Overview
This lecture covers definitions, types, and functions of families, changes in family structures, marriage patterns, and family violence, focusing on key sociological terms and trends in the United States.
Defining Family
- The legal U.S. definition of family includes those related by blood, marriage, or adoption.
- Cohabiting couples are not legally recognized as families unless married or through common law in some states.
- Domestic partnerships and civil unions grant some family-like rights but differ from legal family status.
Types of Families
- Family of Orientation: The family you are born into (parents, siblings, ancestors).
- Family of Procreation: The family you create through marriage and having/adopting children.
- Family of Affinity (Fictive Kin): Non-legal, close relationships considered family by choice (e.g., long-term friends, foster children).
- Extended (Consanguine) Family: Relatives beyond the nuclear family, including aunts, uncles, grandparents, and grandchildren.
- Nuclear (Conjugal) Family: Immediate family—parents and their children living together.
Changes and Trends in Family Structure
- Marriage rates have declined; non-family and single-person households have risen since 1940.
- Increase in single-parent and cohabiting households; cohabitation before marriage is common.
- Average age of first marriage has increased; family size has decreased due to economic and social changes.
Marriage Patterns
- Endogamy/Homogamy: Marrying within one's social group (class, race, religion).
- Exogamy/Heterogamy: Marrying outside one's social group, more common in later marriages.
- Monogamy is the legal standard; some subgroups practice polygamy (polygyny or polyandry).
- Marriage serves legal, social, and economic functions, including regulating childbearing and inheritance.
Family Functions
- Socializes children, regulates sexual activity, legitimizes births, prevents incest, and provides social and economic support.
- Acts as a primary support system and establishes social placement.
Patterns of Descent and Residence
- Patrilineal: Trace descent through the father's line.
- Matrilineal: Trace descent through the mother's line.
- Bilateral/Bilineal: Trace descent through both parents.
- Patrilocality: Live near the husband's family; Matrilocality: near the wife's; Neolocality: establish a new, independent residence.
Family Violence and Divorce
- Domestic violence is more prevalent in families than in street crime; women and children are the most common victims.
- Divorce rates rose due to individualism, less stigma, women's independence, and no-fault divorce laws.
- The "50% divorce rate" is a probability over a cohort, not actual current rates.
Key Terms & Definitions
- Cohabitation — living together in an intimate relationship without marriage.
- Domestic Partnership — legal recognition of a committed relationship similar to marriage.
- Common Law Marriage — legal recognition after cohabiting for a set time in some states.
- Endogamy/Homogamy — marriage within the same social group.
- Exogamy/Heterogamy — marriage outside one's social group.
- Monogamy — marriage to one person at a time.
- Polygyny/Polyandry — marriage to multiple wives/husbands, respectively.
- Patrilineal/Matrilineal/Bilateral Descent — tracing lineage through father/mother/both.
- Patrilocality/Matrilocality/Neolocality — living near husband's/wife's family or independently.
- Family of Affinity/Fictive Kin — chosen non-legal family-like relationships.
Action Items / Next Steps
- Study and memorize key family types and terms for the next exam.
- Review trends in marriage, divorce, and family structure changes in the U.S.
- Prepare definitions for family-related key terms and be able to provide examples.