1. Chapter 13
The Family

2. What is “family?”
Reasonable to approach from a functionalist perspective:
A small kinship structured group with the key function of nurturant socialization of the newborn.
Kinship not necessarily biological – socially defined connections
Functions and structure very different across cultures
E.g., Atlas of World Cultures is data set of non-industrialized cultures

3. Variations in Family Life in Premodern Societies
Men may have multiple wives 77
Easy for a man to divorce his wife 75
Couple has privacy when sleeping 28
Grooms are much older than their brides 70
Couples spend much leisure time together 27
Nuclear family is typical 29

4. Breakdown of the family?
Compared to when?
What is you measure of “breakdown?”
History of the family not always a pretty history
High infant and child mortality
Children leave home and work at early ages
Parents often indifferent - Abuse and neglect common
Marriage typically an economic arrangement
Good mothering is an invention of modernization

5. In the “Modern Family”
Marriage is about choice, and “cupid’s arrow,” finding happiness
This kind of marriage a product of modernization and industrialization
This is a good thing, right?
Research on novelty and attraction
Idealizing romance or sexual attraction probably related to increase in divorce

6. Children – the trends
Couples marrying later, waiting longer to have kids
Family size dropping – 2 most often response to “ideal” question – mean is between 2 and 3
Children = strain in marriage – marital happiness highest before and after kids
60%+ of American mothers employed outside the home
Preschool and daycare more common
Egalitarian relationships more common (but still not the norm - Working women still carry a disproportionate % of the childrearing responsibilities)

7. Back to the breakdown question
Divorce is up – US the highest rates in the world (partly reflects high marriage rate)
Marriage not significantly down, interestingly (one might assume it is)
< 5% report current status as divorced
75% who divorce will remarry
Divorce rate difficult to calculate
Divorce rate well over 50% but…

8. Center for Disease Control (2002) % of American Women Whose First Marriage Ended in Divorce
Divorced after:
5 years of marriage
15 years of marriage
All Women
20%
43%
Race/Ethnicity
Asian
10%
23%
Hispanic
17%
42%
White
African American
28%
55%

9. % of American Women Whose First Marriage Ended in Divorce
Divorced after:
5 years of marriage
15 years of marriage
All Women
20%
43%
Age at Marriage
Less than 18
29%
59%
18–19
24%
49%
20–24
17%
36%
25 and over 8%
35%

10. % of American Women Whose First Marriage Ended in Divorce
Divorced after:
5 years of marriage
15 years of marriage
All Women
20%
43%
Family Income
Low
31%
65%
Medium
19%
40%
High
13%

11. % of American Women Whose First Marriage Ended in Divorce
Divorced after:
5 years of marriage
15 years of marriage
All Women
20%
43%
Religion
Catholic
17%
37%
Conservative Protestant
18%
40%
Other (non-Christian)
Liberal Protestant
21%
44%
None
27%
56%

12. % of American Women Whose First Marriage Ended in Divorce
Divorced after:
5 years of marriage
15 years of marriage
All Women
20%
43%
Parents
Not divorced
17%
38%
Divorced
26%
52%

13. Stark says: High divorce rate probably indicates that marital relationship more important than it used to be
Partly saying that people expect more from marriage
Also important to not necessary equate divorce with breakdown
When all marriages stayed together not same thing as saying they were happy

14. Why Is Divorce Common? Romance is a highly perishable commodity
The opportunities to get divorced have increased – norms have relaxed
The divorce rate is higher where a larger proportion of women work outside the home.
Where women outnumber men, divorce is high
Few children, family more mobile, extended kinship networks less common (greater isolation of the family)

15. Trent and South analysis of these factors in 66 nations
Divorce rate of country is correlated with % in workforce, modernization, sex ratios
Interestingly, proportion Catholic appears not to be a strong predictor

16. Living Together
Increased dramatically – almost ½ of have lived together
51% of women who lived with their future spouse were divorced by the end of 15 years of marriage.
39% of women who had not lived with their spouse divorced within 15 years.
But are higher divorce rates because they lived together?

17. The One-parent Family
In 1960, 5% of all births in the U.S. were to unmarried women.
This has risen to 33%
Over 60% in African community
In Iceland and Sweden, more than half of all births are to unmarried women.
Most unwed mothers keep their children and in 90% of divorces, children remain with the mother.

18. Unmarried Motherhood Nation Births to Unmarried Mothers (%) Iceland 65
Canada 26
Sweden 54
Netherlands 19
Norway 49
Germany 18
France 39
Spain 11
Great Britain 37
Italy 8
United States 33
Switzerland

19. Sweden an interesting example
Family in Sweden
Over ½ kids born to single moms
Swedes criticized for being individualistic and seeking self-fulfillment
Expanding welfare state the problem?
Government replacing family? (e.g., state supported child care with no incentives for parents to stay home)
But on the other hand, crime, drug abuse, poverty considerably lower
In other “welfare states” out of wedlock rate low (Netherlands, Germany)
And does the US do enough? – 1993 Family Medical Leave Act = 12 weeks unpaid to care for newborn or sick family member
Sweden 18 months at 90% salary

20. Effect of One Parent Families on Children
more prone to delinquency but the differences are not great.
poor parenting, regardless of the number of parents, is the primary cause of deviant behavior in children.
Biggest problem might be relationship to poverty

21. Gay and Lesbian couples
Homosexuals are raising children (previous heterosexual unions, adoption, other methods)
In this country it is illegal (1996 US Congress passed law banning)
But some states (Vermont, Hawaii) and cities (San Fran, NY) conferred some marital benefits
In 1989 Denmark became first country to lift ban. Also legal in Canada
But in Nov of 2003 Massachusetts Supreme Court rules that Gov attorneys “failed to identify any constitutionally adequate reason” to deny homosexuals the right to marry
San Fran mayor defies California law and begins to marry people
Pres Bush, initially against Constitutional Amendment, changes mind
Gay marriage a “treat to the family”?

22. Should we / can we save the “traditional family”
No question, dramatic changes since 1960
this is point of reference for most of the “breakdown” arguments
Since 1960, % single up, divorce up, children out of wedlock up
Debate about gay marriage
Many will point to a long list of social ills that have gone up as family has deteriorated.
Cultural progressives see “traditional family” as a moral statement
There are other family models, they argue