Institutionalization

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Institutionalization

• From Berger and Luckman
• The Social Construction of Reality

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• Habitualization is characteristic of human
  behavior
• Occurs in social world as well

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Social World -- Institutions

• Perpetuated agreements surrounding major areas of
  life that are
• Legitimated

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• Thus we are the creators of the social world and
  the products of the social world
• Too much change in social world

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• Limits freedom
• But also
• Increases freedom

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Institutions

• Family
• Education
• Religion
• Economy
• Government

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Family
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What Is a Family?

• Related by blood, marriage, or adoption?
• Economic cooperation?

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• Family is a group of two or more people related
  by marriage, blood, or adoption.
• Family of procreation

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Households in the U.S.(Percentage)
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Family as an Institution

• Differentiation started with separate religious
  and governmental institutions

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Theoretical Perspectives

• Conflict
• Family is means of subservience of women and
  children
• Perpetuates inequality in society

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Structural Functionalism

• Family serves the following functions in
  post-industrial social systems
• Sexual and emotional satisfaction for adults

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Symbolic Interactionism

• Constitutes first significant others
• Presents generalized other
• Changing roles at different life stages

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• First months and years of marriage are a time of
  negotiation and institutionalization.

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Family

• Composition
• Marriage patterns
• Lineage
• Dominance patterns
• The modern American family
• Contemporary issues

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Composition of Families

• Nuclear
• Associated with industrial societies
• Blended
• Not yet institutionalized

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• Extended
• 3 or more generations and related adults besides
  the biological parents of offspring
• Life span limited generational overlap
• Related to arranged marriages

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Family Composition U.S. vs. Soc. 134
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Family Composition of Soc. 134 Percentage Fall
2006
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Marriage Patterns

• Arranged or couple selection of mate
• Monogamy or polygamy
• Polygamous marriages
• Associated with agricultural economies
• Polyandry
• Group marriage

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Lineage

• How ancestry and inheritance determined
• Bilineal
• Matrilineal
• Patrilineal

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The Dilemma of Patrilineage

• Wifely fidelity must be guaranteed
• Fertility and sexuality of women must be
  controlled
• Rape is a crime against husband, father

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Dominance Patterns

• Patriarchal
• Matriarchal
• Egalitarian
• More common in hunting gathering and post
  industrial societies

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Modern American Families

• Nuclear
• Monogamous?
• Serial monogamy
• Bilineal?
• Egalitarian?

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• Romantic love is basis of marriage
• In the last four decades
• Fewer children, average 2 per woman

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(No Transcript)
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The Activities of Married Women Are Best Confined
to the Home and Family (Percent of Soc. 134)
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Same Sex Couples Should Have the Right to Legal
Marriage (Soc. 134 percentage)
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Contemporary Issues

• Divorce
• U.S. has the highest divorce rate in the world
• However, half of all marriages do not end in
  divorce
• Multiple divorces and multiple remarriages

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• Reasons for Increase in Divorce
• Divorce is more socially acceptable
• Relative economic independence of wives

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Who Divorces

• Prior divorce
• Younger age at marriage
• Heterogamy

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Divorce and Religion (Barna Group 2004)