Families

1
Families

• Patterns, theories, and issues

2
Definitions of Family

• Sociologists and anthropologists have long
  assumed that family members
• Were related by blood, marriage, or adoption
• Shared a dwelling and other resources
• Census family
• Married and cohabiting couples, with or without
  never-married children
• Single parents living with never-married children

3
Types of Census Families in Canada

• What types of families do not appear in this
  table?

4
Nuclear and Extended Families

• Nuclear family comprises parents and their
  children
• Most Canadians live in nuclear families
• Extended family comprises several generations
  (or siblings, with their spouses and children)
  who share a residence
• Prevalent among some cultural groups, among
  people with lower incomes, and at some stages of
  the life cycle
• Modified extended family does not share a
  dwelling, but shares resources

5
Monogamy and Polygamy

• Monogamy legal marriage to one spouse at a time
• Polygyny legal marriage to more than one wife at
  a time
• Polyandry legal marriage to more than one
  husband at a time
• Polygyny is much more prevalent than polyandry

6
Arranged and Free-choice Marriage

• Marriages continue to be arranged in many parts
  of the world, as well as among some immigrant
  groups in Canada
• Arranged marriages are often more stable than
  free-choice unions, because
• Both families have a stake in the marriage
• Divorce may be legally restricted
• Women may have to relinquish custody of children,
  or not be able to support themselves

7
Patterns of Authority and Descent

• A head of the family makes major decisions and
  represent the family to the outside world
• Patriarchy the oldest male is the family head
• Matriarchy the oldest female is the family head

8

• Patrilineal descent the new couple belongs to
  the grooms family
• Matrilineal descent the new couple belongs to
  the brides family
• Bilateral descent pattern common for kinship and
  inheritance in Canada

9
Political-economic theory of the family

• Family formation reflects economic organization
  of society
• Engels family life is transformed with the
  change from hunting-and-gathering to
  pre-industrial and industrial societies.
• 19th century mens workplace removed from home
• Family becomes unit of shared consumption,
  instead of a unit of production

10

• Entrance of married women into paid labour force
  is caused by economic forces
• Labour market changes lead to new ideologies

11
Structural Functionalism

• With industrialization, the nuclear family begins
  to specialize in socialization of children
• Adults differentiate into instrumental (husbands)
  and expressive roles (wives)
• Critique what is seen as functional for society
  may have been functional mainly for heterosexual
  men

12
Social Constructionist Approach

• Also called symbolic interactionism
• The way people define and interpret reality
  shapes behaviour
• Families help children develop sense of self

13
Feminist Theories

• Focus is on womens experience, and on
  socio-economic differences between genders
• Post-feminism focus on differences between
  womens experiences, depending on social position
  and cultural background

14
Postmodernist Approaches

• The traditional nuclear policy is more a myth
  than a historical reality
• Beliefs about family in everyday language and
  policy discourse are socially constructed and
  historically situated
• Fineman family should be reconceptualized

15

• Current focus on horizontal intimacy (between
  partners) should be changed to focus on vertical
  organization (between parents and children)
• Reason childbearing and child-rearing are no
  longer linked with legal marriage

16
Gendered Division of Domestic Labour

• In most heterosexual couples
• Husbands work full time and perform occasional
  domestic chores
• Wives are employed for fewer hours than husbands
  responsible for routine domestic chores and child
  care, even when employed full time
• Younger, well-educated couples with few or no
  children
• More likely to share domestic work more equitably

17
Low Fertility and Assisted Conception

• Fertility is important for social acceptance and
  gender identity
• Assisted conception becomes more common, as fewer
  children are available for adoption
• Reasons improved contraception, ability of
  single mothers to raise their children

18

• Problems
• Commercialization
• Low success rate (15 per treatment cycle)
• Problems with surrogacy
• Commodification of children
• Exploitation of women

19
Cost and Regulation of Child Care

• Despite sharp increase of employed mothers for
  the last 40 years, supply of child care is
  insufficient and costs are unaffordable for many
  parents
• The most prevalent type of child care (sitter) is
  unregulated
• Quality of care in licensed facilities may be
  problematic

20

• Popularity of the conservative view that child
  care is a family matter has increased
• i.e., It should be provided by unpaid labour of
  family members

21
Impact of Divorce on Children
22

• Children from one-parent families have higher
  likelihood of
• Lower educational attainment
• Behavioural problems
• Delinquency
• Higher divorce rates when they marry
• Main research question are these negative
  outcomes caused by parental separation, or by
  lower socio-economic status?

23

• When controlled for decline in income after
  divorce, the incidence of problems declines
• Children require adjustment during the two years
  after separation
• A close relationship with both parents is
  associated with positive adjustment

24
Impact of Repartnering on Children

• Stepfamilies require negotiation
• Never-married mothers who become pregnant before
  they complete their education are likely to
  repartner in a few years
• Their families are likely to be conflictual
• They may have an increased likelihood of
  behavioural problems in children

25

• Children in stable lone-parent families are
  better off than children in conflictual
  two-parent families

26
Wife Abuse

• Separated women are more likely to be assaulted
  than divorced or married women
• Many women remain with abusive spouses due to
• Lack of low-income or temporary housing
• An inability to support themselves and children
• Fear of reprisal from the abusive spouse
• Abusers often come from families with abusive
  parents

27
Canadian Family Policies

• Early 20th century child welfare legislation,
  equal guardianship rights for both parents, basic
  social services
• 1940s70s income security programs for families
• 1980s90s abuse and neglect laws, enforcement of
  child support
• There has been a recent re-emphasis on personal
  and family responsibility and reduction in
  social services