocal

A family system in which the husband is expected to live with or very near the wife's parents

Monogamy

Characteristic of western societies; a form of marriage in which each married partner is allowed only one spouse at any given time

Two Main Theories to Understand the Contemporary Family

Functionalism Feminist approaches

Latino Families

Mexicans (the most), Puerto Ricans (second most), and Cubans (third most) are the 3 largest hispanic subgroups

Family Violence

Primarily a male domain Two broad categories of family violence: child abuse and spousal abuse Difficult to obtain national data on levels of domestic violence