Chapter 14, 16 Flashcards
Marriage and Family
Marriage and family are key structures in most societies. Sociologists are interested in the relationship between the institution of marriage and the institution of family because, historically, marriages are what create a family, and families are the most basic social unit upon which society is built.
Status roles
Both marriage and family create status roles that are sanctioned by society.
In a 2010 survey,
76% of adults surveyed stated that family is “most important” element of their life -just one percent said it was “not important”. It is also very important to society.
Marriage
a legally recognized contract between 2 or more people in a sexual relationship who have an expectation of permanence about their relationship.
What constitutes a family?
The question of what constitutes a family is a prime area of debate in family sociology, as well as in politics and religion. Social conservatives tend to define a family in terms of structure with each family member filling a certain role (like father, mother or child). Sociologists, on the other hand, tend to define family more in terms of the manner in which members relate to one another than on a strict configuration of status roles.
family
socially recognized groups of individuals who may be joined by blood, marriage, or adoption and who form an emotional connection and an economic unit of society.
a family of orientation
the family into which a person is born
a family of procreation
a family formed through marriage
People in the United States as a whole are somewhat divided when it comes to determining what does and what does not constitute a family
2010 survey:
99.8% a husband, wife and children constitute a family.
92% a husband and a wife without children
83% unmarried couples with children
39.6% unmarried couples without children
64% gay male couples with children
33% gay male couples without children
The study revealed that children tend to be the key indicator in establishing “family” status: the percentage of individuals who agreed that unmarried couples and gay couples constitute a family nearly doubled when children were added.
The study also revealed that 6 percent of US respondents agreed that if you consider yourself a family, you are a family. The government, however, is not so flexible in its definition of “family”. The US Census Bureau defines a family as “a group of two people or more (one of who is the householder) related by birth, marriage, or adoption and residing together”.
Homogamy
the conscious or unconscious tendency to select a mate with personal characteristics similar to one’s own.
Courtship and Mate Selection
- we are limited to those who are available and with whom we have contact
- we are heavily influenced by opinions of family, friends, religion, workplace
- we are most attracted to people like ourselves
- norm and values of the larger society influence courtship. The selection process is taking longer - concerns about financial security and personal independence. Median age for women = 27 and for men = 29.
endogamy
the restriction of mate selection to people within the same group.
ex. race, ethnicity, religion, intended to reinforce the cohesiveness of the group; marry someone “your own kind” (interracial marriages were outlawed in some states until 1967 when the Supreme Court overturned such laws)
exogamy
the requirement that people select a mate outside certain groups (incest taboo).
monogamy
the act of being married to only one person at a time.
serial monogamy
several spouses in one lifetimes, but only one at a time.
polygamy
the state of being committed or married to more than one person at a time.
Nuclear family
(2010=60% kids under 17)two parent family structure, two parents (traditionally a married husband and wife) and children living in the same household.
stepparents
(9% live with biological or adoptive parent and a stepparent. 70% live with their biological mother and a stepfather)
single parents
(2010-27%(23%mom, 3% Dad)
non-parent guardian
(4%), of this 4%….54% live with grandparents, 21 % live with other relatives, and 24% with nonrelatives
extended family
a household that includes at least one parent and child as well as other relatives like grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins.
grandparents
(4% sole responsibility) often results from parental drug abuse, incarceration or abandonment.
Us Census indicate that children living
in homes with both parents grow up with more financial and educational advantages than children who are raised in single-parent homes.
Children living with a divorced parent
typically have more advantages than children living with a parent who never married; this is particularly true of children who live with divorced fathers. This correlates with the statistic that never-married parents are typically younger, have fewer years of schooling, and have lower incomes.
Six in ten children living with only their mother
live near or below poverty level. Of those being raised by single mothers, 69 percent live in or near poverty compared to 45 percent for divorced mothers (U.S. Census 1997). Though other factors such as age and education play a role in these differences, it can be inferred that marriage between parents is generally beneficial for children.
cohabitation
act of a couple sharing a residence while they are no married.
Cohabitation is practices by 7.5 percent of the population in 2011, an increase of 13 percent since 2009. This surge in cohabitation is likely due to the decrease in social stigma pertaining to the practice.
The vast majority of cohabitation relationships eventually result in marriage; only 15 percent of men and women cohabitate only and do not marry. Recent research has found that cohabitation has little effect on the success of a marriage. In fact, those who do not before marriage have slightly better rates of remaining married for more than ten years.
