Chapter 11: The Family

Family is a very important part of society. Any good society is based off of a good family. Societies that do not have strong families, do not have strong societies. This is because families provide economic resources when a person is a child and then later in life family becomes a way to gain economic advice. Family also provides emotions not found elsewhere, and for that reason, family is so important.

A family is a group of people who are related by marriage, blood, or adoption and who often live together and share economic resources. A nuclear family consists of one or both parents and their children. An individual's family of orientation is the nuclear family into which the person is born or adopted. When an individual marries, the new nuclear family is now a family of procreation. An extended family consists of two or more generations. Kinship refers to a network of people who are related by marriage, birth, or adoption. Sociologists use the term marriage as the set of norms that establishes and characterizes the relationship between married individuals. The marriage of one man to one woman is called monogamy. Marriage with multiple partners is called polygamy. Polygyny is when a man is permitted to marry more than one woman at a time. Polyandry is when a woman is permitted ti marry one man at a time. When a newly married couple lives or is expected to live with or near the husband's parents, it is called patrilocality. When the newly wedded couple lives or is expected to live with or near the wife's parents, it is called matrilocality. Bilocality allows the newly married couple to choose whether they will live near the husband's or the wife's parents. Patrilineal descent is when property is passed from father to son. Matrilineal descent is when property is passed from mother to daughter. In bilateral descent property can be inherited from either side of the family. A family may be a patriarchy, where the father holds most of the authority. It may be a matriarchy in which the mother holds most of the authority. Or it could be eaglitarian where the mother and father share authority. An incest taboo is a norm forbidding sexual relations or marriage between certain relatives. To survive, societies must replace members who die or move away, and so reproduce. Children must be taught the ways if the society they are born into. The family acts as an economic and emotional security system.

Americans usually marry individuals who have social characteristics similar to their own , this is called homogamy. Heterogamy is marriage between individuals who have different social characteristics. Family violence is considered the most-devastating family disruption. Another type of family disruption is divorce. Duel-earner families are families in which both husband and wife have jobs. When children leave home, the parents are usually left with an “empty nest” and feel sad. In the USA, marriage is often delayed and put off until later years. Delayed childbearing is also common in the USA. The sandwich generation are couples that are caught between the needs of their children and those of their parents. The choice to remain childless is called voluntary childlessness, which happens to be a trend in the USA. Another trend in American families is an increase in the number of duel-earner marriages. And yet another trend are one-parent families. And still, another trend is remarriage.

As we can see family is very important to societies, and for that reason a society can grow with the help of family. In the USA, families have been recently going through some major changes and this could be a reason why the USA is not as strong and powerful as it once was. If the families in the USA grew stronger, perhaps the country/society can grow stronger as well.