Families in Society
© 2006 Alan S. Berger
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What Is a Family?
• A social unit of some number of people
who are linked intimately
– Related in some way
– Usually living together
– Engaging in sex
– Having responsibility for rearing children
– Functioning as an economic unit
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What is a Family
• Definition of the family: shared genetic
heritage, and law, meaning social
recognition and affirmation of the bond
– Boundaries are clear
– Enables tracking of who is related to whom
over time
Copyright 2009 The McGraw Hill
Compamies
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Types of Families
• Nuclear Family: a social unit composed of a husband, a
wife, and their children
– Family of orientation: family to which one was born
– Family of procreation: a person, spouse, and their children
– Blended family: spouses and their children from former
marriages live as a single nuclear family
– Binuclear family: divorced parents form separate households;
children divide their time with each
• Extended Family
– Composed of two or more generations of kin that functions as
an independent social and economic unit
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Kinship
• A network of people who are related by
marriage, blood, or social practice or the
state of being related to others culturally
learned, not necessarily determined by
biological ties
– Kinship is a means by which societies can
socialize children and transmit culture from
one generation to the next
– Kinship creates complex social bonds
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Marriage
• Two individuals involved in a socially
approved relationship
– Intimate, mutual long-term obligations
– Fulfilled customary ceremonial or legal
requirements
– Limits on who can marry
– A legal tie, determined by state
– Who can perform a marriage
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Types of Marriage
• Monogamy: form of marriage in which one woman and
one man are married only to each other
• Serial monogamy: when a person has several spouses
in his or her lifetime, but only one spouse at a time
• Polygamy: when an individual has several husbands or
wives simultaneously
• Polygyny: marriage of a man to more than one wife at a
time
• Polyandry: marriage of a woman to more than one
husband at the same time
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Courtship and Mate Selection
• Internet is new meeting place
• More people marrying later
• Endogamy: restriction of mate selection
to people within the same group
• Exogamy: requires mate selection outside
certain groups, usually one’s own family or
certain kin
• What is the difference between dating and
courting?
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Ten Questions Couples Should Ask (or Wish
They Had) Before Marrying
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Source: New York Times 2006.
Courtship
• The relationship between two people who are
preparing for marriage to each other
– Endogamy: people marry within their own group
– Exogamy: people marry outside of their own group
– Propinquity: people meet only when they are not
apart
– Ethnicity and race: people tend to marry within their
own groups
– Values: endogamy is reinforced by cultural values
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Courtship and Mate Selection
• What are criteria for a potential mate?
• Incest taboo: social norm common to virtually
all societies prohibiting sexual relationships
between certain culturally specified relatives
• Homogamy: conscious or unconscious
tendency to select mate with personal
characteristics similar to one’s own
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Romantic Love
• Romantic loveAn important incentive to marry
– Love provides a source of support
– Strong commitment to each other
An emotional identification between two individuals
– Intense
– Convinced they cannot live without each other
• Not considered important for marriage until 20th
century
• Other Basis for marriage?
– Arranged Marriages ?
• Economic Basis
• Political basis
– Other ??
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Functions of the Family
• What families do for society and for their
members
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Reproduction
Socialization
Protection
Regulation of sexual behavior
Affection and companionship
Provision of social status
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Authority Patterns:
Who Rules?
• Patriarchy: society in which men
dominate in family decision making
• Matriarchy: society in which women
dominate in family decision making
• Egalitarian family: authority pattern in
which spouses are regarded as equals
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Authority Patterns:
Who Rules?
• Historically, family has legitimized and
perpetuated male dominance
• Social class of parents significantly
influences children’s socialization
– Socioeconomic status of a child’s family will
have marked influence on his or her life
chances as an adult
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Marriage and Family
• Over 95 percent of U.S. men and women
will marry at least once
• Our social positions shape our choices
when picking partners
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Percentage of People Ages 20–24
Ever Married, Selected Countries
Source: United Nations Population Division 2005.
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Dimensions of Marriage
and Family
• Residence
– Norms related to where married couples should
reside
•
•
•
•
Matrilocal arrangement: kin lives with wife’s mother
Patrilocal arrangement: kin lives with husband’s mother
Neolocal arrangement: kin set up independent household
Bilocal arrangement: each spouse maintains a separate
residence
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Dimensions of Marriage and Family
• Descent
– The system by which
kinship is traced over
generations
• Patrilineal: kinship is
traced through male
• Matrilineal: kinship is
traced through female
• Bilineal: kinship is
traced through both
sides of the family
• Power
– The system by which
power is assigned
• Patriarchy: male has
most power
• Matriarchy: female has
most power
– Matricentric: females
have some power
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Alternative Family Forms
• Serial monogamy
– More than one spouse but not at same time
• Single parent
– Mostly result of divorce
• Gay and lesbian
– Legal issues debated
• Cohabitation
– A household without marriage
• Independent living
– Men or women who live alone
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Marital Dissolution
• Divorce
– Dissolution of legal ties that bind a marriage
– Legal separation
• Couples agree to take up separate residences
• Informal separation: one spouse temporarily moves out
– Desertion
• One spouse leaves the other for a prolonged period of time
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Explaining Marital Dissolution
• Society
– Nuclear family is subject to many stresses but
has limited resources
– Lower social classes more vulnerable
• Falling out of love
– Passion yields to reality
• Women’s changing roles
– Less economic dependency
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Domestic Violence
• Amount
– 1/5 of women abused
• Class differences
– Type of violence and reporting patterns
• Stay or leave?
– Retribution and psychological dependence
• Options
– Shelters and legal system
• Global patterns
– National tolerance level
– Stress from rapid social change
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Functionalism and the Family
The Family Satisfies Common Social Functions
• Socialization
– Family is responsible for primary care and early learning
• Birth; regulates sexual activity
– Choosing mates and perpetuating population
• Economic
– Assigning assets
– Important economic production and consumption unit
• Support and comfort
– Help with problems
• Social placement
– Children inherit status and class of parents
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Family: Conflict Perspective
• Power relationships
– Men control wealth
– Norms require women to do most domestic
chores
• Perpetuation of social inequality
– Family is a model of patriarchy that dominates
society
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Family: Symbolic Interactionism
• People construct their own families
– No two families are alike
• Family is source of major roles and identity
– As new roles are learned
– New concepts of reality are created
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