Sociology 1301
Professor: Linda Cook
Lecture Notes
MARRIAGE AND THE FAMILY
I)
Family – a set of persons related by blood marriage or adoption living in the same household.
Nuclear family/Extended family
A) Nuclear – a parent or parents and their unmarried children living together.
Common in Industrial and Postindustrial nations.
1) Strengths: parents make independent, autonomous decisions; parent/child bond is
stronger; more geographic mobility.
2) Weaknesses: Fewer economic resources, weakened bonds with other relatives.
B) Extended – relatives living together who do not meet the strict definition of a nuclear family. May
include a nuclear family plus other relatives such as a nuclear family and an uncle or may be
relatives such as 2 adult siblings sharing a household. Most commonly, we think of the 3 generation
household (grandparents, parents and children) that exists in many Agrarian societies but this is not
the only form of extended family.
1) Strengths: more economic resources due to more adults contributing income; more adults
available to care for children and teach family traditions.
2) Weaknesses: Lack of autonomy for adult parents as the eldest family members retain the
most power, even in child-rearing and economic decisions.
II) Forms of Marriage
A) Monogamy – twp people married only to each other. Most often this is one man and one woman but in
some nations, and some states in the U.S., monogamous marriage may be between two persons of the
same sex.
B) Serial Monogamy – an individual is married to one person at a time, so it is monogamy, but has more
than one spouse in his/her lifetime (due to death, divorce).
C) Polygamy – one person legally has more than one spouse at the same time.
There are more cultures in the world that legally allow polygamy than there are that legally allow only
monogamy (like the U.S.) However, most people worldwide live in monogamous relationships because
polygamy is more expensive and lonely those with great economic resources can afford to practice it.
Polygamy takes two forms.
1) Polygyny – one man and two or more women. More common of the two due to the
traditions of patriarchy and societal shortages of men due to war. After the Iran/Iraq War,
Iran practiced a modified form of polygyny known as muta. It is sanctioned by some
interpretations of the Islamic (Shiite) faith but had fallen out of favor during the Shah’s
regime. Due to a shortage of men (because of war), it was being encouraged. It is a
temporary verbal contract between a married man and an unmarried woman. In a few
cases, women have multiple temporary marriages to support themselves and their children.
The majority, however, are long term and mean that the man simply supports more than
one household. It is important to remember that children born of muta marriages are
legitimate. It was religiously sanctioned and practiced to rebuild society.
2) Polyandry – one woman and two or more men. Currently practiced in Tibet. In terms of
practicality, it makes no sense (there is no shortage of women in Tibet.) However, it is
embedded in cultural traditions. It is an in-group (endogamous) form of marriage such that,
whenever possible, a woman marries a family of brothers.
III) Descent Patterns
A) Patrilineal descent – a family’s lineage is traced on the man’s side of the family. Common in most
Agrarian societies.
B) Matrilineal descent – a family’s lineage is traced on the woman’s side of the family. Common in Hunting
and Gathering societies. The Jewish faith traces religious heritage through female lineage.
C) Bilateral descent – a family’s lineage is traced on both sides of the family. Common in Industrial and
Postindustrial societies, although vestiges of patrilineal descent remain such as the still relatively
common custom of the children taking the father’s last name.
IV) Newlywed Residence Patterns
A) Matrilocal residence – the newlywed couple move in with the bride’s family. Ex: Navajo
B) Patrilocal residence – the newlywed couple move in with the groom’s family. Ex: China, Vietnam
C) Neolocal residence – the newlywed couple move into their own, new residence, separate from either
side of the family. Ex: U.S.
V) Courtship and Mate Selection
A) Endogamy/Exogamy
1) Endogamy – norms requiring/encouraging people to marry within their social group. Traditionally,
this was to maintain skills and power within the society. Today most people marry endogamously
because we more frequently socialize with people similar to us in terms of race, class, religion, etc.
2) Exogamy – norms requiring/encouraging people to marry outside their group. Traditionally, this was
to bring in needed skills or to make peace with another society. Today, in societies where people
choose their own mates for reasons of romantic love, there is an increase in exogamous marriages.
However, endogamy is still the norm.
B) Homogamy/Heterogamy
1) Homogamy – choosing a mate with similar personality and social characteristics. Ex: two extroverts
who are both Catholic and enjoy the outdoors.
2) Heterogamy – choosing a mate with dissimilar personality and social characteristics. “Opposites
attract.” Ex: A middle class Protestant extrovert and an upper class Hindu introvert.
*Homogamy is more successful in maintaining long term relationships/marriages.
VI) Modern Trends in Marriage and Family
A) Singlehood – People are staying single longer. Average first marriage ages are later for both sexes
(about 27 for women and almost 29 for men). In addition, there is some evidence that there is an
increase in people who will stay single (never marry). Reasons are more opportunities for and more
social acceptance of singlehood. Specifically, women are no longer viewed as “old maids” if they aren’t
married at 21, there is more tolerance of homosexuality such that there isn’t the need to marry to hide
one’s homosexuality, and businesses are increasingly willing to hire and promote single people. Single
parenting is also increasing. Approximately 40% of children are now born out of wedlock, a fourfold
increase since 1970. This is not uniform by educational and economic background, however. Among
women with a bachelor's degree or higher, only about 10% are unmarried when they give birth; for
women with some college but no degree 40%, and 57% for those with a high school diploma or less.
B)
C)
D)
E)
F)
G)
However, births to teenage mothers have dropped dramatically, by nearly half, since 1991. Most
unmarried mothers today are in their 20s and early 30s.
Cohabitation – Living together without being married. It is also increasing, especially in industrialized
nations. From 1996 to 2012 in the U.S. the number of cohabiting couples jumped almost 170 percent,
from 2.9 million to 7.8 million. Reasons are delayed age of marriage, increased social acceptance, and a
desire to “try out’ a mate prior to marriage. Until recently, when couples cohabited before marriage,
their divorce rate was actually higher than couples who did not cohabit prior to marriage. This was not
thought to be based on cohabitation, per se. Couples who cohabit tend to hold more liberal attitudes;
couples who do not cohabit hold more conservative attitudes and believe more strongly in the
importance of staying in a marriage, even an unhappy one. However, recent research by demographer
Wendy Manning indicates that for couples in the U.S. who married since the mid-1990s, cohabitation is
not associated with a higher risk of divorce. In some countries, like Australia, living together before
marriage has actually become a "protective" factor against divorce.
DINKS – “double income, no kids” (people who are married, both employed, and childless). Some
choose not to have children (now more acceptable than in the past), some delay childbearing and then
have difficulty with conception. Economics also plays a role. According to the Department of
Agriculture, the average middle class American family in 2012 spent $241,080 to raise a child from age 3
(after diapers) to age 18 (before college) . Whatever the reasons, the percentage of DINKS is also
increasing.
Adoption – The trend is from closed adoption (where all records are sealed at the time of the adoption)
to open adoption (where access to adoption records is available to birth parents, adoptive parents and
the adoptee.) The trend began with the need to access medical information/ history of biological
parents.
There are many unresolved ethical and legal issues, however. If records are sealed, then opened,
privacy violations occur. If prospective adoptive parents learn of medical problems in the child’s family
history, will they turn down the adoption? Whose rights are most important? The child? The biological
parents? The adoptive parents? Finally, laws vary from state to state and some people (not all) are
opting for totally open adoptions where the biological mother (and possibly father) and adoptive
parents know each other and may even share visitation and custody rights.
Gay Marriage - In 2004, Massachusetts was the first state to legalize gay marriage. In that year, 55% of
Americans opposed legalizing gay marriage. By 2013, 58% of Americans favored legalizing gay marriage
and support is strongest among younger Americans. At this writing, 36 states and the District of
Columbia have legalized gay marriage and, while there is significant backlash, it is likely that number will
grow. However, it will likely be some time before it is legal in all states unless there is a change in
federal law via Congress or the Supreme Court.
Divorce - The U.S. divorce rate is the highest in the world but is declining. After remaining at close to
50% of first marriages for several decades, it began to fall in 1996. It is now about 40%. However, there
are distinct education and social class differences since one of the major issues in divorce is economic
instability. For middle and upper income couples with college degrees, the rate is less than 30%. The
majority of divorced people remarry.
Egalitarian Marriages - The share of mothers employed outside the home has quadrupled since the
1950s and today nearly 3/4 of women with children work outside the home. The number of women
who are their families' sole or primary breadwinners has increased to 40% today from 11% in 1960.
Cultural attitudes are adapting. 62% of all Americans, and 72% of adults under 30, view an ideal
marriage as one where the husband and wife both work outside the home and share child care and
household duties.