Unit 4- The Family
• Essential Questions:
– What is a family?
– What is its purpose?
– How do different family
structures demonstrate
cultural differences?
Family vs. Household
• Family: consists of people
who consider themselves
related by blood, marriage,
or adoption.
Household: consists of people
who occupy the same housing
unit – a house, apartment, or
other living quarters.
The Family
• You might consider your distant relatives part of
this, even though you don’t live with them.
– Great aunts are still family (people you probably only
see at weddings or funerals, but might adopt a kid if
all the closer relatives died, or would let you borrow
their lake house for a week, even though you don't
really know them that well.
– When I talk to my kids about my best friend, I refer to
him as “Uncle Glen”, and his wife, “Aunt Beth”
– What is the “typical” American family?
» There really isn’t one
» However, up to 70% of children grow up in the
traditional two-parent structure (but this
included marriages from divorce)
Group Activity - Why do we have
families? (Modern Family)
• What are the benefits of organizing
into families?
• What purposes do families serve for
children? Adults? The elderly? For
societies? (basically, what do you
learn from your family?
• What do they DO?
Purpose of the Family
• Your Family of Orientation:
• It is the family that you are born into
• Provides a person with his/her name, identity
and heritage
• It gives the person an ascribed status in the
community
• Family of Procreation- formed when people
marry
• What happens when a family of procreation has a
child or if 2 people in a same-sex marriage adopt?
– The family of procreation then becomes one of
orientation
Functions of the Family
– Family is universal; it fulfills needs that are basic to survival of
the family. Needs are:
• 1-economic production
– Specialization - husband can farm - wife makes the candles, or men hunt,
wives care for children, or Women run the business - men take care of kids
(hasn't happened much yet, but could)
• 2-socialization
– teaching the youth and bringing them into society; educate them in all sorts
of things (sports, how to play with others, handiwork skills, etc.)
• 3-take care of sick and aged (and children, cannot care for selves)
– Does anyone care for their grandparent or aunts or uncles?
– Who is going to care for you?
• 4-recreation
– people to have fun with and feel safe with
• 5-sexual control
– Parents, especially fathers, take the role of protectors of their children's
"purity"
– Have you ever heard of a "Shotgun wedding"? Forced - quick wedding,
usually due to unplanned pregnancy
• 6-reproduction
– As noted before, a reasonable way to care for children - ensure they are
supported.
Marriage
• The legal union
between people based
upon mutual rights and
obligations
• Most marriages in the
U.S. are between a man
and a woman, although
same-sex marriage are
starting to become
recognized by more and
more states
Nuclear Family
• Dad
Mom
• Kids
• (pets optional)
•
a family structure limited to the wife, husband, and children (used in its general meaning referring to a
central entity or "nucleus" around which others collect.)
– (~25% of households are nuclear)
– of course plenty of single-parent homes, married w/out children, and single roommates (college and
after college)
The Extended Family
• A family structure including not just the wife, husband, and children
but also family members like grandparents, aunts, uncles, and
cousins. (exes can be included in here)
– 2010 approximately fifty million (nearly one in six) Americans,
including rising numbers of seniors, live in households with at least
two adult generations, and often three. The main reasons cited for this
shift are increase in unemployment and slumped housing prices and
arrival of new immigrants from Asian and South American countries.[1]
The increase in the number of multigenerational households has
created complex legal issues, such as who in the household has
authority to consent to police searches of the family home or private
bedrooms.[2]
How many of you live with your extended family?
Article: Nepal’s Wife Sharing Custom Fades
Extended Family
Blended Family
• A family formed when at
least one of the partners
has a child or children
from a previous marriage
or relationship
• What are some problems
that might arise?
– Custody problems
– Children’s dislike of the new spouse
– Conflict between siblings (fairness in
discipline, etc.)
– Uncertainty about the new roles played
by stepparents
– Children from previous marriages are
one cited factor in the higher divorce
rate for second marriages
The Sandwich Generation
• People who have to
take care of their
children and their own
parents
• What struggles do they
face?
– Child care
– Expenses of elderly care
– Little time for selves and
facing responsibilities
they didn’t expect
It is a terms that is becoming increasingly
Important as the “baby boomers” age and
their children must take care of them
Systems of Descent
• Patrilineal
– Descent and inheritance are
passed from the father to his
male descendants (ex: Iraq)
• Matrilineal
– Descent and inheritance are
passed from the mother to
her female descendants (ex:
some Native Am. Groups)
• Bilineal
– Descent and inheritance are
passed equally through both
parents (most families in the
U.S.)
Systems of Authority
• Patriarchy
– Oldest man in the household
has authority over the other
family members (most
common)
• Matriarchy
– The oldest woman in the
household has authority over
the rest of the family
members (uncommon)
• Egalitarian
– Authority is split evenly
between a husband and wife
(U.S.-but becoming more
prominent worldwide)
Who does most of the work
in your home?
• Cooking
• Cleaning (vacuuming, bathrooms, etc.)
• Laundry
• Outdoor chores
• Repairs
• Gardening/animal care
• Paying bills/keeping checkbook
Look at work study: analyze
–Who does more work?
–Where do men work most?
–Where do women work most?
–Does this look like your family?
–Why do men work in more "outside
jobs"?
–Is this good for a "egalitarian
society?"
The “second shift”
• Women’s “housework” after returning from work
Strategies of Resistance
• (1) - Waiting It Out
• not volunteering to do work
• showing irritation or acting glum
when asked
• wives dislike asking feels like
"begging" and are discouraged from
asking again.
• (2) - Playing Dumb
• Men becoming incompetent when they do
housework.
–burning food, forgetting grocery lists,
etc.
–Not necessarily on purpose, but without
putting a lot of mental attention to the
task they screw up.
–Get credit, but don’t get chosen next
time.
• (3) - Needs Reduction
• “I’m fine with Chef Boyardee for dinner.”
“I don’t care if the tub is dirty.”
• "cereal is fine" - so doesn't cook
• (4) - Flattery (substitute offerings)
• “You’re amazing that you handle
working and being mom so well…”
• Expressing appreciation is a
replacement for actually working, and it
encourages her to keep the second shift
going.
Marriage Composition
• Monogamy- a family where
there is only one husband
and one wife
• Polygamy -translated
literally in Late Greek as
"often/many married"
• Polygyny: family forms
where men have more than
one wife
• Polyandry: a family form
where women have more
than one husband.
What are the benefits/costs of…
• Nuclear families?
– Economically works well (traditionally, wife focuses on the home, man
on work-today, sometimes the reverse is true- or a shared burden
– Stability- a little less confusing and less competition/jealousy
• Polygamous families?
– Greater economic specialization
• "My husbands can take it in turns to go out for business, so I'm happy,"
she says. "If there were only one, he'd be under pressure to go out and
trade, and there'd be no one to help at home."
• They have three children between them. As in most polyandrous
households, although they know who belongs to which father, the
distinction matters little.
• Pema Tsering, the younger husband, says polyandry gives natural
population control to this community, who are Buddhists.
• He says that in the neighboring Hindu culture, "there's only one husband if he dies, no one cares about the wife and it's difficult for the children as
well".
– Costs - confusion, jealousy, unclear roles (perhaps), often less freedom for the
women
So what’s wrong with incest?
(So What's Wrong with Incest?)
Function of the Incest Taboo
– Why do we (and most societies) have the incest
taboo?
• Helps avoid role confusion—if dad is sleeping with his
daughter, does she treat him as husband or father?
Mom as 2nd wife or mom? Siblings as mom or sister?
What if she had a kid? More problems.
• Also forces people to look outside the family for
marriage (called exogamy). Traditionally forged
alliances between tribes.
• Also extends social network of bride and groom by
building relationships.
Exogamy
• Seeking a mate outside one’s group (family,
tribe, class, etc.)
Endogamy
• Marrying within
one’s social group
Homogamy vs. Heterogamy
• Homogamy
– is marriage between
individuals who are, in
some culturally
important way, similar to
each other
– may be based on socioeconomic status, class,
gender, ethnicity, or
religion
• Heterogamy
– refers to
a marriage between two
individuals that differ in
a certain criterion
– May refer to age
difference, ethnic
difference, gender
difference, etc.
In groups:
–Using at least 3 terms learned
yesterday - describe what your
ideal society would look like
when it comes to family
structure, power, and lineage.
–Explain the benefits and costs
versus our present society
Selected Bibliography
• http://www.estatelegacyvaults.com/elv/_esol
/
• http://www.i4m.com/think/polygamy/polyga
my_summary.htm
• http://www.impossiblefunky.com/archives/iss
ue_7/7_starwars.asp?IshNum=7&Headline=D
ude!%20%20That%27s%20Your%20Sister!