Society, Seventh Edition Family and Religion. Society, Seventh Edition Basic Concepts Family –A social institution found in all societies that unites

Society, Seventh Edition

Family and Religion


Basic Concepts• Family

– A social institution found in all societies that unites people into cooperative groups to oversee the bearing and raising of children

• Kinship– A social bond, based on blood, marriage, or adoption

• Family Unit– A social group of two or more people, related by blood, marriage, or

adoption, who usually live together

• Families of orientation– The family you are born into

• Families of procreation– The family you form in order to have or adopt children

• Families of affinity– People with or without blood ties who feel that they belong together

and want to define themselves as a family


Family Variations

• Extended family– Family unit that includes parents and children as well as

other kin – Also called “consanguine families”

– Nuclear family– Also called “conjugal family”– Composed of one or two parents and their children– The predominant family form


Marriage Patterns

• Marriage– Legally sanctioned relationship, usually

involving economic cooperation, as well as sexual activity and childbearing, that people expect to be enduring

• Illegitimacy: out of wedlock children• Matrimony: the “condition of motherhood”


Marriage Patterns• Endogamy

– Marriage between people of the same social category– Limited opportunities for marriage

• Exogamy– Marriage between people of different social categories can help

form alliances

• Marriage partners– Monogamy: marring one other person– Serial monogamy: monogamy + divorce & remarriage– Polygamy: marrying three or more people– Polygyny: marrying more than one female– Polyandry: marrying more than one male


Residential Patterns

• PATRILOCALITY– With or near the husband’s family

• MATRILOCALITY– With or near the wife’s family

• NEOLOCALITY– Setting up house apart from both

families


DESCENT

• How members of a society trace kinship over generations • Importance includes passing on property and recognition

as a family member

• Three types:– Patrilineal descent –tracing kinship through men– Matrilineal descent – tracing kinship through women– Bilateral descent – tracing kinship through both men

and women


Structural-Functional Analysis of the Family

• The family serves basic functions– Socialization – creating well-integrated members of society– Regulation of sexual activity – maintenance of kinship order and

property rights, incest taboos– Social placement -- births to married couples are preferred in

societies– Material and emotional security – home can be a haven for people

• Critical evaluation– Glosses over great diversity of family life, how other institutions are

taking over its roles & negative aspects like patriarchy and family violence


Social-Conflict Analysis of the Family

• The family perpetuates social inequality:– Property and inheritance – concentrates wealth and reproduces

class structure– Patriarchy – to know their heirs men must control women who still

bear the brunt of child rearing and housework duties– Racial & ethnic inequality – endogamous marriage shores up racial

hierarchies

• Critical evaluation– Ignores that families carry out functions not easily accomplished

by other means


Micro-Level Analysis of the Family

• Symbolic-Interaction:– Opportunities for sharing activities helps build

emotional bonds

• Social-Exchange:– Courtship & marriage as a negotiation to make the “best

deal” on their partner

• Critical evaluation– Misses the bigger picture, family life is similar for

people in similar social backgrounds and varies in predictable ways


STAGES OF FAMILY LIFESTAGES OF FAMILY LIFE

• Courtship– Arranged marriages versus romantic love– Homogamy: marriage between people with same social

traits

• Settling in– Ideal vs. Real marriage

• Childrearing– Industrialization transformed children from assets to

liabilities

• Later life– Empty nest– Sandwich generation – spends as many years caring

for their children as for their aging parents


Figure 13-1 (p. 341)Percentage of College

Students Who Express a Willingness

to Marry without Romantic Love


POWER, GENDER, AND MENTAL HEALTHDIFFERENT LEVELS OF DEPRESSION IN MARRIAGES CAN

BE IDENTIFIED IN VARIOUS MARRIAGE TYPES

• Conventional– Husband employed while wife stays home– Low to moderate depression for both partners

• Strained conventional– Wife joins husband in labor force out of necessity, and

does housework at home– Moderate depression for wife, but high depression for

husband who feels like a failure


POWER, GENDER, AND MENTAL HEALTHDIFFERENT LEVELS OF DEPRESSION IN MARRIAGES CAN

BE IDENTIFIED IN VARIOUS MARRIAGE TYPES

• Strained egalitarian– Both partners are happy to be working, but wife still

does most of the housework– Husband enjoys more family income while wife has

more depression• Egalitarian

– Spouses happy to share in all facets of marriage– Spouses experience lowest levels of depression in this

form


DIVORCE

In the U.S. Nine out of ten persons will marry. Four out of these marriages will end in divorce. Factors include:

• Individualism on the rise• Romantic love often subsides• Women are less dependent upon men• Many of today’s marriages are stressful• Divorce is socially acceptable• Legally, a divorce is easier to get


Violence Family

• Against women– Of 791,000 reported accounts of abuse between

intimate partners, 85% are against women– 32 percent of all women murdered are the victims of

their partners, or ex-partners– All states have marital rape laws, half have “stalking

laws” on the books

• Against children– 3 million children a year are abused, 1 million of these

involve serious harm including 1,100 deaths– Abusers are as likely to be women as men with no

simple stereotype


Alternative Family Forms

• Single parent families– 28 percent of U.S. Families with children under 18 have only one

parent in the household– 78 percent of these families are headed by women

• Cohabitation– 10 percent of all couples, or 5.5 million, only 50% decide to marry

• Gay and lesbian couples– Although some European countries accept same-sex marriage the

U.S. Congress has banned it

• Singlehood– In 1960 28% of U.S. Women aged 20-24 were single, by 2000 the

number had risen to 75%


FAMILIES AND PREDICTIONS

• Divorce rates remain high– More equality between sexes

• Family life will be variable– All kinds of units will be called families

• Men will continue to play a limited role in child rearing– Many dads will remain absent from household scenes

• Economic changes will impact families and reform marriage– Less quality time as work demands more from parents

• New reproductive technologies– Ethical concerns about what can and what should be done


Profane and SacredDifferentiating Between Ordinary &

Extraordinary

• Emile Durkheim– Religion focuses on things that surpass the limits of our

own knowledge

• Profane – “outside the temple”- Ordinary elements of everyday life

• Sacred – That which is extraordinary, inspiring a sense of awe, reverence, and even fear

• Religion – The social institution involving beliefs and practices based upon a conception of the sacred

• Ritual – formal, ceremonial behavior


• Faith– Belief anchored in conviction rather

than scientific evidence

• If not science, what?– Scientific sociology is interested in the

consequences of religious belief rather than a direct critique of the belief systems


Structural Functional Analysis of Religion

• According to Durkheim religion has 3 major functions– Social cohesion – Unites people through shared symbols,

values, and norms• Totem – an object in the natural world collectively

defined as sacred– Social control – The use of religious symbols and language

to control human behavior has always been with us– Provides meaning and purpose – Personal spirituality

allows humans to pass through tough times without total collapse

• Critical Evaluation– Downplays religion’s dysfunctions such as generating social

conflict and violence


Symbolic-interaction Analysis of Religion

• Religion is socially constructed (although perhaps with divine inspiration). Through rituals like prayers, fasts, observances we sharpen the distinction between sacred and profane– According to Peter Burger placing our brief lives in

some cosmic frame of reference gives us the semblance of security and permanence

• Critical Evaluation– Socially constructed religion only works if we ignore

that it is a social construct– Downplays religion’s link to social inequality


Social-conflict Analysis of Religion

• Religion serves the ruling elites by legitimizing the status quo and diverting people’s attention from social inequities– Disrupts cultures with attempts to “convert heathens– Focuses on the “better world to come” Marx called it

the “opium of the people”• Critical Evaluation

– Downplays religion’s efforts to promote social equality as in the abolition of slavery and the civil rights movement


Religious Organizations

• Church – organization that is well integrated into society

• State church – formally allied with the state• Denomination – independent of the state and

pluralistic• Sect – a type of religious organization that stands

apart from the larger society– Leaders sometimes have charisma – extraordinaire

personal qualities that can turn an audience into followers

• Cult – religious organizations that are substantially outside a society’s cultural traditions


History of religion• IN PREINDUSTRIAL SOCIETIES

– RITUALS PRACTICED 40,000 YEARS AGO– EMBRACED “ANIMISM”

• ELEMENTS OF THE NATURAL WORLD ARE CONSCIOUS LIFE FORMS THAT AFFECT HUMANITY

– NO FULL-TIME RELIGIOUS LEADERS

• IN INDUSTRIAL SOCIETIES– SCIENCE HAS OFTEN REPLACED RELIGION AS A SOURCE OF

COMFORT AND CERTAINTY– SCIENCE IS SILENT WHEN IT COMES TO ANSWERING “WHY” WE

AND THE REST OF THE UNIVERSE EXISTS– OFTEN THESE TWO BELIEF SYSTEM ARE AT ODDS WITH ONE

ANOTHER


Figure 13-5 (p. 359)Religiosity in Global

Perspective


Religion in the U.S.• AFFILIATION

– 56.2% PROTESTANTS (20.6% BAPTIST)– 25.1% CATHOLICS– 14.7% NO PREFERENCE– 2.3% JEWISH– 1.7% OTHER OR NO ANSWER

• RELIGIOSITY– REFERS TO IMPORTANCE OF RELIGION IN A PERSON’S

LIFE– TYPES:

• EXPERIENTIAL: EMOTIONAL TIES• RITUALISTIC: FREQUENCY OF ACTIVITIES• IDEOLOGICAL: DEGREE OF BELIEF IN DOCTRINE• CONSEQUENTIAL: TIE INTO DAILY ACTIVITIES• INTELLECTUAL: KNOWLEDGE OF RELIGION


National Map 13-2 (p. 360)Religious Membership across the United States


National Map 13-3 (p. 360)Religious Diversity across the United States


Religious Practices Are Found to Be Tied to Various Other Social

Patterns• Social class

– High achievement: Episcopalians, Presbyterians, and United Church of Christ congregations

– Moderate achievement: Methodists and Catholics

– Lower achievement: Baptists, Lutherans, and members of sects

– Jewish people tend to be represented among the higher achievers due to stress on education and achievement

• Race and ethnicity– Many religions are tied to specific regions and

societies in America• Irish Catholics, Anglo-Saxon protestants,

Greek orthodox, Russian Jews, etc


Religion’s Changing FaceReligion’s Changing Face• Secularization – historical decline in the

importance of the supernatural and the sacred– Religion isn’t going away, but rather some features are

in decline

• Civil religion – A quasi-religious loyalty binding people in a basically secular society– American way of life has its core rooted in a moral belief

system

• Religious revival– New age spirituality flourishes– Membership in mainstream churches dwindles– Interests increases in Fundamentalism – a conservative

religious dogma that opposes intellectualism and worldly accommodation in favor of traditional otherworldly religion


Fundamentalism

• Interpret sacred texts literally• Rejects religious pluralism• Pursues the personal experience of

God’s presence• Opposes “secular humanism”• Endorse conservative political

goals


High-tech• Some organizations especially fundamentalist

are becoming electronic churches• Prime-time preachers include: Oral Roberts

Pat Robertson Robert Schuler• 10 million regular watchers; 40 million watch

some every week• The internet is one of the most recent

modalities to spread religion to people• Pope John Paul II called it the “new evangelism”

Documents

Society, Seventh Edition Family and Religion. Society, Seventh Edition Basic Concepts Family –A social institution found in all societies that unites