Soc-S 316 Final Exam
Lost in Transition
-Christian Smith -230 interviews with Americans 18-23 years old -The Dark Side of the Transition to Adulthood -The long transition to adulthood has a dark side. Unprecedented freedom leads to loss of moral compass -Rampant consumerism -Heavy drinking -Indiscriminate sexuality -Disengaged from civic and political life
Changes in family roles over 3 generations
-Decline in breadwinner-homemaker households -Rise in flexible gender roles
Changes in fertility over 3 generations
-Decline in overall fertility and fertility within marriage -Rise in non-marital fertility
Changes to marriage over 3 generations
-Delay and decline in marriage -Increase in divorce (peaks in 1980s) -Rise in non-marital cohabitation
Assisted Reproductive Technology
-Modern Families by Josuha Gamson explores the story of one biological father and one adoptive father. They had a friend as an egg donor and an unrelated surrogate mother. -There are many legal obstacles and emotional challenges to using ART
Poverty as an income measure
-Molly Orshansky -Came up with a method which is still used today to measure poverty in the U.S. -Food measure = 3.5 times minimum food diet (absolute poverty level)
Poverty as capability failure
-Poverty based off well-being instead of income -Amartya Sen: poverty should be measured based on intrinsic deprivation (well-being) instead of instrumental deprivation (income)
Patriarchy
-Power of men over women -Example of Athenian law: patriarchy dominated women, men could be sentenced to death for seducing another man's wife but would only face minor fines for raping her -Male property valued above all else -Rich and powerful families used marriage to recruit and reward followers, make alliances, and establish legitimacy -Men had power to marry off daughters to whoever they choose
Trends in how we meet
-Rise in people meeting online -Common to meet in bar/restaurant -Decline in meeting through friends -Decline in meeting in church or at school -Same-sex couples most likely to meet on line/ people in thin dating markets
Physical discipline of children
-Spanking- In much of the USA and Canada, spanking is both widely practiced and widely approved, especially among older people. However, spanking is illegal in most European countries -Lansford research: Physical discipline is associated with negative externalizing behaviors and anxiety in adolescence. Greater tolerance of corporal punishment associated with greater acceptance of domestic violence and aggression.
Structural Functionalism
-The family has a certain fixed ideal structure which allows it to fulfill functions important to family members and society. -Structure: kinship systems, residential arrangements. -Functions: economic support, emotional support, social reproduction via socialization of children. -Talcott Parsons: Ideal family is considered a breadwinner husband, a homemaker wife, and their children. The husband plays an instrumental role (earning money) and the wife plays an expressive role (emotional support).
Political homophily on dating sites
Huber and Malhotra -Found that higher ratings if same political party -Political similarity in dating due to choice homophily
Family Law
Defines the legal family and governs many family activities by laying out the rights and obligations of family members
Trends in fertility
-Delay in childbearing -Rise in avg. age at first birth -Increasing acceptance of non-marital birth -Overall fertility rates down -Changes in adoption rates- decline in domestic and international adoption because of less available children and new legal restrictions
Unchecked Capitalism and Working Poverty
-Edin and Lein Making Ends Meet: Compared low-wage working mothers to mothers on welfare in four US cities. Working mothers had more trouble making ends meet (child care expenses). All mothers aspired to work -Matthew Desmond Evicted: Housing for the poor is highly profitable, cycle of eviction leads to persistent poverty -Theory: deindustrialization, low wage work, insecurity of house, home and jobs breaks down families. Poor are exploited by property owners and employers -Feminization of poverty: less educated men= poor job opportunities, less educated women earn less, marriage weakens with few marriageable men, less educated women caught in struggle between low wage work and welfare
Elite Circulation
-Extent to which social mobility allows new entry into the top of wealth, status, prestige -Circulation is about 5% of Forbes 400 each year
Culture of Poverty and Resilience
-J.D. Vance Hillbilly Elegy, claims that Appalachian culture is characterized by violence, loyalty to extended kin, the mistrust of outsiders and social pathology -Poor are poor because they reject American norms, values, and aspirations -Eroded work ethic, government dependency, lack of educational aspirations, crime, transmitted to each generation
Marriage equality battles
-Massachusetts first state to have battles for same sex marriage in 2004 -2004-2012 constitutional bans on same sex marriage in 30 states
Relative poverty level
-Measure for Europe -Less than 1/2 median income = poverty
Obergefell vs. Hodges
-Supreme court case 2015- legalized gay marriage -Court case that found: The Fourteenth Amendment requires a State to license a marriage between two people of the same sex and to recognize a marriage between two people of the same sex when their marriage was lawfully licensed and performed out-of-State.
Trends in divorce
-U.S.= rise in silver divorce -Europe= rising divorce but lower than U.S. -Asia= divorce was once unheard of but is now on the rise Risk increases with: -Young age -Pregnancy/ birth before marriage -No birth in the first 5 years of marriage -Low education -Low income -If parents were divorced -Lack of homogamy
5 traditional markers of adulthood
1. Finishing school 2. Getting a job 3. Moving out and financial independence from parents 4. Marriage 5. Parenthood
Defense of Marriage Act
1996 U.S. law that explicitly limits the definition of "marriage" to a union between one man and one woman and allows each individual state to recognize or deny same-sex marriages performed in other states
Oppressive theory of marriage
Coontz -Marriage oppresses women -Theory started with 1970s feminists -Rather than protection, marriage oppresses women -Women had important role of food preservation and reproduction so men sought to control this power -Patriarchal power= cornerstone of marriage
The Pecking Order
Dalton Conley -174 semi-structured interviews and large scale national surveys -Question: why do some siblings succeed and others fail? -Claim: access to parental resources and luck= success -Not birth order per se but access to parental resources and adult attention -Major family transitions: divorce, remarriage, job loss can affect one sibling more than the other -Differential parental investments in unique kids -Differential parental investments in sons vs. daughters
Superdads
Gayle Kaufman -Old dads= breadwinners -New dads= involved fathers -Superdads= not just involved, these dads changed their work lives to be more involved with kids
Motivated Achievers
high expectations + high outcomes. Most straightforward path towards fulfilling HS goals or on track (earning a 4 year degree)
Optimistic Strivers
high expectations + medium outcomes. Expected to earn a 4 year degree or higher but were stopped short of their goals and were not on track to achieve them (i.e. settling for a 2 year degree)
Wishful Thinkers
high expectations and low outcomes. Those who in high school had expected to attain a college degree or higher but never came close to fulfilling those goals and had been derailed from doing so.
Uncertain Achievers
low expectations and high outcomes. Attained more education than they had expected when they were in high school.
Capital Without Borders
-Brooke Harrington -Immersion ethnography- participation -Spent time with wealth management professionals to learn more about the richest people
Homophily
"Love of the same" -The tendency for the members of groups and other collectives to be similar to one another in some way, such as demographic background, attitudes, and values; generally expressed informally as "birds of a feather flock together."
Conjugal Nuclear Family
-A form of family organization that emphasizes the marital bond and the nuclear family -A Euro-American kinship system -Ideal= married coupe and their minor children living in 1 household separate from extended kin
Kinship Groups
-Assigned: birth, adoption, marriage -Created: the family we choose
Sex Ratio Theory
-Biological premise: availability of mates is a major factor in marriage and family behaviors -Male commitment to pair-bond is strongest when there are many men and few women -Ratio of men to women, measured per 100 women -High sex ratio >100 : women marry young, divorce rates low, non-marital births low -Low sex ratio <100 : women marry later, high divorce, high non-marital births
Social Constructionism
A person's family is how they define it. Holstein and Gubrium reject the idea that the family exists in some objective condition. Instead, family is an idea or a configuration of meanings.
Social Institution
A social unit (group of people) that performs important activities by organizing people into social roles with the activities of each role governed by social rules
Social Interactionism
Ernest Burgess, "Family life has its existence not in any legal conception, nor in any formal contract, but in the interaction of its members. The family lives as long as interaction is taking place and dies only when it ceases."
Negotiating Opportunities
Calarco -Middle class families- children and parents seek help in school -Working class families- parents tell kids to do it on their own
Cycles
Certain experiences propel young people forward and other experiences set them back. Stop-and-go nature of the transition to adulthood.
Dataclysm
Christian Rudder -Researched internet dating site trends and preferences -Found that men rate women higher -Men like younger women -Women rate Asian men lowest and men rate black women lowest
All or Nothing Marriage
Eli Finkel -We expect marriage to bring out our ideal selves -If we put in the work, marriage can be fulfilling. If not, it can be suffocating
Covenant Marriage
Expands the marriage contract to a lifelong commitment between the partners within a supportive community. Makes it more difficult to get divorced
Upward Slopes
Gradual establishment of adulthood with a slow but ever-evolving upward progress. Punctuated by "adult" moments. Do we ever really reach a point when we feel that our development is complete? Strong focus on growth
The Cultural Contradictions of Motherhood
Hays -Cultural paradox: cultural norm for women at work is competitive and cut throat meanwhile cultural norm for women at home is nurturing and selfless. -The clash of norms has created a new ideology of intensive parenting -Intensive parenting 5 parts: -Essentialism: Women are inherently better at parenting than fathers -Stimulation: Children need cognitive stimulation -Fulfillment: Parenting is fulfilling -Challenging: Parenting is difficult -Child-centered: Parents should prioritize the needs of the child over their own
Random Families
Hertz and Nelson -Explores families who used sperm donations -Parents and children construct the sperm donor in an image that makes sense in their daily lives -Explores networks of donor siblings and the social meanings they define for their genetic bonds
Baumrind's parenting styles: Authoritative
High emotional support + high control= authoritative (most effective, consistent and firm, clear standards of behavior, high emotional support. Evidence Chan and Koo founds higher levels of happiness and self-esteem)
Baumrind's Parenting Styles: Permissive
High emotional support + low control= permissive (single parents and step parents higher risk of this style)
Emerging Adulthood
Jeffrey Jensen Arnett -Interviewed 300 Americans 20-29 years old -In many post-industrial societies, the transition to adulthood is prolonged resulting in a new life stage between adolescence and adulthood -Defined by: Later exits from school, later entry into marriage and/or parenthood, unstable jobs and living arrangements -Identity exploration and self-absorption
All In
Josh Levs -Rise in joint physical and legal custody -Rise in share of children living with father instead of mother (but still relatively small) -Rise in gay men couples raising children
Doing the Best I Can
Kathryn Edin and Timothy Nelson -Interviewed 110 white and black fathers low-income fathers -Fatherhood among unemployed and low-income dads on a continuum from absent to engaged -"New package deal" among younger dads -Fatherhood as engagement with child -Emotional closeness instead of material support -Bond to child instead of bond to mother -Discipline, moral guidance, finances left to mother
Unequal Childhoods
Lareau -Parenting practices differ by social class -Middle class parents- concerted cultivation -Working class parents- natural growth
Social change and the mommy wars
Lazy housewife vs. selfish career woman
Baumrind's Paretning Styles: Authoritarian
Low emotional support + high control= authoritarian (single parents and step parents higher risk of this style)
Baumrind's Parenting Styles: absent
Low emotional support + low control= absent
Homogamy
Marriage between people with the same social characteristics
Institutionalized Racism and Family Poverty
Michelle Alexander The New Jim Crow: -30% of black men without college educations have been to prison by their mid-thirties -One in four black children born in 1990 had an imprisoned father by age 14 -Employers don't want to hire men with an arrest record -Theory: Inner city African American poverty is perpetuated by racial bias built into formal rules and informal practices -Redlining, subprime lending, poor schools, disenfranchised, urban policing, employment discrimination
Case for Marriage Reexamined (vs. Cohabitation)
Musick and Bumpass -Examined 6 year changes in well-being for persons who transitioned from single to union -Key Findings: no difference in contact with family and friends, married healthier, cohabiters happier and higher self-esteem
Parenting Out of Control
Nelson -Claim parenting styles differ by social class NOT because of culture but because of different resources -Parenting out of control: privileged elites, highly educated, affluent -Parenting within limits: less privileged, middle and lower classes
The Package Deal
Nicholas Townsend -Interviewed 40 + middle class men graduated HS in 1970s -Hegemonic masculinity as men saw it: having a steady job, owning a home, being married, having children -Relationship to child depends on relationship to wife -Breadwinner role takes priority over nurturer -Wives wanted dads to be more involved
Turning Points
One's identity as an adult grows linearly and gradually until some marked point at which a more complete and integrated sense of adult identity occurs. More significant events (turning points) that cause individuals to feel different and distinctly aware of the this fact. Common turning points are marriage and parenthood.
Hegemonic Masculinity
RW Connell -Legitimize the social dominance of powerful men -Justify the subordination of women and weak men -Perceive other gender identities as weak or feminine -Impose family and fatherhood norms
Generative interactions
Random Families -defined as giving without expecting anything in return. The authors provide the example of making a contribution like a post to a social network to potentially start a conversation. Generative reactions can provide new definitions of family and identity for members of a donor sibling network
Transactional interactions
Random Families -defined as the "exchange of membership fees in order to receive information about donor siblings or the donor himself" This could mean paying fees to a sperm bank to be a part of their registry.
Gender order theory
Social construction of masculinity is not fixed but varies across time, place, and culture
Protective theory of marriage
Stephanie Coontz -Marriage protects women and infants. -Women have to rely on men to bring food and protection. -Men only willing to protect own women and offspring -Women offer frequent and exclusive sex in exchange for food and protection -Sexual division of labor: males are hunter gatherers and women are homemakers -Opponents: hunter gatherer communities actually had women gatherers to provide the majority of food and also sharing with the whole community
Coming of Age in America
Waters, Carr, Kefalas, Holdaway -Explores transitions to adulthood in four US cities (Iowa, Minnesota, NYC, San Diego) -Leavers, stayers, and returners -There are multiple pathways to adulthood, often prolonged
The Case for Marriage
Waite and Gallagher -Married people are wealthier than single, separated, divorced, widowed, or cohabiting -Married people have lower rate of depression but cohabiters have greater self-esteem -Cohabiters are just as happy as married couples -Married people have better physical health -Cohabiting couples have more sexual intercourse than married couples BUT physical satisfaction is higher for married men and emotional satisfaction is higher for married men and women -Lower rates of negative health behaviors for married people
