The Family
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The family is the most basic of all social institutions-- It is generally defined as in our text "...a set of people related by blood, marriage, or (some other agreed-upon relationship) [kinship], or adoption who share the primary responsibility for reproduction and for caring for members of society..." (p. 361)
The functions of all other institutions-- politics, religion, economy,
education, were once contained within the family-- (Return to Lenski's model of societal evolution, for example)
Family is a universal institution-- although the form it takes varies
widely from one society to another.
- The Hopi Indians
of
- The Nayar (south west coast of
Even within society, e.g. the
Look at
- Today, about 26
percent of all
- About 29 percent are comprised of married couples without children living at home.
- Single parent households nationwide, in 1990, comprised about 10 percent of all households.
- Single adult households comprise about 24 percent of all households.
- About 11 percent of all households fall into some "other" category, e.g. related or unrelated individuals living together.
Research (1977) by Kellam, Ensminger,
and Turner studied first-graders and their families in a poor, predominantly
black neighborhood in
- 35 percent had mothers and fathers present
- 37 percent had mother present only
- 28 percent some other form
Basic functions of the family:
The family, the most basic of all social institutions, is found in all societies, although its structure varies widely. Regardless, the family fills the same basic functions from one culture to the next.
Reproduction-- (Replenish members of society).
Protection-- (Remember the characteristics of humans? One is an extremely long period of dependency-- children need protection. The family also serves to protect adults).
Socialization-- (The family is a "primary group" and the major source of early socialization of children).
Regulation of sexual behavior-- (The state regulates marriage through licenses, and many states still have "anti-fornication laws" making it illegal to have sex outside of marriage).
Affection and Companionship-- (Meeting the emotional needs of family members...)
Social Status (social placement)-- (The family provides social status-- children are already assigned a position in the stratification system by virtue of the families they are born into).
Families are described according
to type (composition of a "family unit");
mate selection process; kinds of marriage; residence patterns; tracing
descent; and power structure.
Family Types:
- Nuclear: (married couple and their unmarried children living together)
- Extended: (nuclear family plus other relatives living together, i.e. grandparents, etc.)
- Stem extended: Three or more generation of the same family share the same household and economic resources-- (Grandparent; Parent; Children)
- Joint extended: Two or more nuclear families usually headed by brothers sharing same household and economic resources.
Mate
Selection:
- Endogamy: (marry someone within your own racial, ethnic, religious, group, tribe, etc.) The practice of functions to reinforce group solidarity, cohesiveness, and survival -- (Today, many religions are very concerned about their children marrying outside the faith).
- Exogamy: (marry someone outside your group-- the "Incest Taboo.")
- Homogamy: (marry someone with the same social characteristics, (age, social class, education)
- Hypergamy: (marry outside your social class-- "marrying up" for example)
Marriage Types:
- Monogamy: (one man married to one woman at one time)-- most of the people in the world live in monogamous relationships.
- Serial Monogamy: (a man or woman may have several spouses over their lifetimes, but only one at a time)
- Polygamy: (any form of plural marriage)-- most of the world's societies are polygamous-- Murdock's analysis revealed that more than 80 percent of the 565 societies he examined had some form of polygamy.
- Polygyny-- most common form of polygamy-- one husband several wives at the same time. (75 percent of Murdock's societies were polygynous.
- Polyandry-- very rare-- one wife several husbands at the same time. Usually happens where females are scarce; women still hold lower societal power than men.
- Group Marriage-- extremely rare-- several men married to several women at same time.
Residence
patterns (after marriage):
- Neolocal-- newlyweds set up residence away from their parents.
- Patrilocal-- newlyweds set up residence with or near the husband's parents.
- Matrilocal-- newlyweds set up residence with or near wife's parents.
Tracing descent:
- Bilateral-- ancestry is traced through mother's lines and father's lines equally; no one side is considered more important.
- Patrilineal-- tracing descent and inheritance through father's relatives who are considered important.
- Matrilineal-- tracing descent and inheritance through mother's relatives who are considered important.
Power in the family:
- Patriarchy-- women have very little power, male head of family dominates in all decision-making
- Matriarchy-- (very rare) women in the family have power
- Egalitarian-- power is shared between husband and wife. (Usually, spouses have their own areas of expertise where they exercise power and control. It is rare that all decisions are shared equally).
What is happening to the family in the
Interest groups, politicians, and the media have all address concern over the "declining family" in American society. As evidence of this decline, they cite the following:
- Increased divorce statistics
- (50 percent of all marriages formed today will end in divorce is the present trend continues)
- (an increase in the national divorce rate of 40 percent between 1970 and 1990)
- a divorce rate of around 40 per 1000 married women 15-44 years old
- BUT WHEN EXAMINING "MARITAL BREAKAGE RATES" --MARRIAGES BROKEN BY THE DEATH OF A SPOUSE AND DIVORCE-- WE FIND THAT AS MANY MARRIAGES WERE BROKEN IN THE EARLY 1900'S AS ARE BEING BROKEN TODAY. IN 1900 THE PROBABILITY THAT YOUR MARRIAGE WOULD BE BROKEN BY THE TIME YOU REACHED 40 WAS 67%-- MORE RECENTLY, IN 1976, IT WAS 60%. TODAY, WOMEN (AND CHILDREN) SUFFER DISPROPORTIONATELY IN ECONOMIC TERMS, FROM DIVORCE, BUT RECENT LITERATURE INDICATES THAT THEY TEND TO RECOVER (FALUDI). NO DOUBT THE INCREASED LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION OF WOMEN HAS MADE THEM LESS DEPENDENT ON MEN AND ENABLED THEM TO GET OUT OF ABUSIVE MARRIAGES.
- A 30 percent decline in the marriage rate between 1970 and 1990.
- BUT
THERE IS STILL DEBATE WHETHER PEOPLE ARE POSTPONING MARRIAGE OR
FOREGOING IT ENTIRELY--
- A dramatic increase in births to unwed mothers-- 25 percent in 1990. This has been linked to high levels of sexual permissiveness and experimentation.
- [THERE DOESN'T SEEM TO BE A PARALLEL TO THE RAPID INCREASE IN OUT-OF-WEDLOCK BIRTHS IN THIS COUNTRY'S PAST]. HOWEVER, IN THE PAST TEENAGE PREGNANCY RATES WERE HIGH-- THE DIFFERENCE WAS THAT THE WOMAN USUALLY GOT MARRIED BEFORE THE CHILD WAS BORN.
- A significant increase in the number of cases of family violence-- Some studies suggest that on the average, there is more violence inside the family than out on the streets.
- THERE IS GREAT DEBATE OVER WHETHER OR NOT THERE HAS BEEN A DRAMATIC INCREASE IN FAMILY ABUSE IN RECENT DECADES OR WHETHER THE INCREASE IS DUE TO INCREASED AWARENESS, REPORTING, AND MORE STRINGENT DEFINITIONS OF WHAT CONSTITUTES ABUSE.
How basic demographic trends affect
family structure:
Begin with the reduction in
mortality and increase in life expectancy-- In the
- What has this meant for the family? (Peter Uhlenberg, "Death and the Family")
- Increased survival prospects for infants has encouraged emotional bonds between parents and children.
- Decreasing deaths from ages 20 to 50 has reduced the proportion of children experiencing orphanhood.
- Decreasing mortality has reduced experiencing a member of the nuclear family dying.
- Increases life expectancy has meant that more children get to know their grand parents.
- Decreasing mortality has increased the number of years that marriages last before death-- (indirectly leading to an increase in divorce).
- Decreased infant and child mortality has lead to family planning and reduced family size.
- Increased life expectancy has lengthened the "empty nest stage of the family."
- Decreased mortality has increased the number of elderly people dependent upon the younger population.