Slide 1
SOCIOLOGY
12
McGraw-Hill
The Family and
Intimate
Relationships
© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 2
14. The Family and Intimate
Relationships
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•
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•
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The Family: A Global View
Social Institutions: Family and Religion
Studying the Family
Marriage and Family
Divorce
Diverse Lifestyles
Social Policy and The Family
McGraw-Hill
© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 3
The Family: A Global View
• Composition: What Is the Family?
– Family: set of people related by blood,
marriage, or some other agreed-upon
relationship, or adoption who share
primary responsibility for reproduction and
caring for members of society
McGraw-Hill
© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 4
The Family: A Global View
• Composition: What Is the Family?
– Nuclear Family: nucleus or core upon
which larger family groups are built
– Extended Family: family in which
relatives live in same home as parents and
their children
Serial
Monogamy: when
a person
has several
– Monogamy:
form
of marriage
inspouses
whichin
his or
her woman
lifetime, but
only
oneman
spouseare
at amarried
time
one
and
one
only
to each other
McGraw-Hill
© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 5
The Family: A Global View
• Composition: What Is the Family?
– Polygamy: when an individual has several
husbands or wives simultaneously
– Polygyny: marriage of a man to more
than one woman at a time
– Polyandry: marriage of a woman to more
than one husband at the same time
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© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 6
The Family: A Global View
Figure 14-1. U.S. Households by Family Type, 1940—2003
Source: Fields 2004; see also McFalls, Jr. 2003:23
McGraw-Hill
© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 7
The Family: A Global View
• Kinship Patterns: To Whom Are We
Related?
– Kinship: state of being related to others
• Bilateral Descent: both sides of a person’s
family are regarded as equally important
• Patrilineal descent: only the father’s relatives
are important
• Matrilineal descent: only the mother’s
relatives are significant
McGraw-Hill
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Slide 8
The Family: A Global View
• Authority Patterns: Who Rules?
– Patriarchy: males are expected to
dominate in all family decision making
– Matriarchy: women have greater
authority than men
– Egalitarian family: family in which
spouses are regarded as equals
McGraw-Hill
© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 9
Social Institutions: Family
and Religion
• Social Institution
– Organized patterns of beliefs and behavior
centered on general basic needs
• Functionalist View
– Family serves six functions for society:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
McGraw-Hill
Protection
Socialization
Reproduction
Regulation of sexual behavior
Affection and companionship
Provision of social status
© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 10
Studying the Family
• Conflict View
– Family reflects inequality in wealth and
power found within society
– In wide range of societies, husbands
exercised power and authority within
the family
– View family as economic unit contributing
to social injustice
McGraw-Hill
© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 11
Studying the Family
• Interactionist View
– Focuses on micro level of family and other
intimate relationships
– Interested in how individuals interact with
each other whether they are cohabiting
partners or longtime married couples
McGraw-Hill
© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 12
Studying the Family
• Feminist View
– Urged social scientists and social agencies
to rethink notion that families in which no
adult male is present are automatically a
cause for concern
– Feminists stress the need to investigate
neglected topics in family studies
McGraw-Hill
© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 13
Studying the Family
Table 14-1. Sociological Perspectives on the Family
McGraw-Hill
© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 14
Marriage and Family
• Courtship and Mate Selection
– Aspects of Mate Selection
• Endogamy: Endogamy specifies the groups
within which a spouse must be found and
prohibits marriage with members of other
groups.
• Exogamy: Exogamy requires mate selection
outside certain groups, usually one’s own family
or certain kin.
McGraw-Hill
© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 15
Marriage and Family
• Courtship and Mate Selection
– Aspects of Mate Selection
Incest Taboo: social norm common to virtually all
societies prohibiting sexual relationships between
certain culturally specified relationships
• Homogamy: conscious or unconscious
tendency to select mate with personal
characteristics similar to one’s own
– The Love Relationship
• Coupling of love and marriage not universal
McGraw-Hill
© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 16
Marriage and Family
• Variations in Family Life and Intimate
Relationships
– Social Class Differences
• The upper class emphasizes lineage and
maintenance of family position; lower class
families likely to have one parent at home, and
children typically assume adult responsibilities
– Racial and Ethnic Differences
• Subordinate status of racial and ethnic groups
profoundly affects family life
McGraw-Hill
© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 17
Marriage and Family
• Child-Rearing Patterns in Family Life
– Parenthood and Grandparenthood
• One of most important roles of parents is
socialization of children
• Recently, U.S. witnessed extension of
parenthood with adult children living at home
– “Boomerang generation” or “full-nest syndrome”
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© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 18
Marriage and Family
• Child-Rearing Patterns in Family Life
– Adoption
• Process that “allows for the transfer of the
legal rights, responsibilities, and privileges
of parenthood” to a new legal parent or
parents
– Dual-Income Families
• Among married people between the ages
of 25 and 34, 92% of men and 75% of
women in the labor force
McGraw-Hill
© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 19
Marriage and Family
• Child-Rearing Patterns in Family Life
– Single-Parent Families
• In 2000, a single parent headed:
– 21% of White families with children
– 35% of Hispanic families with children
– 55% of African American families with children
– Stepfamilies
• Rising rate of divorce and remarriage led to
significant increase in stepfamily relationships
• Stepfamilies are exceedingly complex
McGraw-Hill
© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 20
Marriage and Family
Figure 14-2. Percentage of People
Aged 20 to 24 Ever Married,
Selected Countries
Source: United Nations Population Division 2005
McGraw-Hill
© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 21
Divorce
• Statistical Trends in Divorce
– Divorce rates increased in late 1960s,
started to level and decline since late
1980s
– About 63% of all divorces in U.S. remarry
McGraw-Hill
© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 22
Divorce
• Factors Associated with Divorce
•Greater social acceptance of divorce
•More liberal divorce laws
•Fewer children
•Greater family income
•More opportunities for women
• Impact of Divorce on Children
– About a third of children benefit from
divorce because it lessens exposure to
conflict
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© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 23
Divorce
Figure 14-3. Rise of Single-Parent
Families in the United States, 1970-2000
Source: Bureau of the Census 1994:63; Fields 2001:7
McGraw-Hill
© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 24
Divorce
Figure 14-4. Trends in Marriage and Divorce in the United States,
1920—2004
Source: Bureau of the Census 1995:64; National Vital Statistics Reports 2005
McGraw-Hill
© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 25
Diverse Lifestyles
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Cohabitation
Remaining Single
Marriage without Children
Lesbian and Gay Relationships
McGraw-Hill
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Slide 26
Diverse Lifestyles
Figure 14-5. Unmarried-Couple Households by State
Source: T. Simmons and O’Connell 2003:4
McGraw-Hill
© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.