2. What is a Family?
Family can be difficult to define…
Polygyny – a form of marriage in which men have more
than one wife
Polyandry – a form of marriage in which woman have
more than one husband
Polygamy – (not in book) is a marriage which includes
more than two partners
Family – two or more people who consider themselves
related by blood, marriage, or adoption
Household – people who occupy the same household
Nuclear family – a family consisting of a husband, wife,
and child(ren)

3. What is a Family?
Family can be difficult to define…
Extended family – a nuclear family plus other relatives,
such as grandparents, aunts, and uncles
Family of orientation – the family in which a person
grows up
Family of procreation – the family formed when a
couple’s first child is born

4. What is Marriage?
Marriage - a group’s approved mating arrangements,
usually marked by a ritual of some sort (ex. wedding)
Endogamy – the practice of marrying within one’s own
group
Exogamy – the practice of marrying outside one’s own
group
Incest Taboo – the rule that prevents sex and marriage
among designated relatives (this functions to help avoid
role confusion, and to forge alliances between groups)

5. Common Cultural Themes
Families Establish Patterns of…
Mate Selection
Descent
Inheritance
Authority
 Patriarchy – a society or group in which women dominate men as
a group
 Matriarchy – a society in which women as a group dominate men
as a group
 Egalitarian – authority more or less equally divided between
people or groups, in this instance between husband and wife

6. Descent

7. Marriage and Family in Theoretical
Perspective Functionalist
Economic Production
Socialization of Children
Care of Sick and Aged
Recreation
Sexual Control
Reproduction
Functions of the Incest Taboo
Isolation and Emotional Overload

8. Marriage and Family in Theoretical
Perspective Conflict
Struggles between Wives and Husbands
Power Struggle over…
Housework
Child Care
Money
Attention
Respect
Sex

9. Marriage and Family in Theoretical
Perspective Symbolic Interaction
Gender, Housework, and Child
Care
Gender Division of Labor

11. The Family Life Cycle
Love and Courtship in Global Perspective
Marriage
Social Channels of Love and Marriage
Homogamy – the tendency of people with similar
characteristics to marry one another

13. The Family Life Cycle
Childbirth
Marital Satisfaction Decreases
Additional Complications
Child Rearing
Married Couples and Single Mothers
Day Care
Nannies
Social Class

15. The Family Life Cycle
Family Transitions
Adultolescents and the Not-
So-Empty Nest
Widowhood

16. Diversity in U.S. Families
African-American Families
Latino Families
Machismo – an emphasis on male strength and
dominance
Asian Families
Native American Families

18. Diversity in U.S. Families
One-Parent Families

19. Diversity in U.S. Families
Families Without Children
……and finally
Blended Families: families whose
members were once part of other
families
Gay and Lesbian Families

20. Trends in U.S. Families
Postponing Marriage and Childbirth
Cohabitation – unmarried couples living together in a
sexual relationship
Unmarried Mothers
Grandparents as Parents
The Sandwich Generation & Elder Care

27. Divorce and Remarriage
Problems in Measuring Divorce
Children and Grandchildren of Divorce
Absent fathers and serial fatherhood
 Serial fatherhood – a pattern of parenting in which a father,
after divorce, reduces contact with his own children, acts as a
father to the children of the woman he marries or lives with ,
then ignores these children, too, after moving in with or
marrying another woman
Ex-spouses
Remarriage

29. Two Sides of Family Life
The Dark Side
Spouse Battering
Child Abuse
Marital or Intimacy Rape
Incest – sexual relations between specified relatives, such
as brothers and sisters or parents and children

30. Two Sides of Family Life
The Bright Side—Successful Marriages
Spouse is Best Friend
Like Spouse as Person
Think Marriage is Long-Term Commitment
Believe Marriage is Sacred

31. Two Sides of Family Life
The Bright Side—Successful Marriages
Agree with Spouse Aims and Goals
Believe Spouse Grown More Interesting
Want Relationship to Succeed
Laugh Together

32. Happy Families
Spend a Lot of Time Together
Are Quick to Express Appreciation
Committed to Promoting Mutual Welfare
Talk and Listen a Lot
Are Religious
Deal with Crises Positively

33. Symbolic Interactionism and Misuse of Statistics
Divorce Statistics Explained
People are Individuals
We Create our Own World

34. The Future of Marriage and Family
No Danger of Becoming a Relic
Cohabitation, Single Mothers, Age at Marriage,
Grandparents as Parents will Increase
*(I have read grandparent’s as parents will not
increase in the future because the grandparents will
be the same people who couldn’t take care of their
own children, at least while this generation of
parents turns into granparents)
Continued Distorted Images of Marriage and
Family