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Chapter 2
Chapter
The2History of the Family
© 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved
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Sun Myung Moon’s Mass Weddings
• http://www.thedailybeast.com/galleries/2012/09/02
/mass-weddings-by-sun-myung-moonphotos.html#slide1
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History of the Family
• Historians--Upper class bias
▫ Nobles
▫ Wars
▫ Rise & fall of empires
• First, study of “ordinary” families
▫ 1960
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9/3 Philippe Aries
CENTURIES OF CHILDHOOD (1963)
• Concept of “Childhood”
• Innocent
• Protect
• Hidden from children:
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•
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Birth
Death
Sex
Tragedy
World events
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Philippe Aries--CENTURIES OF CHILDHOOD
• Children segregated by age
• Having an age important
• In the past ages were unknown
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17th Century
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18th Century
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19th Century
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19th Century
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20th Century
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Origins of Family and Kinship
 Evolutionary theory
 Infants need care Families
 Hunter-gatherers: For 3 million years
 Until invention of agriculture
 (8000-10,000 years ago)
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Hunter-gatherers
• Small bands (approx. 30 people)
▫ Several families
▫ Nomads
• Group size=Depended on food in region
• Men
▫ Hunted, fished
• Women
▫ Gathered nuts, berries
▫ Cared for children
• Children also worked
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Agriculture
 Settled agriculture
 10,000 years ago
 People discover how to cultivate
crops and domesticate animals
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Kinship
 Kinship traced through mother’s or father’s
kin
 Lineages
 Patrilineage: Father’s line
 Matrilineage: Mother’s line
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Origins of Family and Kinship
 Kinship Groups
 Ensure order
 Defend against outsiders
 Provide labor
 Assist others in group
 Recruit new members
 Through marriage
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9/5 Origins of Family and Kinship
• In most societies--smaller family units
▫ Mother and children (always)
▫ Husband/father (usually)
▫ Other household members
(sometimes)
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Origins of Family and Kinship
 Western culture—Smaller kinship groups
 Conjugal family:
 Husband,
 Wife and
 Children
 Extended family: Other relatives in
household
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Origins of Family and Kinship
• Family and kinship systems:
• Fundamental needs:
▫ Reproduction
▫ Food
▫ Defense
▫ Safety
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The American Family before 1776
• American Indian Families
• European Colonists
• African Slaves
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American Indian Families:
The Primacy of the Tribes
• Indigenous people in the 48 territories that
became United States
• Family units based on lineages
 Tribes, both matrilineal and patrilineal
 Matrilineal ties to maternal kin
 Patrilineal ties to paternal kin
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American Indians
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European Colonists:
The Primacy of the Public Family
• Families performed public services:
▫ Education
▫ Hospitals
▫ Houses of correction
▫ Orphanages
▫ Nursing homes
▫ Poor houses
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European Colonists
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European Colonists:
The Primacy of the Public Family
• No room for privacy or private lives
▫ Family affairs=public business
▫ Houses not designed for privacy—public
▫ Little privacy from other households
▫ Conjugal family is integral part of society
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European Colonists:
The Primacy of Public Family
• Family Diversity
• Not all families “ideal conjugal” family
▫ Stepfamilies due to death of parents
▫ Marriage not always official
 More common in Middle Colonies
 Bigamy
 Men migrated West and began new family
Emergence of the “Modern” American
Family: 1776 to 1900
Four characteristics:
1. Marriage— mutual respect and affection
2. Wife (morally superior) cared for home & children
3. “Childhood” protect and support children
4. Decline in number of children per family
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The Emergence of the “Modern” American
Family: 1776 to 1900
• Individualism
• Personal relationships within families
• Enhanced emotional rewards
• Support autonomy
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From Cooperation to Separation:
Men’s and Women’s Spheres
Change in mode of production
▫ Capitalism
▫ From “family labor” to “paid labor”
• Men worked outside the home
▫ Business ethic
▫ Focus—world outside home
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From Family Labor to Paid Labor
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Men: Paid Labor Outside Home
• http://www.history.com/videos/the-industrialrevolition#the-industrial-revolition
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From Cooperation to Separation:
Men’s and Women’s Spheres
• Women worked inside the home
▫ Renew husbands’ character & spirituality
• “Cult of True Womanhood "women were:
 Upholders of spiritual values
 Pure
 Submissive to men
 Domestic
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Cult of True Womanhood
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtXNNAs9u0M&fe
ature=player_embedded#!
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Happy Homemakers
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19th Century Families
Harriet Tubman and Family
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African Families in America
• Africans: Traded as slaves for
centuries
▫ Captured or bought in West Africa
▫ Sold as slaves
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African Families in America
African society
• Organized by lineages
Marriage is a process
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Zulu Courtship and Weddings
Girls of courting age send beaded
“love letters” to young man
He comes courting
Girl presents young man with string of
white beads
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The Process
• Process begins with lobola
agreement
• Shows groom’s commitment to his
bride
• “Compensation” to father & his kraal
(rural village) for loss of girl
• Bridegroom & family claim children
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The Process
• Lobola paid in head of cattle
- Amount agreed upon by the families
• Cattle delivered in ‘installments’ to the
bride’s father
• Continue for a year or two
▫ Until bridegroom’s family insists on a
wedding
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The Process
Weddings—Joyous singing, dancing and
mock fighting by warriors in traditional
dress
Community joins in the celebrations
Women wear:
• Traditional headdresses
• Beautiful beaded necklaces
• Soft leather aprons
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The Process
• Must be night with a bright moon
▫ Faint moon signifies bad luck
▫ Makes the celebrations less festive
• Held outside in bridegroom’s village
• Parents of the bride do not attend
▫ Would be too sad for them
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Influence of Slavery on Family
• Family life difficult
• Slavery stripped elders of authority over
marriage process
• Enslaved often married for life
▫ Kept track of extended family
• Most families—two parents
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Before 1865
• Enslaved people could not legally marry
• Colonial & state laws considered them
property
▫ Not legal persons who could enter into
contracts
• Marriage is a legal contract.
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After 1865
• Free African Americans could marry
• In northern states:
• New York
• Pennsylvania
• Massachusetts
• In slave states of the South:
• Formed relationships that they treated like
marriage
▫ Considered themselves husbands and wives
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After the Civil War
• Essential to freedom:
▫ Reuniting families separated under
slavery
▫ Solidifying existing family relations
• Family is the foundation of the
postwar black community
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Mexican Families in America
• Mexicans living in area that became part
of U.S.
• Landowners & Farmer-Laborers
• Farmer-laborers—Mestizo—part Spanish
and part Native American
• Compadres: In Mexico, the godparent
relationship with wealthy or influential
person
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Mexicans in America
•April 23 1846, U.S. Congress declared
war on Mexico
•Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
•Signed on Feb. 2, 1848
• Ended the U.S.-Mexican War
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Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
U.S. took land area of:
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•
•
•
•
•
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Texas
New Mexico
California
Arizona
Nevada
Utah
Half of Colorado
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Mexico & U.S. After Treaty
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Mexican-American Families
• Five centuries of Spanish colonization
• Family character combines:
• Feelings of indigenous people
•Traditional feminine subculture
• And Spanish expectations and norms
• Masculine machista orientation
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Mexican-American Families
• Extended families important
• Families provide support:
• Emotional
• Instrumental
• Guidance
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Asian Immigrant Families
• Asian Americans in U.S. are of many
ethnicities including:
• Japanese
• Chinese
• Korean
• Filipino
• Asian (East) Indians
• Southeast Asians
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Asian Immigrant Families
• The Asian Heritage
• Fathers—Authority over family
• Kinship—Patrilineal
• Children expected to care for elderly
• Live with them
• Emphasize family loyalty
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The Rise of the Private Family: 1900Present
The Early Decades
• Increase in premarital sex
• Decline in births
• Rising divorce rate
• Increase in marriage rate
• Focus on emotional satisfaction
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The Rise of the Private Family:
1900-Present
• Families less dominant in people’s lives
• Marriage less necessary economically
& materially
• Marriage more fragile
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The Rise of the Private Family:
1900-Present
• Privacy & private families increased
• Birthrate declined
• Life expectancy increased
• Family housing needs change
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The Rise of the Private Family:
1900-Present
• Basis of marriage—From economics to
emotional satisfaction and companionship
• Men and women—more economically
independent or interdependent
• Marriage bonds weakened
• Divorce more common
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Cohorts: The Depression Generation
• Affected family finances
• Undermined authority of father
• Divorce rate fell
• Postponed marriage & childbearing
▫ 1 in 5 never had children (1 in 10
norm)
• Children helped by working
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The 1950s
• Baby boom (1946-1964)renewed focus on
marriage and children
▫ More children than before
▫ Preferred family size increased
• Highpoint of breadwinner-homemaker
model
▫ Not really the “traditional family”
▫ Faded quickly
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1950s Family
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1960s and Beyond
• Birthrate plunged
• Married average 4-5 years later
• Wanted independence
• Divorce rate doubled 1960s–70s
▫ Declined slightly since
• Cohabitation—1970s
• Women working outside home
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1960s Family
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Social Changes in the 20th Century
• The chart (next slide) shows
changes in family and personal life
• Twentieth century
▫ Great change in family
▫ How individuals lead their lives
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A life-course perspective on social change in the
20th century
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Emergence of Early Adulthood
• Early adulthood – Period between
mid-teens & about 30
▫ May return to parents’ home
• Labor force =
▫ All people who are working for pay or
▫ Looking for paid work
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The Role of Education
• Factor in lengthening early adulthood
• More employment opportunities for
college-educated
• Young adults may still marry
▫ May postpone children to further
education
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Declining Parental Control
• A century ago, young people lived
with parents until marriage
• Today they live apart
• Parents have less control over
children
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Early Adulthood and
the Life Course Perspective
 Study of changes to individuals’ lives
 Relationship to historic events
 Key transitions:
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
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
Infancy
School age
Adolescence
Teenager
Young adult
Adulthood
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Life Course Perspective
Historical changes such as:
 Decline of manufacturing jobs
 Employment for well-educated
 Greater acceptance of cohabitation
 Acceptance of childbearing outside
of marriage
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Summary: What History Tells Us
 Americans come from many regions of the world
Different family traditions
Mix of European, African, Asian, South
American and others
 European American family systems
Conjugal unit (mother, father, children)
Division of labor (gender based)
Emphasized individual satisfaction
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What History Tells Us
• African, Asian, South American Family
• Emphasis on extended kin
Sometimes lineages
Larger family structures
▫ Marriage still central to society