Exam 1 (SOC 316): Chapter 2: The Family in History
American Indian family traits in common with Europeans:
-most practiced monogamous marriage (however, marriage bonds were not as strong and divorce more common) -practice a gender division of labor (men hunted, women grew and prepared food and reared young children) -men more power in politics
The modern family new roles for men and women:
-the good provider role -true womanhood
What are the European traditions that dominated the legal, political, and cultural landscape in the early years of the country?
-important role played by the Christian churches -extreme inequality and he separate family worlds of rich and poor -family relations were not matters of personal preference or choice -patriarchy
Industrialization brought:
-labor market model of production -the emergence of the modern family
homogamy
marriage between two people of the same sex
polygamy
marriage to several spouses
family relations were not matters of personal preference or choice
marriage was a political and economic institution that served important functions in society -for the rich it was necessary for maintaining their lineages and creating ties between powerful families -for the poor its as about arranging cooperation in labor, especially in working the land being too passionate about ones spouse was highly suspect, raising concerns about social stability or even idolatry
To establish the background for modern American families, we set the stage with two periods:
-colonial America before 1820 -the early modern period of the nineteenth century
Many countries no permit what kind of marriage?
homogamy
In history, polygamy was very historically common
This practice may have given groups a biological advantage, since the more successful men could produce more children if they had multiple partners
coverture
a legal doctrine that lasted until the late nineteenth century, under which wives were incorporated into their husbands' citizenship
nuclear family
a married couple living with their own (usually biological) children and no extended family members
companionate marriage
a view of marriage as a companionship, a friendship, and a romance, rather than as a practical platform for cooperation and survival
companionship family
an ideal type of family characterized by the mutual affection, equality, and comradeship of its members
life course revolution
as we live longer and have were children, family life has changed. Part of the consequence of the life course revolution is that we have made families a much more personal relationship between couples (with less amount of our time spent raising children). Thus, the dynamics and relationships within families have changed to a more private family perspective.
children and families in the modern family
baby boom -there was a sudden drop in age of marriage between 1940 and 1950 as the young couples wh would produce the baby boomers got married 1950 have come to be seen as the pinnacle of the traditional American family, epitomized by the stably married and loving couple, headed by one male wage earner and made possible fora homemaking wife
When emotional aspects of marriage began to arise, what happened?
bega to bring up parental concern for economic and social status -courtship
institutional arenas in the emerging modern family (1820-1900)
beginning in the nineteenth century, the market and state emerged as dominant features of modern society, and as a result, the family arena was transformed -family lost its status as the center of the economy and began to be more directly regulated by the state
What happened when the ideology of individualism and personal freedom in women took place in the emerging modern family?
conservative backlash grew in the nineteenth century who grew increasingly uneasy and believed women's freedom threatened the traditional family -passed laws denying women's right to vote
patrilocal
living near the husbands family
matrilocal
living near the wife's family
heterogamy
marriage between a man and a woman
Marriage in the modern family (1900-1960)
marriage was becoming more attractive to young people for cultural, economic, and political reasons -the nature of marriage was undergoing a cultural shift that has been described as institution to companionship the core relationship the new model family ws the companionate marriage economic boost in marriage political boost for marriage
One common characteristic that set American Indians apart from Europeans
matrilineal descent -women had greater authority within the clan
Today, most societies have a family system based on:
monogamy
The promise of companionate marriage contributed to the breakdown of:
the courtship system, which was replaced by dating
What does it mean when they say government was a distant symbol for Colonial families?
the system of marriage was supported by the Christian Church
Evidence that nuclear families were not the only families that existed in the New Stone Age:
there were buried remains facing each other or not facing each other depending on relation -the archaeological record tells us that such flexible family arrangements have always been a crucial element of human social life
Extreme inequality and the separate family worlds of rich and poor
they married and reproduced as matters of economic survival, often picking spouses based on whose family had a nearby plot of land or farming tools they needed for their crops
matriarchal
women hold the power
separate spheres
women were still considered free, and the concept of male authority began to be replaced by the ida of men as protectors of women, while women cared for , loved and nurtured their husbands
Colonial Americans: Children and Families
-large families, the average woman bore about seven children -children seen as guilty as original sin, ad their evil impulses needed to be controlled through harsh discipline and hard work -most people did not live in large extended families, mostly made up of a nuclear families -the colonial way of family life represented the first phase of a transition from the rural family, dominated by European Christian ideology, to the modern, urban, and industrial family system that was to come
Skolnick's three revolutions
-lifecourse -psychological -post-industrial
Colonial Americans
-marriage for them was practical arrangement that was considered necessary for civilization, not a source of love and affection -colonial husband's authority within marriage was virtually unchecked -government was mostly a distant symbol when it came to family matters
Generalizations about American Indians family tradition:
-strong respect for elder and a reliance on extended family networks for sharing resources and meeting essential needs -family connections were the basic building blocks of soil structure (model for non biological relationships, including those between members of the larger community and people's connections with the environment and animals)
Colonial husbands authority
-women could not vote, hold political office, or even serve on juries, so they had little choice but to comply with the marriage system -wife's legal existence disappeared when she got married under the legal doctrine of coverture
The formation of relatively smaller, stable families probably occurred only in the last:
10,000 years or so, with the beginning of organized food production -the invention of agriculture allowed people to settle down and the domestication of plants made it possible for hunter-gathered to become farmers and not depend so much on their hunting group, however, cooperation beyond the immediate family was always essential
4 broad trends that impact family life
1. we live longer today 2. we have fewer children 3. families perform fewer tasks at home for survival. The state and the market are institutional arenas. Because family is less about economic necessity, then emotional bonds are more important 4. families have become more diverse in recent decades
African American families in colonial times:
Africans wer forcibly removed form their homelands from 1619-mid 1800s in wester and central Africa and subjected to unspeakable horrors of the Middle Passage -family separation was common -slave marriage and parenthood were not legally recognized by the states
The Modern Family (1900-1960s)
during the nineteenth century, a number of forces pulled men and women towards a nuclear family arrangement -by the 1850s the dream of the companionship family appear to have become a reality
extended families
family households in which relatives beyond parents and their children live together
economic boost in marriage in the modern family
for many years, American workers had demanded from their employees a family wage -as American industry grew and the threat of labor unrest became more unsettling to emphasize;loyrs, more companies started paying their workers enough to support a whole family
Family and market in the emerging modern family (1820-1900)
for the first time in history most people worked for someone else during their entire adult lives (free labor) -the wage-labor relationship helped foster a new sense of individual identity -the industrial revolution also helped to reinforce the division of gender roles for men and women
Colonial America (before 1820)
from the settlement of Europeans through the early nineteenth century, American family history was primarily the story of three interrelated groups -American Indians -Colonial Americans -African Americans
the emerging modern family (1820-1900)
from the time of the American Revolution into the nineteenth century, new ideas, new laws, and the growth of the market economy hastened the erosion of fathers' absolute authority, brining "profound changes in record time"
children and families in the emerging modern family (1820-1900)
one of he most monumental changes in family life in the nineteenth century was the duo pin the number of children in each family -the average number was cut almost exactly in half over the century -couples started to learn how to prevent pregnancy (mass production of condoms in the 1800s) -couples wanted fewer children -infant deaths were cut almost in half During the nineteenth century, children's individuality emerged as a valued ideal -a new generation of experts declared that children were a blank slate of innocence -gradually, the parent-child relationship became more emotionally close
patriarchal
power is wielded by men with in the family
important role played by the Christian (Catholic and Protestant) churches:
religious regulation of family life was varied considerably over the centuries, but from the time the Catholic Church consolidated its power throughout the Roman Empire in the late fourth century CE, Christianity set guideposts along the road of family life -it determined the validity of marriages, presiding over marriage ceremonies, and allocating power and property among family members
Family and state in the emerging modern family
the family household under the principle of separate spheres was increasingly seen as a private place in the industrial era, the stat'e practical authority increased -the federal regulation of family life revolved around marriage and citizenship -government began enforcing a sort of national "monogamous morality" -the end of the nineteenth century, the government at all levels laid a much heavier hand on the family lives of its citizens
monogamy
the marriage of one person to one other person
courtship
the mate selection process in which couples begin a relationship with supervised contact in public, then proceed to additional dates in the woman's home and then to marriage if the parents approve
baby boom
the period of high birth rates in the United States between 1946 and 1964
traditional family
the sharply divided roles of fathers as breadwinners and mothers as homemakers
political boost for marriage in the modern family
the strike moral tone of marital regulation gave way to a patten of economic incentives for marriage including social security and aid to dependent children
Emerging Modern Family (1820-1900) new marriage ideals:
this time brought forth the traditional family -the ideal of man as the economic provider became a powerful symbol in American culture, which made men more powerful and dominant within the family -the ideology of individualism and personal freedom in women also took place -separate spheres with industrialization in the 1800s, the essential political and economic functions of marriage began to erode -individual free choice in marriage was an ideal that was widely shared in the early years of the US -began to consider the emotional aspects of their future marriages
patrilineal
when wealth and power are transmitted form fathers to sons -many European American were more patrilineal, that's why American wives and children usually take their surnames from the man of the family
matrilineal
when wealth and power are transmitted form mothers to daughters
postindustrial revolution
which is when our economy and the structure of our labor force changed so that women needed to enter paid labor. Among the many ways the Post-industrial revolution changed family life is that most families needed to have two earners, women gained more financial independence, and children needed childcare.
psychological revolution
while our intimate relationships are meaningful and personal, they also are more fragile. The psychological revolution is about our search for love and personal satisfaction in relationships.
