Mate Selection, Or: More to Marriage Than Just Love Marriage Resources –Homogamy: similar characteristics Outside influences Demographics –Sex ratio –Geography –“Marriage Market”

Development of the Industrial Family, Public & Private Spheres Preindustrial families –Agricultural societies –Family structure: economic unit of production –Men’s and women’s work valued The Industrial Revolution (1700s/1800s) –Economic production: outside the home

Industrial Families Patriarchal assumption: men work outside the home Economic dependency on male workers Workers should earn “family wage” –Men’s work becomes more valued Creation of private and public spheres –Public= economic (masculine) –Private=domestic/family (feminine)

Modern Nuclear Family Post WWII era Government assistance: G.I. Bill –Tax deductible home loans –Subsidies for college –Health care for veterans Rise in income Home ownership Road-building  suburbinization –Creation of “isolated nuclear family”

Nuclear Family Characteristics: –Legal marriage (voluntary) –Monogamous –Two parents –Heterosexual –Children –Male: authority, economic provider –Permanent –Isolated

Popenoe Reading Focus on the “modern nuclear family” Breakdown of the modern nuclear family: –Technological advancement –Economic growth –Shift in cultural values –Women in the workplace

Revival of the Nuclear Family Key: changes in American culture Stop the sexual revolution –Abstinence –Entertainment industry Encourage marriage & monogamy –Benefits Focus on children

How Are Marriage & Family Functional for Society? Functional requisites –Reproduction –(Gender) socialization –Economic support –Emotional support –Incest taboo: regulation of sexual behavior Instrumental role versus expressive role (Parsons, 1955) Dysfunctions: focus on nuclear family –Stress, lack of family support

Conflict Perspective of Marriage & Family Families are shaped by capitalism, patriarchy –Organization of families shaped by economic production within, outside household –Socialization –System of power relations (much like larger society) Maintain societal inequality –Generational inheritance –Wealth, social status Marriage, family as sites of struggle

Second Shift (Hochschild) Dual-wage families Struggles in the home –Housework: who does it? Is housework oppressive? Strategies of Resistance –Playing dumb: “incompetence” –Waiting it out: lack of volunteerism –Needs reduction: lack of “need” –Substitute offerings: appreciation becomes substitute for help Not egalitarian: not shared

Symbolic Interactionism Focus on how family members view their relationships –Differing interpretations of marriage, family life How individuals create, maintain their identities through their families Definitions of family, marriage