The most important group to social functioning is the family. Nothing in our existence is more familiar to us or occupies more time, effort, and emotion.
Historically, family was the center of many important activities. It is were children should expect nurturance, economic security, safety, education and emotional support.
Other functions of families are to regaulate sexual behavior, create new members to replace the dead, and socialize children.
From politicians to research scholars, many people are concerned about the survival of the contemporary family.
The call for the "good ole days" of family never existed. True/False? We will take a deeper look into this statement during class.
Kinship- the introduction of symbolic meaning or value to actaul or imagined blood ties. It is an intellectual creation.
Types of Families
Several generations living under the same roof is known as an extended family. Today's more isolated nuclear family consists of only a mother, father and children. The United States has no long tradition of large families. In fact, the highest proportion of extended family households ever recorded in this country was only 20% between 1850 and 1885 (Hareven, 1978).
Cultural Variation in Family Practice
Living arrangements differ across the world. American families tend to be neolocal, which means young people are expected to establish their own households, seperate from others when they are financially capable. Patrilocality is when the family lives near the husband's family and the opposite is true for matrilocality.
Monogamy means having one spouse at a time. Serial monogamy, involves marriage, divorce and then remarriage. This has become more of the rule than the exception in the United States. Polygamy means having more than one spouse at a time. Men having several wives is called polygyny. Having more than one husband is polyandry.
Authority can be vested in either the father or the mother of the family. When the father has the
Most societies practice endogamy (marriage within certain specific groups) or exogamy (marriage outside certain specific groups). Marrying one's own sister in an unlawful form of endogamy. Many social pressures discourage exogamy, such as interractial marriages.
Authority can be vested in either the father or mother of a family. When the father is vested authority, the family is referred to as a patriarchy. When the mother has the vested authority it is called a matriarchy.
The terms patrilineal and matrilineal indicate where descent may be traced (through the father or mother).