1

Lesson 1 - Introduction to Intimate Relationships

and Family

Robert Wonser

2

WHAT DO WE THINK OF WHEN WE THINK OF “FAMILY”?

Why do we see the patterns to the right that we see?

3

Family is defined as a social group whose members are bound by legal, biological, or emotional ties, or a combination of all three.No one type of family ‘families’

WHAT IS A FAMILY?

4

FAMILY STRUCTURES

Nuclear Family is a family group consisting of parents and their biological or adopted children.

Single-parent family is a family group consisting of one parent and his or her biological or adopted children.

Blended Family is a family group created by remarriage and includes at least one child from a prior relationship.

Extended family one’s relatives beyond the nuclear and extended family level.

5

U.S. Family Types, 2008.

Type Number Percentage

Married 123,671,000 52

Widowed 14,314,000 6

Divorced 23,346,000 10

Separated 5,183,000 2

Never Married-Single 71,479,000 30

Total Families 237,993,000 100

6

US Trends in Family Types (1950 – 2008)

7

FAMILY FUNCTIONS

According to the Functionalists, families provide:

Economic support things like food, shelter, etc.

Emotional support feelings of belonging Including

Intimacy (social, emotional, spiritual, intellectual and physical trust that is mutually shared between family members)

8

SOCIALIZATION

Socialization Including the social construction of reality what

people define as real because of their background assumptions and life experiences with others

Primary socialization all the ways that a newborn is molded into a social being capable of interacting in and meeting the expectations of society and later secondary socialization (occurs in later childhood and adolescence when children go to school and come under the influence of non-family members)

Adult socialization occurs as we assume adult roles and responsibilities such as wife/husband/employee etc.

9

WHAT THE FAMILY PROVIDES ACCORIDNG TO THE FUNCTIONALISTS (CONTINUED)

Sexuality and Reproductive Control when the family traditionally controls sexuality and reproduction (including mate selection)

Unwed mothers Percentage of All Births that were to Unwed Teens and

Mothers of All Ages Years 2000 and 2006.

Year Births to Unwed Teens Births to All Unwed Mothers

2000 11.8% 33.2% 2006 10.4% 35.8%

10

THE SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION

C Wright Mills’ term for the ability to shift your perspective from one that emphasizes the experiences of the individual to one that understands the broader social context in which that individual lives.

It is an awareness that we are a part of something larger than ourselves and that our position and personal problems are rooted in the larger workings of society.

11

SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION

Personal troubles (private problems experienced within the character of the individual and the range of their immediate relation to others) and

Public issues (lie beyond one’s personal control and the range of one’s inner life)

“neither the life of an individual nor the history of a society can be understood without understanding both” - Mills

12

THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION AND THE FAMILY

How did the Industrial Revolution alter the family?

13

THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION PROFOUNDLY CHANGED SOCIETY (AND THE FAMILY)

Pre-Industrial and Post-Industrial Revolution Social Patterns

Pre-Industrial Revolution Post-Industrial Revolution Farm/ Cottage Factories Family Work Breadwinners /Homemakers Small Towns Large Cities Large Families Small Families Homogamous Towns Heterogamous Cities Lower Standards of Living Higher Standards of Living People Died Younger People Die Older

Changed the family, how it operated and the value (or lack thereof) of labor (paid labor > unpaid labor)

14

FAMILY RESEARCH

Why is research into the family important?There is a section of ASA members that

focuses its studies specifically on the family. Here is an excerpt from their mission statement:

Many of society's most pressing problems -- teenage childbearing, juvenile delinquency, substance abuse, domestic violence, child and elder abuse, divorce -- are related to or rooted in the family. The Section on Family was founded to provide a home for sociologists who are interested in exploring these issues in greater depth.

15

FAMILY CULTURE

CultureWhen studying others’ it is important to be use

cultural relativism, not ethnocentrism.Opportunity and social class.Life chances access to basic opportunities and

resources in the marketplace. Important Distinction:Family of origin the family into which you were born

and family of procreation which is the family you create

by marriage, child birth or adoption.

16

DEMOGRAPHY

Demography is the scientific study of population growth and change.

Baby Boom Generation (children born 1946-1964; 78 million alive today)

(Births – Deaths) +/- ((In-migration – out- migration)) = Population Change

(Births – Deaths) is called natural increase which is all births minus all deaths in a given population over a given time period.

((In-Migration)-(Out Migration)) is called net migration, which is all in-migration minus all out-migration in a given population over a given time period.

How many people are born each year? How many die?