family marriage

7/28/2019 Family Marriage

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FAMILY, MARRIAGE

Issues in Family and Marriage


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Conflicting Definitions of Family

1. family as a group (which performs

functions for the society)

2. family as a network of relatives (byblood, marriage, adoption) who are

mutually obligated to each other


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Text book follows a current view:

Traditional= nuclear family of residence

(where husband/father is the breadwinner,

wife/mother is stay at home, no otherrelatives living with this family)

New and non-traditional=dual earner, step

family, blended family, single parentfamily, non-married couples, same sex

couples, singlehood


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Other sociologists would object:

Need to distinguish between an ideal

family type and the empiricalfamily type

Ideal=cultural preferences specific to asociety

Empirical=the patterns that actually exist

in a society


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In addition,

Calling the nuclear family traditional is

inaccurate

Need to distinguish between the historicalsequence of family types, and,

Distinguish between the institutionaland

companionate (companionship) familytypes


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American family type19th C

family the same as household?

family the same as the marriage?

Family was male-headed

Similar to European stem-family?


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Variations In Family and Marriage

Family of Orientation (Origin)vs.

Procreation

Nuclear, Extended

Descent: patrilineal, matrilineal, bilineal

(bilateral)


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Variations: Residence

Where is the newly-married couple

expected to live?

1. Patrilocal=near grooms family

2. Matrilocal=near brides family

3. Bilocal=either brides or grooms family

4. Neo-local=neither (new, independent

household)


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Variations: Authority

Patriarchy=rule by eldest male

Matriarchy=(does this really exist for a

society, as an ideal..may be an empiricaltype)

Equalitarian authority or companionshipfamily type (companionate)

*Note: may be departures from the idealwith patriarchy or male headed


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Variations: Forms of marriage

Monogamy

Polygamy: 1. Polygyny=one man married

to a number of women

2. Polyandry=one woman

married to a number of men (extremely

rare. Husbands may be brothers)


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Variations: issues in mate

selection

Exogamy

Endogamy

Homogamy

Matching vs complementary needs


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Permanent Availability Model

always available

Source of instability

Consumer culture?


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Marriage as lifetime commitment:

Strong marriage de-emphasizes descent

issues

In era of weak marriages, descent lineemphasized


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Marriage & family in USA

Leveling off of divorce rate

Most marry at some point

2/3rds claim happy

Changes: employed mothers (dual earner

households)

family marriage

Documents