FAMILY (CHAPT 15)
 
DEF: FAMILY IS A SET OF PERSONS RELATED BY BLOOD, MARRIAGE, OR
SOMEOTHER AGREED-UPON RELATIONSHIP, WHO SHARE PRIMARY
RESPONSIBILITY FOR REPRODUCING AND/OR CARING FOR ITS MEMBERS.
ThEY ARE A PRIMARY GROUP.  They live together with commitment,
form and economic unit, and care for any young, and consider
their (family) identity to be important to the group.
 
KINSHIP: A social network of people based on common ancestry,
marriage, or adoption.
 
Some notes:

--The marriage rate in the US has gone down by aoubt 1/3 since 1960. In 1960,
there were about 73 marriages per 1,000 unmarried women age 15 and up, today
it's about 49 per 1,000.

--Less than 25 percent of all familiy households are composed of married couples
with one or more children under age 18.

--Divorce rates vary, but most scholars accept the BROAD figure of around
50 percent of marriages will end in divorce (figures vary from 43 and the
extreme low, to very roughly 50 pct (varies by year, but close approximation)
(But: The RATE has been declining a bit, countering the myth that it
has continued to increase; 
(NOTE TRICKY PROBLEM OF CALCULATING: To say that, in a given year, there is
one divorce for every two marriages DOES NOT necessarily mean that the divorce
rate is 50 pct, because the people getting married aren't generally same ones
getting divorced)

Some divorce stats:  (see: http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_dira.htm

  --11% of the adult population is currently divorced.
  --25% of adults have had at least one divorce during their lifetime.
  -- Divorce rates among conservative Christians were significantly 
     higher than for other faith groups, and for Atheists and Agnostics.
        Religion 	% have been divorced
           Jews            	        30%
           Born-again Christians 	27%
           Other Christians 	        24%
           Atheists, Agnostics 	        21%

SOME STATS:

--Of the one-half million births to teens aged 15-19 in 1999, 78.6 percent 
were to unmarried teens. (NOTE: THE GENERAL TREND IN UNMARRIED TEEN BIRTHS
IS DROPPING)

--The average family size (number of people in a household) has dropped
to 2.6 (in 1915, it was 4.5; in 1967, about 3.0).

--97.6 percent live in one-race families (point: Mixed-race still small)

--Married households are now (2006) in the minority, about 49 percent,
down from 52 percent 5 years ago.

--Poverty (From US Census Bureau)

  * There were 37 million people in poverty (12.6 percent) in 2005. 
    statistically unchanged from 2004  the end of four consecutive years of 
    increases in the poverty rate (2001-2004).

  * There were 7.7 million families in poverty in 2005, unchanged from 2004. 
    poverty rate for families about 9.9 percent in 2005. 
  * The poverty rate and the number living in poverty for married-couple 
    families: 5.1 percent 
  * Poverty rate and number in poverty for female-householder-with-no-husband
    present families (28.7 percent and 4.0 million)
  * For male-householder-with-no-wife-present families (13.0 percent / 669,000).

Average poverty threshold for a family of four in 2005 was $19,971; 
                          for a family of three, $15,577; 
                          for a family of two, $12,755; 
                          for unrelated individuals, $9,973.

(NOTE: If you work for $8/hour, 8 hours a day, 52 weeks a year:
   Before-tax/expenses income= $16,640

TYPES:
 
1) FAMILY OF ORIENTATION: The family into which a person is born
and in which early socialization usually takes place.
 
2) FAMILY OF PROCREATION: The family that a person forms by
having or adopting children
 
DIFFERENT TYPES OF FAMILIES:
 
 1. EXTENDED--composed of variety of relatives (parents, grand
              parents, etc)
 
 2. NUCLEAR--one or two parents and dependent children
 
FAMILIES DO THE FOLLOWING:
 
 1. DIVISION OF LABOR
 
    A. CHILD REARING
    B. SUPPORT SYSTEM (INTERNAL)
    C. SUPPORT SYSTEM (EXTERNAL)
    D. REPRODUCE SOCIETY (EXPLAIN)
 
 2. SEXUAL REGUALATIONS
    A. MONOGAMY
    B. SERIAL MONOGAMY
    C.POLYGAMY (SEVERAL SPOUSES) (HISTORICALLY MOST-COMMON)
       1) POLYGYNY--MULTIPLE WIVES AT ONCE
       2) POLYANDRY (MULTIPLE HUSBANDS)
    D. POWER
       1) MATRIARCHY
       2) PATRIARCHY
       3) EGALITARIAN
    E. SOCIALIZATION
       1) GENDER ROLES
       2) VIOLENCE
       3) PROBLEM SOLVING
       4) VALUES
       5) CULTURE, ETC
 
HOW DO FAMILIES START:
 
   A. COURTSHIP:RITUAL "GAMES":
       1) LANGUAGE
       2)INITIATING, CUES, ETC
       3) DATING BEHAVIOR
       4) LIVING TOGETHER
 
   B. MATE SELECTION
 
      1) EXOGAMY--OUTSIDE THE GROUP
      2) ENDOGAMY--WITHIN THE GROUP
      3) HOMOGAMY--MARRYING THOSE "LIKE" US
 
   C. LOVE/LUST
 
   D. MISCELLANEOUS VARIABLES:
      1) CLASS--
      2) RACE
      3) ETHNICITY
 
HOW DO FAMILIES END?
   A. DEATH (TRAUMATIC--MORE FOR MEN)
   B. "FATALISTIC" -- LOVE/LUST GOES
   C. DIVORCE--MOST COMMON
 
    What causes divorce? (these are *variables,* not "causes)
      --Marriage at an early age
      --Short acquaintanceship before marriage
      --Disapproval of marriage by friends/relatives
      --Limited economic resources
      --Limited education
      --Parents who are divorced or have unhappy marriages
      --Presence of children at the BEGINNING of a marriage
 
4. SINGLE FATHERS MORE COMMON---"GOOD"
 IN THAT THEY BECOME MORE "PEOPLE" ORIENTED
5.WHO IS LIKELY TO DIVORCE?--

KNOW CHART ON P 502 (Theories of family)

ALTERNATIVES TO MARRIAGE

1. REMAINING SINGLE FOR ADVANTAGES/DISADVANTAGES
   
 (TIE TO WOMEN---BETTER FOR THEM)
2. COHABITATION
3. COMMUNES (KIBBUTZ, ETC)
 
THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES
 
Know functionalist, conflict/feminist, symbolic interactionist
and postmodernist persepctives

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