Family Flashcards
Families
relationships in which ppl live together with commitment, form an economic unit + care for any young + consider their identity to be significantly attached to the group
•Means different things to different ppl
•Extends beyond biological relationships
•Diff expectations from family members
Contemporary families are responsible for
- Regulating sexual activity
* Socializing children
Contemporary families are responsible for
•Providing affection + companionship to family members
-Provision of social status
Decline of Traditional Nuclear Family
- Historically family equated solely with nuclear family - 1/2 parents + dependent children, live apart from other relatives
- Male breadwinner + wife works without pay in home
Decline of Traditional Nuclear Family
Has been decrease in traditional nuclear families since 1940s and increasing prevalence of new family forms
•Slow expansion to broader arrays of diff configurations
•Expectations are still there
•W still more likely to stay home and take care of children
CONTEMPORARY TRENDS: MARRIAGE
- Married-couple families, although declining, remain the most common family form in Canada
- Increasing delay of first marriage (30 for men, 28 for women)
- Results from pursuit of educational and career goals—especially women attaining economic security, which allows them to live alone
- Married couple families still popular
- W economic independence – marriage is a choice entered for diff choices than for economic reasons
- Still stigma around single ppl in 40s/50s, but diminished
CONTEMPORARY TRENDS: MARRIAGE
•Canadians increasingly deciding to remain single + live alone
Live apart in commuter marriages to pursue jobs in diff cities
Marry someone of the same sex Pursue single-parent households
Marriage
legally recognized +/or socially approved arrangement betw 2/more individuals that carries certain rights + obligations + usually involves sexual activity (Monogamy only legally sanctioned form in Canada)
Cohabitation
couple’s living together not legally married (common-law) •varies by province
•increase in common law has been relatively recent
•1/3 in quebec families – rapid secularization
Power and Families: Love and Mate Selection
•mistaken assumption that love historical basis of marriage
Historically arranged wished to maximize family’s prestige, economic benefits + political advantages
Power and Families: Love and Mate Selection
- Love important factor in 18th-century England with rise of liberalism + individualism
- emergence of popular culture
- right to choose who to marry
Marital Satisfaction
- Marital stability rooted in marital satisfaction
- more likely to last if ppl are happy
- freer to leave marriage
- money issues puts a strain on couples
- being more easily able to get a divorce
- if passion disappears
Increase in importance of marital satisfaction connected to autonomy of women increased because of
i. Legalization of birth control measures
ii. Increased presence in paid labour force
Social Roots of Marital Satisfaction: social forces underlying marital satisfaction
- Economic factors: Poverty + financial stresses
2. Divorce laws: ppl free to end unhappy marriages + remarry, avg level of happiness increases
Social Roots of Marital Satisfaction: social forces underlying marital satisfaction
- Family life cycle: Presence of children + emotional + financial strain
- Housework + childcare: Inequitable distribution of domestic responsibilities reduces marital satisfaction
Social Roots of Marital Satisfaction: social forces underlying marital satisfaction
5.Sex: Sexually compatible partners increase marital satisfaction
Family Types, 1901-2006
- Married couples without children went up
- Common law went up
- Married with children decrease
Social Construction of Family
families neither static, universal/biologically determined
Erosion of Support for institution of marriage + traditional gender roles
- Increasing secularism
- Women’s movement
- Expansion of postsecondary institutions + service sector employment
Average Age at First Marriage
- 28 for W
- 31 for M
- increased delay
Marriage
still very popular in spite of divorce
•majority of Canadians will marry at some point
•majority of marriages still do last a life-time
same-sex marriage
- 2005: Canada legislates
- Predated by same-sex partners raising children
- legal in the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Canada, South Africa, Norway, Iceland, Sweden, and Argentina
Marriage
- Most ppl in Canada tend to choose marriage partners who are similar to themselves
- don’t take choice away from us, but shape us
- make certain choices more likely
Homogamy
pattern of individuals marrying those who have similar characteristics - race/ethnicity, religious background, age + education/social class