By Stacie Edwards

Family “Family is a social institution that genders its members and

is organized along gendered lines by other social forces.”

Each individual communicates differently about family and that in turn affects the institutions structure and its members.

Communication that occurs in family develops a persons ideas on gender and family.

Every family member has a role in the institution. Each role is identified by gender indicating that men and women are different therefore their responsibilities and expectations should be different or unequal.

Family as a Social Institution

Nuclear Family- A social unit composed of two parents of the opposite sex and one or more children.

The traditional nuclear family is not as common as once thought, however it was revolutionary in prescribing well defined and exclusive gender roles in the 1950’s.

Interlocking Institutions Politics Careers

The idea of the nuclear family is strongly supported in politics and religion today and is used as a generalization for all American families.

Arlie Hochschild (2003) said it best “Just as there is a wage gap between men and women in the work place, there is a leisure gap between them at home.”

Compulsory heterosexuality is the idea that there is only one acceptable form of family. It excludes all other individuals leading an alternative lifestyle. And omits all other “non-traditional” families.

Parent-Child Communication Social-Learning and Modeling- Parents provide the model

through which the child learns its gender identity due to time spent together.

Gender/Sex Interaction: Parents’ Influence- By observing and interacting with their parents children learn their gender/sex identities.

Gender/Sex Interaction: Children’s Influence- Around the ages of 2 and 3 children acquire a gender identity and will chose activities fitting of that gender.

Adult Friends and Lovers

Heteronormativity- The idea that everyone is heterosexual and wants to be married.

Dating Relationships Most of the research done has been conducted on heterosexual relationships.

Hollywood portrays the most desired romance between young masculine men and feminine women, of the same race or ethnic group.

The most common heterosexual dating practices are when the men initiate the date while the females maintain the relationship.

Marital Communication Heterosexual marriages are very likely the most

studied type of interpersonal relationship.

Demand/withdrawl pattern- one partner demands change while the other resists resulting in failure to resolve the conflict.

Domestic Violence “Family and other institutions sustain systemic forms of

gender and sex inequality and violence, making the family one of the United States’ most violent social institutions and women and children the most common victims.”

Common Couple Violence- A couples inability to resolve conflict which results in acts of violence towards each other occurring at equal degrees by both men and women.

Emancipatory Families An array of different family forms where the individuals

feel safe, loved and thrive in that setting.

Engaged Fatherhood

Allowing Dads to be flexible in their gender roles taking care of their children.

Allowing Dads to be flexible in their gender roles taking care of a family member.

Conclusion Family is a social institution with the nuclear family

being the center for cultural ideology.

Violence in the family between partners and towards children is more prevalent in the United States then originally thought.

Further research is needed to help families create better homes for themselves and their loved ones.