Chapter 16

• Every human on earth organizes themselves into families, but the word is difficult to define. • Polygyny- more than one wife• Polyandry-more than one husband

• Banaro of New Guinea (must give birth first)• Tobriand Islanders in New Guinea (wife’s eldest

brother)

• Family consists of people who consider themselves related by blood, marriage or adoption.

• Household- consists of people who occupy the same housing unit- a house, apartment, or other living quarters.

What is Family?

How do you classify families?

• Nuclear: Husband, Wife and kids

• Extended: Includes Nuclear and people such as grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins

• Family of Orientation: the family in which an individual grows up

• Family of Procreation: the family that is formed when a couple have their first child

What is Marriage?

• Man and woman

• Native Americans- Berdache

• Nayar of Malabar- 3 day celebration

• Loess Plateau in China- dead husband

• Marriage- a group’s approved mating arrangements- usually marked by a ritual of some sort to indicate the couple’s new public status

Lessons in Finding a Mate:

• 1. Follow your heart• Pay attention to the “In Love” Feeling

• Sense of rightness- never get married without it!• A “gut” feeling

• 2. Follow your Head= due diligence• formal economic and legal arrangement• Questions:

• Will your partner be a good provider? Work ethic? Housework?

• Is He or She Financially Responsible?• Will He or She be a Good Parent?

Lessons Continued..

• 3. Values come first• Values are the basic principles we use to make decisions, and

the standards by which we judge what’s important in life. • “Polar souls”• Need to discuss

• Values about children• Values about money• Values about religion

• You’re Marrying a Family

• Three Warning Signs• No One Likes Your Partner• Explosive and Disproportionate Anger• Your Partner Lacks Control over Alcohol

Common Cultural Themes

• 1. Mate Selection: Every human group establishes norms to govern who marries whom. • Endogamy: members must marry

within their group. Usually informal norms

• Exogamy: members must marry outside their group. • Incest taboo- prohibits sex and marriage

among designated relatives.

• 2. Descent: How are you related to your father or mother?• System of descent: the way people

trace kinship over the generations• Bilineal system: we think of ourselves as

related to both of our mother’s and father’s sides of the family.

• Patrilineal system: tracing descent only on the father’s side (do not think of children as being related to their mother’s side)

• Matrilineal system: tracing descent only on the mother’s side and not considering children to be related to their father’s relatives.

• 3. Authority:• Patriarchy: social system in which men

dominate women, has formed a thread that runs through all societies.

• Matriarchy: a social system in which women dominate men as a group.

• Egalitarian- equal roles• U.S.- naming patterns

Read page 45: answer questions:

• 1. What are advantages/disadvantages of the village matchmaker? What about your parents setting you up?

• 2. What are advantages/disadvantages of electronic dating sites?

Worksheet

• Pages 464-468

• Due 4/18!

Trends in U.S. Families

• Marriage is on the decline due to cohabitation- adults living together in a sexual relationship without being married. Much more common today than it was thirty years ago. 40% of U.S. children will spend a time in a cohabitating family.

• What is the difference between cohabitating and marriage?

Commitment!

• Marriage: You take a public vow and are bound legally. There is a sense of permanence. Requires a judge to terminate

• Cohabitation: requires couples to move in together. Less likely to have a joint back account, easy to move out.• Sociologists have found that

cohabitating couples are less likely to marry and more likely to have an unstable marriage.

• Grandparents as parents:• Also called “skipped generation

families”• Parents die, become ill, homeless,

addicted to drugs or land in prison. • Pros: builds lasting emotional bonds• Cons: unexpected responsibilities,

squeeze finances, no retirement.

• Sandwich Generation