Types of Family

Types of Family

• Family of Orientation: the family an individual grows up in, including parents and siblings
• Family of Procreation: the family an individual forms with their spouse and children

Family Composition

• Nuclear Family: a married couple and their unmarried children living together
• Extended Family: relatives living together in the same home as parents and their children
• Parents and their children: a family unit consisting of parents and their dependent children

Kinship

• Patrilineal Descent: a system where only the father's relatives are significant regarding property, inheritance, and emotional ties
• Matrilineal Descent: a system where only the mother's relatives are significant
• Bilateral Descent: a system where both the father's and mother's relatives are regarded as equally important

Authority Patterns

• Patriarchy: a system where males dominate in all decision-making
• Matriarchy: a system where females have greater authority than males
• Egalitarian: a system where spouses are regarded as equal

Marriage

• Definition: a socially sanctioned sexual and economic union between men and women
• Forms of Marriage:
  • Monogamy: a form of marriage where one woman and one man are married only to each other
  • Serial Monogamy: a form of marriage where an individual can have several spouses in their lifetime, but only one spouse at a time
  • Polygamy: a form of marriage where an individual can have multiple husbands and wives simultaneously
  • Polygyny: a form of marriage where a man has multiple wives
  • Polyandry: a form of marriage where a woman has multiple husbands

Courtship and Mate Selection

• Courtship: influenced by the norms and values of the larger society
• Forms of Mate Selection:
  • Endogamy: specifies the groups within which a spouse must be found and prohibits marriage with others
  • Exogamy: requires mate selection outside certain groups, usually their own family or kinfolk
• Theories on Mate Selection:
  • Homogamy: the tendency to select a mate with personal characteristics similar to one's own
  • Heterogamy: the tendency to select a mate different from one's own

Sociological Perspective

• Functionalist View:
  • The family contributes to social stability
  • Functions of Family:
    • Reproduction
    • Protection
    • Socialization
    • Regulation of sexual behavior
    • Affection and companionship
    • Provision of social status
• Conflict View:
  • The family is a reflection of the inequality in wealth and power found in a larger society
  • Transmission of poverty or wealth across generations
• Interactionist View:
  • Focuses on the micro level of the family and other intimate relationships
  • Example: more involved fathers lead to fewer behavior problems and more responsibility in children
• Feminist View:
  • The family as a perpetrator of gender roles

Patterns and Trends

• Adaptation: transferring the legal rights, responsibilities, and privileges of parenthood to a new legal parent
• Dual-Income Families: families with a wage-earning husband and wife
• Single-Parent Families: families with one parent present to care for the children
• Stepfamilies: families resulting from high divorce and remarriage rates
• Cohabitation: living together without marrying
• Remaining Single: choosing not to marry
• Marriage without children: couples choosing not to have children