Chapter 14 The Family: Basic Concepts

Family: a social institution found in all societies that unites people in cooperative groups to oversee the bearing and raising of children.

Kinship: a social bond based on blood, marriage, or adoption.

Throughout the world, families form around marriage.

The Family: Global Variations The extended family: includes parents and

children as well as other kin.

The nuclear family: one or two parents and their children.

Blended family: composed of children and some combination of biological parents and stepparents.

The nuclear family is the most common in the United States.

Marriage Patterns(Two Types)

Cultural norms and laws identify people as suitable or unsuitable marriage partners.

Endogamy: marriage between people of the same social category.

Exogamy: marriage between people of different social categories.

In industrial societies, laws prescribe monogamy.

Polygamy: marriage that unites three or more people.

Residential Patterns(Two Types)

Just as societies regulate mate selection, they designate where a couple resides.

In preindustrial societies, most newlyweds live with one set of parents.

Patrilocality: a married couple lives with or near the husbands family.

Matrilocality: a married couple lives with or near the wife’s family.

Patterns of Descent(Two Types)

Descent: the system by which members of a society trace kinship over generations.

Patrilineal descent: tracing kinship through men.

Matrilineal descent: tracing kinship through women.

Bilateral descent: tracing kinship through both men and women.

Theoretical Analysis of the Family:Structural-Functional Analysis

The family performs several vital tasks: 1. Socialization. 2. Regulation of sexual activity. 3. Social Placement. 4. Material and Emotional Security.

Society depends on families.

Theoretical Analysis of the Family:Social-Conflict Analysis

Conflict theorists point out how the family perpetuates social inequality: 1. Property and inheritance. 2. Patriarchy. 3. Racial and ethnic inequality.

Family plays a role in social stratification.

Theoretical Analysis of the Family:Symbolic-Interaction Analysis

This approach explores how individuals shape and experience family life.

Family living offers an opportunity for intimacy.

Family members share activities and build emotional bonds.

Courtship and marriage may be seen as forms of negotiation.

Stages of Family Life

In courtship our culture celebrates romantic love.

Our society arranges marriages by encouraging homogamy.

Adults in the United States identify raising children as one of life’s greatest joys.

Increasing life expectancy means that couples are likely to remain married for a long time.

U. S. Families:Class, Race, and Gender

What women think they can hope for in marriage is linked to their social class.

Regardless of race, every marriage is actually two different relationships: a women’s marriage and a man’s marriage.

Few marriages are composed of two equal partners.

Married women are less happy than single women.

Married men live longer than single men.

Transitions and Problems in Family Life

The United States has the highest divorce in the world.

4 out of 5 people who divorce, remarry.

Historically, the law defined women as the property of men.

Domestic violence was once considered a private, family matter.

Alternative Family Forms

29% of families with children under age 18 have only one parent in the home.

Cohabitation: the sharing of a household by an unmarried couple.

In 1996, U.S. Congress passed a law banning gay marriage.

Most gay couples are raising children of previous marriages.

Many women are choosing to remain single, and see having a husband as a matter of choice.

Looking Ahead:New Reproductive Technology and the Family

Within a decade, 2 or 3% of births in high-income nations may be the result of new reproductive technology.

Test-tube babies are the products of in vitro fertilization.

These techniques eventually may help reduce the incidence of birth defects.