Sociology 105
Chapter 11
Marriage & Family
Introduction
• Cultural factors play a major role in how
marriage is defined and how it functions
• How we define the family has implications for
policy
– A standard definition is “a universal human
institution in a small kinship-structured group with
the key function of nurturant socialization of the
newborn
• 3 theories help us understand the family better
Functionalism
Sexual Regulation
Four
Functions
of
Families
Socialization
Economic Support
Psychological & Emotional
Support
Percentage of Married Women in the
U.S. Labor Force, 1890-1992
60
50
Percent
40
30
20
10
5
1910 1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 1992
Year
Conflict/Feminist Perspective
• Women dominated by men in the home
– Men do less housework then women
• Women are expected to put in a “second shift”
• Men do about 10 hours per week, women about 20 hours
– But women still do about 80% of the female dominated jobs
– Question: Why do women accept this unequal
participation? Fader (1985) says:
• They often criticize their husband's work (he doesn't fold
the laundry correctly)
• “Women expect men to read their mind”
• Many mothers won’t relinquish their role as the primary
parent
Symbolic Interactionism
• Focus on how a person interprets their situation
– Men do less housework when: (1) they are laid off,
and (2) they make less than their wife. Why….?
• A man feels his masculinity is threatened. He views himself
as having failed in his role as primary provider
• Avoiding housework allows him to reclaim his masculinity
and retain “dignity”
The Family: Weaker or Stronger Today?
• Question: is the family weaker or stronger today
than in the past? Why?
• Stark points out how families were structured in
traditional European families.
– Female-headed households were common
– Children viewed as “little adults” & often neglected
• Babies who died were discarded in garbage pits and gutters
• Often left home by age 10
– Strained relations between husband and wife
• Opinion polls in the 1950's showed that 20%
reported their marriages as "unhappy." and another
20% reported only "medium happiness."
Marriage, Children, & Happiness
• Married people are, on the average, happier & healthier
• During the 60's researchers noted that mothers often
developed the "empty nest" syndrome
• During the 70's however, they found that a U-shaped
curve existed between a couple's marital happiness and
the parental responsibilities
– Couples reported happiness before children were
born, happiness plummets when children are born,
and then happiness goes up when they leave.
Choosing a Mate
• Question: What effect has modernization had on
marriage?
– Marriages shifted from arranged and/or based on
economic alliances to individual choice based on love and
romance
• Question: What are you looking for in a mate?
• Social factors play a huge role in who you choose:
– Age (women, on average, marry a man 2 years older than
herself)
– Education
– Social class
– Race (94% choose someone of their own race)
• Thus, we tend to marry people who are like us, a
phenomenon social scientists call “homogamy”
• Question: Why is this?
• Because of spatial nearness (networks): we tend to
meet & fall in love with people we meet at:
– church
– work
– school
Facts About Divorce & Extramarital
Affairs
• Most people who get divorced report that the
marriage ceased to provide emotional satisfaction
• The divorce rate is higher today than ever before,
but:
– People are less likely to remain in marriages today than in
the past
• Divorce laws are much less restrictive
• Women have gained more economic independence from men
• So who is at risk? What are some of the factors that
contribute to divorce?
Factors Affecting Divorce
Age at Marriage
Parental Divorce
Six
Factors
Affecting
the Likelihood
of Divorce
Premarital Childbearing
Education
Cohabitation Before
Marriage
Bad Behavior
Gender and Extramarital Sex
Percentage of Men and Women Reporting Extramarital Affairs
Yes
No
Men
Women
Total
24%
14%
19%
76%
86%
81%
100%
100%
100%
How to Build a Successful Marriage
• Happily married couples typically cite three
reasons for an enduring and happy marriage
– Their spouse is their best friend
– They see marriage as a long term commitment and
thus attempt to avoid serious conflict
– They try to spend as much time together as possible
SOC 105
Chapter 12
Religion
Questions
• Why do Religions emerge & develop?
• Why do people join Religions?
Introduction
• Rodney Stark defines religion as:
– “socially organized patterns of belief
and practices that concern ultimate
meaning and assume the existence of
the supernatural”
• Nobody knows when humans first
acquired religion
• All known societies have some type
of religion
• Religion has influenced societies in
enormous ways
Religion in the United States
Jewish 2%
Mormon 1%
None 5%
Other 6%
Protestant 59%
Catholic 27%
Source: Gallup Poll 1994.
Functionalist Perspective
• Religion has 3
important
functions:
1. Providing
meaning and
purpose to life
2. Promoting social
cohesion and a
sense of belonging
3. Providing social
• Religion can be dysfunctional too….
The Crusades
Taliban(Muslims) vs.
Buddhists
• A 175-foot Buddhist
monument, believed to be
the world's largest
standing Buddha was
destroyed by Taliban
Muslims in Afganistan.
Conflict Perspective
• According to Karl
Marx, religion is the
"opiate of the
people"
• Max Weber argued
that religion could be
a catalyst to produce
social change
Symbolic Interactionist
Perspective
• Religion serves as a reference group to help
people define themselves
• Women’s versions of a certain religion usually
differ from men’s versions
Secularization
• “The process by which particular religious
organizations become more worldly and offer a
less vivid and less active conception of the
supernatural”
The Secularization Thesis (The
Old Paradigm)
• Suggests that as society becomes more industrial
and technological, religion is replaced by science
The Evidence?
• In the 1960s & 70s many social scientists
predicted that religion would be replaced by
science
– They noticed that the largest established
denominations were losing members
Market Shares of Mainline per 1,000 Church
Members, 1940-1985
Denomination
1940
1960
1985
Percentage
loss or gain
United
Methodists
124.7
93.0
64.3
-48%
Presbyterian,
U.S.A.
41.7
36.4
21.3
-49%
Episcopal
30.9
28.6
19.2
-38%
Christian
(Disciples)
25.7
15.7
7.8
-70%
United Church 26.5
of Christ
19.6
11.8
-56%
• Yet, these scientists neglected to look at other
non-mainline denominations
Market Shares of Evangelicals per 1,000 Church
Members, 1940-1985
Denomination
1940
1960
1985
Southern
Baptists
Assemblies of
God
Church of the
Nazarene
Church of God
(Cleveland, TN)
76.7
85.0
101.3
Percentage loss
or gain
+32%
3.1
4.4
14.6
+371%
2.6
2.7
3.7
+42%
1.0
1.5
3.6
+260%
Has Religion Been Displaced by
Science?
• Seems to be the case in Europe, but
not in the U.S.
– Churches receive more money than
any other charity
– Over 90% say they believe in God
– Around 57% say they pray on a
regular basis
– Around 70% report that religion is
“very important” in their lives
– Church membership has increased
over the years, not decreased
Percent of Church Membership
Rates of Church Affiliation, U.S., 1776-1995
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
1776 1850 1860 1870 1890 1906 1916 1926 1952 1980 1995
Year
An Alternate View (The New
Paradigm)
• Others suggested that secularization leads to
religious revival and/or innovation
– Religion will not be replaced by science
Why Does Religion Remain
Relevant In The U.S. ?
1. Cultural Compatibility
– Early churches emphasized selfgovernment and voluntary affiliation
• Fits well with cultural values about
freedom of choice and individual
initiative
2. Social Identity
– Churches help those who move
around find a sense of community
3. Disestablishment & Competition (Finke,
Stark & Bainbridge)
– Separation of church and state ensures that
no one religion or denomination is funded by
the government
• Thus, religious monopolies are prevented due to
competition
– This wasn’t the case in many European countries
• This creates an environment that encourages
competition between churches
– Churches have to adapt to meet the needs and
wants of “the marketplace”
» a.k.a. “a religious economy”
The Geography of NRMs
• NRM’S typically arise in those
areas where sects and churches
have failed to satisfy the religious
market
• What are NRMs?
– “The beginning phase of an entirely
new religion”
• Differs from a sect in that sects attempt
to purify or return to elements of an
established religion
• Research has shown that NRMs
are more successful in areas
where “secularization” has
occurred
– The unchurched belt in the Western
U.S.
Church Membership Rates Per 1,000
Values:
588.37
To
747.3
547.63
To
587.84
460.98
To
546.46
405.98
To
453.63
313.11
To
399.18
Studying Group Solidarity: Solomon
Asch
Group 1
X
Group 2
A
B
C
Group 1
X
Group 2
A
B
C
Group 1
X
Group 2
A
B
C
Response Rates
Why Do People Join
NRMS?: Studying Religious
Conversion
• The brainwashing thesis
– Based on psychology
– Members are thought to be:
•
•
•
•
•
Young
Lacking strong social attachments
From lower socioeconomic classes
Uneducated
Weak minded and thus highly suggestible
• The social network thesis
– Based on sociology
– John Lofland & Rodney Stark studied
religious conversion to the Unification
Church
Research Findings
• Empirical research suggests the following
generalizations
– Those who are deeply committed to a faith do not go out
and join another faith
• Seekership precedes many conversions but….
– Converts don’t have to have a favorable opinion of the
NRM before they join, and they don’t initially agree with
the NRM’s ideology
• Conversion is an act of conformity
– Recruitment and conversion to NRMs happens primarily
through pre-existing social networks with family and
friends
– Strong ties to others in the NRM are important for
recruitment
– Sustained intensive interaction is also important for
retention
• Members who are heavily involved have fewer and weaker
ties to non-members
Conclusions
– Conversion Is A Matter Of Conformity
– Secularization contributes to the emergence of
religious revivals and NRMs