This document defines families and discusses their various forms. It notes that families are social units that usually involve some combination of related individuals living together, engaging in sexual relationships, and rearing children. The document outlines different types of families including nuclear, blended, binuclear, and extended families. It also discusses concepts like kinship, marriage, courtship, authority patterns, and functions of the family. Alternative family forms like single-parent households and cohabitation are also mentioned.

1. © 2006 Alan S. Berger 1
Families in Society

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What Is a Family?
• A social unit of some number of people
who are linked intimately
– Related in some way
– Usually living together
– Engaging in sex
– Having responsibility for rearing children
– Functioning as an economic unit

3. Copyright 2009 The McGraw Hill
Compamies
3
What is a Family
• Definition of the family: shared genetic
heritage, and law, meaning social
recognition and affirmation of the bond
– Boundaries are clear
– Enables tracking of who is related to whom
over time

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Types of Families
• Nuclear Family: a social unit composed of a husband, a
wife, and their children
– Family of orientation: family to which one was born
– Family of procreation: a person, spouse, and their children
– Blended family: spouses and their children from former
marriages live as a single nuclear family
– Binuclear family: divorced parents form separate households;
children divide their time with each
• Extended Family
– Composed of two or more generations of kin that functions as
an independent social and economic unit

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Kinship
• A network of people who are related by
marriage, blood, or social practice or
the state of being related to others
culturally learned, not necessarily
determined by biological ties
– Kinship is a means by which societies can
socialize children and transmit culture from
one generation to the next
– Kinship creates complex social bonds

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Marriage
• Two individuals involved in a socially
approved relationship
– Intimate, mutual long-term obligations
– Fulfilled customary ceremonial or legal
requirements
– Limits on who can marry
– A legal tie, determined by state
– Who can perform a marriage

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Types of Marriage
• Monogamy: form of marriage in which one woman and
one man are married only to each other
• Serial monogamy: when a person has several spouses
in his or her lifetime, but only one spouse at a time
• Polygamy: when an individual has several husbands or
wives simultaneously
• Polygyny: marriage of a man to more than one wife at a
time
• Polyandry: marriage of a woman to more than one
husband at the same time

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Courtship and Mate Selection
• Internet is new meeting place
• More people marrying later
• Endogamy: restriction of mate selection
to people within the same group
• Exogamy: requires mate selection outside
certain groups, usually one’s own family or
certain kin
• What is the difference between dating and
courting?

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Ten Questions Couples Should Ask (or
Wish They Had) Before Marrying
Source: New York Times 2006.

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Courtship
• The relationship between two people who are
preparing for marriage to each other
– Endogamy: people marry within their own group
– Exogamy: people marry outside of their own group
– Propinquity: people meet only when they are not
apart
– Ethnicity and race: people tend to marry within their
own groups
– Values: endogamy is reinforced by cultural values

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Courtship and Mate Selection
• What are criteria for a potential mate?
• Incest taboo: social norm common to virtually
all societies prohibiting sexual relationships
between certain culturally specified relatives
• Homogamy: conscious or unconscious
tendency to select mate with personal
characteristics similar to one’s own

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Romantic Love
• Romantic loveAn important incentive to marry
– Love provides a source of support
– Strong commitment to each other
An emotional identification between two individuals
– Intense
– Convinced they cannot live without each other
• Not considered important for marriage until 20th
century
• Other Basis for marriage?
– Arranged Marriages ?
• Economic Basis
• Political basis
– Other ??

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Functions of the Family
• What families do for society and for their
members
1. Reproduction
2. Socialization
3. Protection
4. Regulation of sexual behavior
5. Affection and companionship
6. Provision of social status

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Authority Patterns:
Who Rules?
• Patriarchy: society in which men
dominate in family decision making
• Matriarchy: society in which women
dominate in family decision making
• Egalitarian family: authority pattern in
which spouses are regarded as equals

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Authority Patterns:
Who Rules?
• Historically, family has legitimized and
perpetuated male dominance
• Social class of parents significantly
influences children’s socialization
– Socioeconomic status of a child’s family will
have marked influence on his or her life
chances as an adult

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Marriage and Family
• Over 95 percent of U.S. men and women
will marry at least once
• Our social positions shape our choices
when picking partners

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Percentage of People Ages 20–24
Ever Married, Selected Countries
Source: United Nations Population Division 2005.

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Dimensions of Marriage
and Family
• Residence
– Norms related to where married couples should
reside
• Matrilocal arrangement: kin lives with wife’s mother
• Patrilocal arrangement: kin lives with husband’s mother
• Neolocal arrangement: kin set up independent household
• Bilocal arrangement: each spouse maintains a separate
residence

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Dimensions of Marriage and Family
• Descent
– The system by which
kinship is traced over
generations
• Patrilineal: kinship is
traced through male
• Matrilineal: kinship is
traced through female
• Bilineal: kinship is
traced through both
sides of the family
• Power
– The system by which
power is assigned
• Patriarchy: male has
most power
• Matriarchy: female has
most power
– Matricentric: females
have some power

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Alternative Family Forms
• Serial monogamy
– More than one spouse but not at same time
• Single parent
– Mostly result of divorce
• Gay and lesbian
– Legal issues debated
• Cohabitation
– A household without marriage
• Independent living
– Men or women who live alone

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Marital Dissolution
• Divorce
– Dissolution of legal ties that bind a marriage
– Legal separation
• Couples agree to take up separate residences
• Informal separation: one spouse temporarily moves out
– Desertion
• One spouse leaves the other for a prolonged period of time

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Explaining Marital Dissolution
• Society
– Nuclear family is subject to many stresses but
has limited resources
– Lower social classes more vulnerable
• Falling out of love
– Passion yields to reality
• Women’s changing roles
– Less economic dependency

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Domestic Violence
• Amount
– 1/5 of women abused
• Class differences
– Type of violence and reporting patterns
• Stay or leave?
– Retribution and psychological dependence
• Options
– Shelters and legal system
• Global patterns
– National tolerance level
– Stress from rapid social change

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Functionalism and the Family
The Family Satisfies Common Social Functions
• Socialization
– Family is responsible for primary care and early learning
• Birth; regulates sexual activity
– Choosing mates and perpetuating population
• Economic
– Assigning assets
– Important economic production and consumption unit
• Support and comfort
– Help with problems
• Social placement
– Children inherit status and class of parents

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Family: Conflict Perspective
• Power relationships
– Men control wealth
– Norms require women to do most domestic
chores
• Perpetuation of social inequality
– Family is a model of patriarchy that dominates
society

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Family: Symbolic Interactionism
• People construct their own families
– No two families are alike
• Family is source of major roles and
identity
– As new roles are learned
– New concepts of reality are created