Chapter 13

Family Life

Family

• Family – social institution that unites individuals into cooperative groups that care for members, regulate sexual relations, and oversee having and raising of children– Nuclear Families– Extended Families

• Kinship – a social bond, typically based on blood, marriage, or adoption, that joins individuals into families

• Families of Affinity – people with or without legal or blood ties who feel they belong together and define themselves as a family

Living Together

• Cohabitation – the sharing of a household by an unmarried couple– Some 5.6 million U.S couples (9%) cohabit.– Evidence suggests that cohabitation discourages

marriage and raises the rate of single parenting.– 5% of children born to cohabitating parents live

with both biological parents until age 18, compared to 70% of children to married parents

Postponing marriage

• A trend since 150 has been for first marriages to occur later in life.– 1950: 20.3 years women, 22.8 men– 2003: 25.3 women, 27.1 men

• Why?– Education– Economic insecurity– Birth control technology

Single Parenting

• About one in three families with children under 18 had just one parent in the household.

• About half of children live with one parent at some point before they reach age 18.

• Children raised in single-parent homes are at high risk of being poor.

Race and Family

• Families, Race, and Poverty– Moynihan Report: 1965 report that the African

American family was in crisis due to a growing number of absent fathers. 20% of AA children were born to single mothers. In 2005, nearly 70%.

– Not a family problem, but economic and race issues.

Interracial Families

• Interracial couples increased sevenfold from 1970 to 2000.

• In 2000, about 7 million Americans (2.5%) of the population checked more than one box for race and ethnicity. Estimates suggest a higher multiracial population.

Work and Child Care

• Conflicts with work and child care– 27% receive care from a parent, while another

26% receive care from a relative (53%, slightly over half). - Urban Institute, 2004

Divorce

• Divorce – almost 4/10 marriages end in divorce. Nearly 10% over 15 years of age divorced.

• Causes of Divorce– Individualism– Romantic love subsides– Women less dependent on men– Divorce more socially acceptable– Legally easier to get

• Remarriage – about 4/5 who divorce remarry• Blended Families – families in which children have some combination

of biological parents and stepparents

Gay and Lesbian Families

• Between 600,000 and 1 million gay couples

• As of 2006, Massachusetts only state in which same-sex marriage was legal. “Civil unions” recognized by Vermont, California, Connecticut, and New Jersey.

• Gay parenting - 250,000 gay couples in the U.S. are raising children.

High-Tech Reproduction

• In Vitro Fertilization – uniting egg and sperm in a laboratory – “Brave New Babies”/ “Brave New World” –

ex: pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD)

• Surrogate Motherhood – an arrangement by which one woman carries and bears a child for another woman.

Structural-Functional (family foundation)

• Family performs many vital tasks– Socialization– Regulation of sexual activity– Social placement– Material and emotional security

Social-Conflict (family and inequality)

• Family perpetuates inequality– Property and inheritance– Patriarchy– Race and ethnicity

Symbolic-Interaction (family and learning)

• How individuals share and experience family life– Building emotional bonds– Building a way to view the world and interact