Understanding Family Structures and Theories

• Family is a social unit of two or more people connected by birth, marriage, adoption, or chosen bonds.
• Families provide: physical care, emotional support, socialization, reproduction, economic security, and social control.
• Types of families include: nuclear, extended, blended, lone-parent, childless, same-sex, adoptive, foster, communal & cohabitation.

Theories on Families

• Structural Functionalism: Family members have roles that contribute to stability.
• Conflict Theory: Power struggles exist due to unequal resource distribution.
• Symbolic Interactionism: Family roles & relationships are shaped by individual interactions.
• Feminist Theory: Examines gender inequalities within families.
• Ecological Systems Theory: Families interact with their environment at different levels.
• Life Course Approach: Examines predictable family changes based on a socially approved timetable for life events.
• Exchange Theory: Cost/Rewards in a family relationship
• Systems Theory: Families are systems that depend on each other, with subsystems

Marriage & Relationships

• Reasons for Marriage: Love, economic stability, social expectations, legal benefits.
• Types of Marriage: Monogamy (one spouse) and Polygamy (multiple spouses).
• Polygamy includes Polygyny (multiple wives) and Polyandry (multiple husbands).
• Factors for Successful Relationships: Communication, trust, loyalty, shared values, conflict resolution.

Family Life Cycle & Transitions

• Stages: Singlehood, marriage, parenting, launching children, aging.
• Challenges: Divorce, remarriage, empty nest syndrome, aging parents.

Trends & Changes in Families

• Increased Diversity: Growth in interracial, same-sex, and cohabiting couples.
• Delayed Marriage & Childbirth: Focus on careers, financial stability.
• Rise in Lone-Parent & Blended Families: Due to higher divorce rates.
• Technology’s Impact: Changing communication & parenting styles.

Family Laws & Rights

• Marriage & Divorce Laws: Legal age, consent, property division, custody.
• Parental Responsibilities: Child support, education, healthcare.
• Domestic Violence Protection: Legal resources for abuse victims.

Defining Family & Its Importance

• Laws, government regulations, and organizational policies are used to determine eligibility for things such as marriage, adoption, benefits, bereavement leave and penitentiary visits Personal definitions of family can include close friends, disowned family, pets, shared traditions, situational families which are all based on personal relationships

Vanier’s Six Functions of the Family

• Care for Members: Provides basic needs and medical care.
• Addition of New Members: Birth, adoption.
• Socialization of Children: Teaches manners, financial skills.
• Social Control: Enforces rules, discipline.
• Production & Consumption: Financial management, resource distribution.
• Love & Nurturance: Emotional support and encouragement.

Changing Definitions of Family (Vanier vs. StatsCan)

• 1996 Census: Traditional family (husband, wife, children).
• 2006 Census: Recognized same-sex couples, lone-parent families, skip-generation families.

Family Trends in Canada

• Marriage & Common-Law: Married couples decreased (91% to 67%), common-law increased (6% to 17%).
• Immigrant Families: Rising number, spike in 2016 due to Syrian refugees.
• Household Size: Shrinking (3.5 to 2.5), multigenerational households growing.
• Children & Youth: Fewer children (29% to 16%), more stepfamilies, increased grandparent care.

Types of Family Structures

• Nuclear Family: Two parents + children.
• Diverse Structures: Single-parent, stepfamilies, child-free, common-law, blended, skip-generation, transgender families.

Impact of COVID-19 on Families

• Job loss, remote work, stress, strengthened bonds, challenges in virtual schooling, vaccine decisions.

History of Families in Canada

• Hordes & Hunter-Gatherers: Loose family groups, survival-based roles, leadership based on strength and intelligence, started 15 thousand + years ago
• Agricultural Families: Permanent settlements, patriarchy, arranged marriages.
• Pre-Industrial Families: Rise in trades, extended families, child labor.
• Urban Industrial Families: Shift to wage-earning, defined gender roles.
• Modern Consumer Family (Post-War): Nuclear family, baby boom.
• Contemporary Family: Dual-income, women’s employment, Divorce Act (1968).

Indigenous Families & Historical Trauma

• Traditional Structure: Matrilineal, extended family focus.
• Residential Schools (1876-1996): Forced assimilation, abuse.
• Sixties Scoop (1950s-80s): Indigenous children adopted out.
• Millennium Scoop (1980s-present): High Indigenous child welfare involvement.
• Intergenerational Trauma: Poverty, isolation, loss of culture.

Immigration in Canada

• Early Immigration favored British settlers but used exclusion policies against other groups like the Chinese head tax that was imposed on Chinese immigrants.
• Labour Needs: 1890-1914 waves of Ukrainian, German, Polish immigrants.
• 1967: Points-based immigration system (education, job skills, language ability).
• Refugees: Humanitarian focus on aiding people who are suffering, particularly victims of armed conflict, famines, and natural disasters such as Vietnamese boat people and Syrian refugees.
• Modern Challenges: Credential recognition, language barriers, discrimination.

Social Theories on Family

• Functionalism: Family maintains stability through roles.
• Symbolic Interactionism: Meaning is created through interactions.
• Systems Theory: Families are interdependent systems.
• Conflict Theory: Power struggles within and outside the family.
• Ecological Perspective: Family influenced by society and environment.
• Life Course Approach: Predictable changes (milestones, life stages).
• Exchange Theory: Balancing costs and rewards in relationships.
• Feminism: Examines gender inequality and power imbalance.

Indigenous Family: Haudenosaunee

Traditional structure

• Clan system headed by a clan mother
• All female descendants live together, husbands move in with them
• Sons stay until marriage
• Men hunt and trap
• Children address older women as "mom"
• Cousins considered like siblings
• Discipline involved throwing water on children

Similarities to nuclear family

• Mothers care for children
• Men work while women focus on childrearing
• Living at home until marriage
• Disciplining children without physical harm

Differences to nuclear family

• Haudenosaunee still follow the traditional matriarchal structure with clans being passed down through their mother
• Modern nuclear family structure focuses more on blood-lined relationships
• Dual income meaning some women may work