CHAPTER 11 FAMILIES AND INTIMATE RELATIONSHIPS Sociology in

CHAPTER 11 FAMILIES AND INTIMATE RELATIONSHIPS Sociology in Our Times: The Essentials, Kendall, 10 e

Questions for You How important is your family in your daily life? What are the major changes within the American family that have occurred within your lifetime? What are some of the stressors that families face?

Chapter Outline Families in Global Perspective Theoretical Perspectives on Family Developing Intimate Relationships and Establishing Families Child-Related Family Issues and Parenting Transitions and Problems in Families Family Issues in the Future

Sociology and Everyday Life: Diverse Family Landscapes in the 21 st Century 1. Most U. S. adults view having a baby outside of marriage as “morally wrong. ”

Sociology and Everyday Life: Diverse Family Landscapes in the 21 st Century 2. More than four in ten U. S. adults have at least one step-relative in their family.

Sociology and Everyday Life: Diverse Family Landscapes in the 21 st Century 3. The percentage of children living with two parents, regardless of their marital status, differs by race and Hispanic origin.

Sociology and Everyday Life: Diverse Family Landscapes in the 21 st Century 4. The birth rate among U. S. teenagers is much lower than the birth rate among teens in other Western industrialized countries.

Sociology and Everyday Life: Diverse Family Landscapes in the 21 st Century 5. Couples who cohabit before they get married are more likely to stay married.

Sociology and Everyday Life: Diverse Family Landscapes in the 21 st Century 6. Stay-at-home parents have become less common since the 1990 s, when more twopaycheck families were established to help pay the bills.

Sociology and Everyday Life: Diverse Family Landscapes in the 21 st Century 7. The percentage of U. S. households that contain only one person has continued to increase since the 1970 s.

Sociology and Everyday Life: Diverse Family Landscapes in the 21 st Century 8. Among U. S. married couples, it is very rare for the wife to earn more money than the husband.

Families in Global Perspective Families are relationships in which people live together with commitment, form an economic unit and care for any young, and consider their identity to be significantly attached to the group.

Kinship refers to a social network of people based on common ancestry, marriage, or adoption.

The family of orientation is the family into which a person is born and in which early socialization usually takes place. The family of procreation is the family that a person forms by having or adopting children.

An extended family is a family unit composed of relatives in addition to parents and children who live in the same household. A nuclear family is a family composed of one or two parents and their dependent children, all of whom live apart from other relatives.

Polling Question How big is your nuclear family? How big is your extended family?

Marriage is a legally recognized and/or socially approved arrangement between two or more individuals that carries certain rights and obligations and usually involves sexual activity.

Census Profile Household Composition, 1970 and 2012

Monogamy is a marriage between two partners, usually a woman and a man. Polygamy is the concurrent marriage of a person of one sex with two or more members of the opposite sex. � Polygyny: one man and multiple women � Polyandry: one woman with multiple men

Patrilineal descent is a system of tracing descent through the father’s side of the family. Matrilineal descent is a system of tracing descent through the mother’s side of the family. Bilateral descent is a system of tracing descent through both the mother’s and father’s sides of the family.

A patriarchal family is a family structure in which authority is held by the eldest male. A matriarchal family is a family structure in which authority is held by the eldest female. An egalitarian family is a family structure in which both partners share power and authority equally.

Patrilocal residence refers to the custom of a married couple living in the same household (or community) as the husband’s parents. Matrilocal residence refers to the custom of a married couple living in the same household (or community) as the wife’s parents. A neolocal residence is the custom of a married couple living in their own residence apart from both the husband’s and the wife’s parents.

Endogamy is the practice of marrying within one’s own group. Exogamy is the practice of marrying outside one’s own group.

Theoretical Perspectives on Family The sociology of family is the subdiscipline of sociology that attempts to describe and explain patterns of family life and variations in family structure.

According to functionalists, families serve four key functions: 1. 2. 3. 4. Sexual regulation Socialization Economic and psychological support Provision of social status

Conflict theorists view the family as a source of inequality and conflict. � Families � Social = factory environment class conflict � Feminist perspectives focus on patriarchy.

Symbolic interactionists explain family relationships in terms of the subjective meanings and everyday interpretations that people give their lives. � Modify or adapt roles to the expectations of others

Postmodernists view the family as diverse and fragmented.

Concept Quick Review

Developing Intimate Relationships and Establishing Families Changing roles of men and women in families

Polling Question How would you define “love? ”

Cohabitation refers to two people who live together, and think of themselves as a couple, without being legally married.

Polling Question Is cohabitation a good way for a couple to “test” out marriage?

Figure 11. 6 Estimated Number of Opposite-Sex Couples Cohabiting in the U. S. in Selected Years, 1996 -2013 <insert Figure 11. 6>

Domestic partnerships are households in which an unmarried couple lives together in a committed, sexually intimate relationship and is granted some of the same rights and benefits as those accorded to married heterosexual couples.

Homogamy refers to the pattern of individuals marrying those who have similar characteristics.

Polling Question You have probably heard the saying, “opposites attract” in reference to relationships. Do you think that holds true for couples today?

Same-Sex Marriage � United States v. Windsor � Hollingsworth v. Perry

Consider This… Figure 11. 7 The issue of same-sex marriage was frequently in the headlines in 2013 because of two major legal challenges that came before the U. S. Supreme Court.

Dual-earner marriages are marriages in which both spouses are in the labor force. The second shift is the domestic work that employed women perform at home after they complete their workday on the job.

Consider This… Figure 11. 8 Juggling housework, child care, and a job in the paid workforce is all part of the average day of many women. Why does sociologist Arlie Hochschild believe that many women work a “second shift”?

Child-Related Family Issues and Parenting Child versus children Childfree versus childless Unmarried childbearing

Adoption Teenage childbearing

Polling Question How should we deal with teenage childbearing, as a society?

Figure 11. 9 Birth Rates for Teenagers Ages 15 -19 Years, By Age, United States, 1960 -2012

Single-parent households � Challenges? Two-parent households Remaining single

Figure 11. 11 Living Arrangements of Children Under 18 Years Old for Selected Years, 1970 -2012 <insert Figure 11. 11>

Figure 11. 12 Marital Status of U. S. Population Ages 18 and Over by Race/Ethnicity, 2012 <insert Figure 11. 12>

Transitions and Problems in Families Family violence – various forms of abuse that take place among family members

Foster care – institutional settings or residences where adults serve as caregivers

Divorce – the legal process of dissolving a marriage � Causes � Consequences

Figure 11. 13 U. S. Divorce Rates by State, 1990 -2011

Remarriage � Blended families consist of a husband wife, and children from previous marriages, and children from the new relationship

Family Issues in the Future Economics and the family Changing definitions of the family

Polling Question Are you optimistic or pessimistic about the future of the family?

Quick Quiz 1. A social network of people based on common ancestry, marriage, or adoption is: A. family of orientation. B. kinship. C. family. D. ethnic group.

Quick Quiz Answer: B. A social network of people based on common ancestry, marriage, or adoption is kinship.

Quick Quiz 2. A family composed of one or two parents and their dependent children, all of whom live apart from other relatives is called: A. nuclear family. B. sandwich family. C. boomerang family. D. extended family.

Quick Quiz Answer: A. A family composed of one or two parents and their dependent children, all of whom live apart from other relatives is called a nuclear family.

Quick Quiz 3. The concurrent marriage of one man with two or more women is: A. polyandry. B. polygyny. C. polygamy. D. monogamy.

Quick Quiz Answer: B. The concurrent marriage of one man with two or more women is polygyny.

Quick Quiz 4. A family structure in which the authority is held by the eldest female is a _____ family. A. B. C. D. matriarchical patrilocal matrilocal

Quick Quiz Answer: A. A family structure in which the authority is held by the eldest female is a matriarchical family.

Quick Quiz 5. Family that consists of a husband, wife, and children from previous marriages and children from the new marriage, (if any) is called a _____ family. A. boomerang B. reconstituted C. sandwich D. blended

Quick Quiz Answer: D. Families that consist of a husband, wife, and children from previous marriages and children from the new marriage, are called blended families.

Quick Quiz 6. The family one is born into and which early socialization takes place is: A. the family of orientation. B. the family of adoption. C. the family of procreation. D. the family of origin.

Quick Quiz Answer: A. The family one is born into and which early socialization takes place is the family of orientation (in cultures that practice neolocality).