chapter 16. every human on earth organizes themselves into families, but the word is difficult to...
TRANSCRIPT
Chapter 16
• Every human on earth organizes themselves into families, but the word is difficult to define. • Polygyny- more than one wife• Polyandry-more than one husband
• Banaro of New Guinea (must give birth first)• Tobriand Islanders in New Guinea (wife’s eldest
brother)
• Family consists of people who consider themselves related by blood, marriage or adoption.
• Household- consists of people who occupy the same housing unit- a house, apartment, or other living quarters.
What is Family?
How do you classify families?
• Nuclear: Husband, Wife and kids
• Extended: Includes Nuclear and people such as grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins
• Family of Orientation: the family in which an individual grows up
• Family of Procreation: the family that is formed when a couple have their first child
What is Marriage?
• Man and woman
• Native Americans- Berdache
• Nayar of Malabar- 3 day celebration
• Loess Plateau in China- dead husband
• Marriage- a group’s approved mating arrangements- usually marked by a ritual of some sort to indicate the couple’s new public status
Lessons in Finding a Mate:
• 1. Follow your heart• Pay attention to the “In Love” Feeling
• Sense of rightness- never get married without it!• A “gut” feeling
• 2. Follow your Head= due diligence• formal economic and legal arrangement• Questions:
• Will your partner be a good provider? Work ethic? Housework?
• Is He or She Financially Responsible?• Will He or She be a Good Parent?
Lessons Continued..
• 3. Values come first• Values are the basic principles we use to make decisions, and
the standards by which we judge what’s important in life. • “Polar souls”• Need to discuss
• Values about children• Values about money• Values about religion
• You’re Marrying a Family
• Three Warning Signs• No One Likes Your Partner• Explosive and Disproportionate Anger• Your Partner Lacks Control over Alcohol
Common Cultural Themes
• 1. Mate Selection: Every human group establishes norms to govern who marries whom. • Endogamy: members must marry
within their group. Usually informal norms
• Exogamy: members must marry outside their group. • Incest taboo- prohibits sex and marriage
among designated relatives.
• 2. Descent: How are you related to your father or mother?• System of descent: the way people
trace kinship over the generations• Bilineal system: we think of ourselves as
related to both of our mother’s and father’s sides of the family.
• Patrilineal system: tracing descent only on the father’s side (do not think of children as being related to their mother’s side)
• Matrilineal system: tracing descent only on the mother’s side and not considering children to be related to their father’s relatives.
• 3. Authority:• Patriarchy: social system in which men
dominate women, has formed a thread that runs through all societies.
• Matriarchy: a social system in which women dominate men as a group.
• Egalitarian- equal roles• U.S.- naming patterns
Read page 45: answer questions:
• 1. What are advantages/disadvantages of the village matchmaker? What about your parents setting you up?
• 2. What are advantages/disadvantages of electronic dating sites?
Worksheet
• Pages 464-468
• Due 4/18!
Trends in U.S. Families
• Marriage is on the decline due to cohabitation- adults living together in a sexual relationship without being married. Much more common today than it was thirty years ago. 40% of U.S. children will spend a time in a cohabitating family.
• What is the difference between cohabitating and marriage?
Commitment!
• Marriage: You take a public vow and are bound legally. There is a sense of permanence. Requires a judge to terminate
• Cohabitation: requires couples to move in together. Less likely to have a joint back account, easy to move out.• Sociologists have found that
cohabitating couples are less likely to marry and more likely to have an unstable marriage.
• Grandparents as parents:• Also called “skipped generation
families”• Parents die, become ill, homeless,
addicted to drugs or land in prison. • Pros: builds lasting emotional bonds• Cons: unexpected responsibilities,
squeeze finances, no retirement.
• Sandwich Generation