Chapter 7
Family
Lecture PowerPoint
© W. W. Norton & Company, 2008
Social Institutions
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Permanent features of society
Embedded in culture and structure
Carry out necessary functions
Maintain and reproduce social arrangements
Family is the most basic institution (others:
Religion, Economy, Political System,
Education, Health Care)
Family Structures – changes over time
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The Preindustrial Family
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Functioned like a miniature economy.
Everyone worked to produce items needed to survive
work took place in or near home.
Children were economic assets
Depended heavily on kinship networks
Based in agricultural system – land ownership and
inheritance
Kinship weakened as families became more mobile.
Family Structures – changes over time
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The Industrial Revolution
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Removed work from home.
Men participated in public wage-earning work.
Women remained in private world of household
Devaluation of women’s work (unpaid)
Meritocracy raised aspirations for standard of
living
Children became economic liabilities
Family size declined
Family Structures – changes over time
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Post Industrial Families
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Transition to service economy by 1970’s
Increased demand for labor, opportunity for
women
Married women entered labor force
Changed balance of power in marriage
Changed family roles from obligatory to optional
Family structure
Mode of production
Institutional marriage,
extended family
Agricultural production
Companionship marriage,
nuclear family
Industrial production
Individual marriage,
diversity of forms
Service based economy
Contemporary Family Forms –
Individual Choice
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2 parent biological or adoptive family
Childless couple
2 parent stepfamily or step-adoptive family
1 parent family, usually
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Divorced woman
Never married woman
Cohabiting male and female
Same sex couple, with or without children
Single person
You May Ask Yourself
Copyright © 2008 W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.
Figure 7.1 | Changing Structure of
American Families
Family and Work: A Not-So-Subtle Revolution
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changes in the organization of work and family
life since the 1970s
 Increased participation of women in work force
 Decreasing marriage and birth rate
 Changes in balance of power in marriage
 Increasing divorce rate (leveled off in 80’s)
 Changes in childrearing practices
You May Ask Yourself
Copyright © 2008 W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.
Figure 7.2 | Women in the Labor Force,
1970-2004
Marital Power and Work
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Women’s employment may change household
gender roles
Three ideologies about wives’ employment
(Arlie Hochschild)
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Traditional – wife still responsible for home and
family, work takes 2nd priority
Egalitarian – 50-50 sharing of work and home
Transitional – husband more traditional, wife
more egalitarian (most common, led to conflicts)
Employed Wives Do More Housework Than
Their Husbands:
Self-reported
housework
All or almost all
Male (%)
Female (%)
10.4
53.6
About half
52.6
38.1
Some
30.8
6.4
Little or none
6.2
1.8
Total
100.0
100.0
Source: 2006 General Social Survey (N = 467 married persons,
employed full time).
Why don’t men do equal housework?
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Comparison – doing more than their fathers
Needs reduction – wife seems to be handling it
Different standards – “what mess?”
Wives don’t ask
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May still hold traditional views
Avoid conflict
Enjoy having power over household issues
Women’s strategies for coping
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“Supermom” – do it all
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Difficult to maintain
Can lead to resentment
Re-order priorities, cut back on job, family,
self, or housework
Get help (assign chores or pay someone)
Ask husbands to share
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sometimes succeeded, generally improved
marriage
Ethnicity and American Families
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African American Families
 women have taken leading role in providing for
families
 Less emphasis on formal marriage, but 2 parent
families were common during era of slavery
 Strong kinship ties, reliance on informal networks
 20th century: 2 main trends
of middle class – increasing gap between middle
and bottom
 Decline in marriage – fewer “eligible” young black men
You May Ask Yourself
 Rise
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Copyright © 2008 W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.
Swimming and Sinking:
Inequality and American Families
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W. E. B. DuBois argued that the high rate of femaleheaded families in the African American community was a
result of racial oppression and poverty, not a cause of it.
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William Julius Wilson argued an outright shortage of
employed, un-incarcerated black men with whom black
women could hope to form a stable family unit, thus leaving
them with little choice in terms of taking responsibility for
their families.
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You May Ask Yourself
Copyright © 2008 W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.
Latino Families
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Not a unified group - different countries and cultures
some characteristics can be identified as common
 Strong family and community ties
 Adherence to traditional gender roles
 Devout Catholicism
 High marriage rates (not always formal marriage)
 Low divorce rates
You May Ask Yourself
Copyright © 2008 W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.
Native American Families
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Based on tribe or lineage
Relationships may not be all blood
High respect for elders
Strong value of children – community
responsibility
Strong sense of tradition, stories
May still be marginalized due to culture
Female headed families
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Disadvantaged financially
May face stigma – assumption that raising
child alone is selfish choice
Often criticized for using welfare and services
Face many obstacles to finding good jobs
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Lack of child care, limited work hours
Lower education, lack of support for school
Often employed in “care work” or domestic work
– low status, low income
Children and childrearing
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Two approaches have been dominant
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Traditional– raising a competent adult
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Focus on discipline, obedience conformity
Closer to working class culture
Fits institutional marriage and family
People have children because it is expected
Developmental – developing child’s potential
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Focus on creativity, self-direction
Closer to middle class values
Fits individual marriage and family
People have children to enhance their lives
Is “Childhood” a recent concept?
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Traditional view: childhood as separate stage came with
industrialization
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Education separated children from outside world
Industrialization created homemaker/mother role
Children expected to choose own path in life
Contemporary view: childhood was always unique stage
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separate children’s cultures have always existed
“coddling” view of children seems to occur in cycles
Divorce
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Currently just under 1 divorce per 2 marriages
Rate doubled in 1970’s – great concern
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Women’s employment provided alternatives
“No Fault” system made divorce easier (but may
have been in response to demand)
Rate has leveled off
Biggest concern is for well-being of children
Figure 7.4 | Divorce Rate over the Past
Century
Divorce and children – chain of negative
events (Cherlin and Furstenburg)
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Loss of noncustodial parent
Loss of financial support, standard of living
Possible loss of home, neighborhood, school
Loss of custodial parent due to emotional trauma,
more work hours – “diminished parenting”
Loss of childhood, problems in later relationships
Most of these could be prevented by well managed
divorce
Future of families, children
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Often pessimistic predictions, stereotypes
Many children’s lives are better than ever
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Standard of living
Education
Health
Worse prospects for:
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Children of young single mothers
Minority children
Children of working poor