Defining Marriage and Family and Related Cultural Themes

Learning Objectives

By the terminate of this section, you will exist able to:

• Draw gild's electric current agreement of family unit
• Recognize changes in marriage and family patterns
• Differentiate betwixt lines of decent and residence

The modernistic concept of family unit is far more encompassing than in past decades. What do y'all call back constitutes a family? (Photograph (a) courtesy Gareth Williams/flickr; photo (b) courtesy Guillaume Paumier/ Wikimedia Commons)

Matrimony and family are key structures in most societies. While the 2 institutions accept historically been closely linked in U.South. culture, their connection is condign more complex. The human relationship between marriage and family is an interesting topic of study to sociologists.

What is spousal relationship? Unlike people define it in different means. Not fifty-fifty sociologists are able to agree on a single meaning. For our purposes, we'll define marriage every bit a legally recognized social contract between ii people, traditionally based on a sexual relationship and implying a permanence of the union. In practicing cultural relativism, we should as well consider variations, such as whether a legal wedlock is required (think of "common law" spousal relationship and its equivalents), or whether more than than two people tin can be involved (consider polygamy). Other variations on the definition of marriage might include whether spouses are of reverse sexes or the aforementioned sexual activity and how 1 of the traditional expectations of marriage (to produce children) is understood today.

Sociologists are interested in the relationship between the institution of union and the institution of family considering, historically, marriages are what create a family, and families are the most basic social unit upon which society is built. Both union and family create status roles that are sanctioned by gild.

So what is a family unit? A married man, a wife, and two children—maybe fifty-fifty a pet—has served as the model for the traditional U.S. family unit for about of the twentieth century. Just what about families that deviate from this model, such equally a single-parent household or a homosexual couple without children? Should they be considered families too?

The question of what constitutes a family is a prime area of debate in family folklore, besides every bit in politics and religion. Social conservatives tend to define the family unit in terms of structure with each family member filling a sure role (like father, mother, or child). Sociologists, on the other hand, tend to ascertain family more in terms of the manner in which members relate to 1 another than on a strict configuration of status roles. Here, we'll ascertain family as a socially recognized group (usually joined by blood, marriage, cohabitation, or adoption) that forms an emotional connectedness and serves as an economic unit of lodge. Sociologists place different types of families based on how ane enters into them. A family unit of orientation refers to the family into which a person is born. A family of procreation describes one that is formed through wedlock. These distinctions accept cultural significance related to issues of lineage.

Drawing on two sociological paradigms, the sociological understanding of what constitutes a family tin be explained past symbolic interactionism too every bit functionalism. These two theories betoken that families are groups in which participants view themselves as family members and act accordingly. In other words, families are groups in which people come together to course a strong primary group connection and maintain emotional ties to 1 some other over a long period of fourth dimension. Such families may include groups of shut friends or teammates. In addition, the functionalist perspective views families as groups that perform vital roles for lodge—both internally (for the family itself) and externally (for society as a whole). Families provide for i another's concrete, emotional, and social well-existence. Parents care for and socialize children. Afterward in life, adult children often care for elderly parents. While interactionism helps usa empathize the subjective experience of belonging to a "family," functionalism illuminates the many purposes of families and their roles in the maintenance of a balanced gild (Parsons and Bales 1956). Nosotros volition become into more than detail about how these theories utilise to family in.

Challenges Families Face

People in the U.s. as a whole are somewhat divided when it comes to determining what does and what does not constitute a family. In a 2010 survey conducted past professors at the Academy of Indiana, nearly all participants (99.8 per centum) agreed that a husband, wife, and children constitute a family unit. Ninety-two percent stated that a hubby and a wife without children still constitute a family. The numbers drop for less traditional structures: unmarried couples with children (83 percent), unmarried couples without children (39.6 percent), gay male couples with children (64 per centum), and gay male couples without children (33 percent) (Powell et al. 2010). This survey revealed that children tend to be the key indicator in establishing "family" status: the percentage of individuals who agreed that unmarried couples and gay couples found a family almost doubled when children were added.

The study also revealed that 60 pct of U.Southward. respondents agreed that if you consider yourself a family, y'all are a family (a concept that reinforces an interactionist perspective) (Powell 2010). The government, however, is non so flexible in its definition of "family." The U.S. Census Bureau defines a family every bit "a group of 2 people or more (one of whom is the householder) related by nativity, marriage, or adoption and residing together" (U.S. Census Bureau 2010). While this structured definition can exist used every bit a means to consistently track family-related patterns over several years, it excludes individuals such as cohabitating unmarried heterosexual and homosexual couples. Legality bated, sociologists would argue that the general concept of family is more diverse and less structured than in years past. Social club has given more leeway to the pattern of a family unit making room for what works for its members (Jayson 2010).

Family is, indeed, a subjective concept, just information technology is a fairly objective fact that family unit (whatever one'south concept of it may exist) is very important to people in the United States. In a 2010 survey by Pew Research Center in Washington, DC, 76 pct of adults surveyed stated that family is "the most important" element of their life—just one percentage said it was "not important" (Pew Research Centre 2010). Information technology is likewise very important to society. President Ronald Regan notably stated, "The family has always been the cornerstone of American society. Our families nurture, preserve, and pass on to each succeeding generation the values we share and cherish, values that are the foundation of our freedoms" (Lee 2009). While the design of the family may accept changed in recent years, the fundamentals of emotional closeness and support are yet present. Most responders to the Pew survey stated that their family today is at to the lowest degree as close (45 percent) or closer (xl percent) than the family with which they grew up (Pew Research Center 2010).

Aslope the debate surrounding what constitutes a family is the question of what people in the United States believe constitutes a marriage. Many religious and social conservatives believe that marriage can only exist betwixt a man and a woman, citing religious scripture and the nuts of human reproduction as back up. Social liberals and progressives, on the other mitt, believe that marriage can exist between two consenting adults—be they a man and a woman, or a adult female and a adult female—and that it would be discriminatory to deny such a couple the ceremonious, social, and economic benefits of matrimony.

Marriage Patterns

With single parenting and cohabitation (when a couple shares a residence but non a wedlock) becoming more acceptable in contempo years, people may exist less motivated to get married. In a recent survey, 39 per centum of respondents answered "yes" when asked whether marriage is becoming obsolete (Pew Inquiry Center 2010). The institution of marriage is likely to proceed, simply some previous patterns of matrimony volition get outdated equally new patterns emerge. In this context, cohabitation contributes to the phenomenon of people getting married for the first time at a later age than was typical in before generations (Glezer 1991). Furthermore, spousal relationship will continue to be delayed as more than people identify education and career alee of "settling down."

One Partner or Many?

People in the The states typically equate marriage with monogamy, when someone is married to merely i person at a time. In many countries and cultures around the globe, notwithstanding, having ane spouse is not the merely form of marriage. In a bulk of cultures (78 percent), polygamy, or existence married to more than than one person at a time, is accustomed (Murdock 1967), with most polygamous societies existing in northern Africa and east asia (Altman and Ginat 1996). Instances of polygamy are almost exclusively in the course of polygyny. Polygyny refers to a man being married to more than than one woman at the same time. The contrary, when a woman is married to more than one man at the same fourth dimension, is called polyandry. Information technology is far less common and only occurs in about 1 percent of the world'south cultures (Altman and Ginat 1996). The reasons for the overwhelming prevalence of polygamous societies are varied only they often include issues of population growth, religious ideologies, and social status.

Joseph Smith, Jr., the founder of Mormonism, is said to take skillful polygamy. (Photo courtesy of public domain/Wikimedia Eatables)

While the majority of societies have polygyny, the majority of people do not practice it. Often fewer than ten percent (and no more than 25–35 per centum) of men in polygamous cultures have more one married woman; these husbands are often older, wealthy, loftier-condition men (Altman and Ginat 1996). The average plural marriage involves no more than three wives. Negev Bedouin men in State of israel, for case, typically have two wives, although it is adequate to have upwardly to four (Griver 2008). As urbanization increases in these cultures, polygamy is likely to decrease every bit a result of greater admission to mass media, technology, and education (Altman and Ginat 1996).

In the United states, polygamy is considered by almost to be socially unacceptable and information technology is illegal. The deed of inbound into marriage while still married to another person is referred to as bigamy and is considered a felony in most states. Polygamy in the United States is often associated with those of the Mormon faith, although in 1890 the Mormon Church officially renounced polygamy. Fundamentalist Mormons, such as those in the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Mean solar day Saints (FLDS), on the other manus, still hold tightly to the celebrated Mormon beliefs and practices and permit polygamy in their sect.

The prevalence of polygamy among Mormons is often overestimated due to sensational media stories such as the Yearning for Zion ranch raid in Texas in 2008 and pop telly shows such as HBO's Large Beloved and TLC'southward Sister Wives. It is estimated that there are about 37,500 fundamentalist Mormons involved in polygamy in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, simply that number has shown a steady decrease in the last 100 years (Useem 2007).

U.S. Muslims, however, are an emerging group with an estimated 20,000 practicing polygamy. Again, polygamy among U.South. Muslims is uncommon and occurs but in approximately i percent of the population (Useem 2007). For at present polygamy among U.S. Muslims has gone adequately unnoticed by mainstream gild, only like fundamentalist Mormons whose practices were off the public's radar for decades, they may anytime detect themselves at the eye of social debate.

Residency and Lines of Descent

When because one's lineage, most people in the United States look to both their begetter's and mother's sides. Both paternal and maternal ancestors are considered part of i'due south family unit. This design of tracing kinship is called bilateral descent. Notation that kinship, or one's traceable beginnings, can be based on blood or union or adoption. Sixty percentage of societies, generally modernized nations, follow a bilateral descent blueprint. Unilateral descent (the tracing of kinship through i parent but) is good in the other 40 percent of the world's societies, with high concentration in pastoral cultures (O'Neal 2006).

There are three types of unilateral descent: patrilineal, which follows the father's line simply; matrilineal, which follows the mother's side only; and ambilineal, which follows either the father's only or the mother's side only, depending on the situation. In partrilineal societies, such as those in rural People's republic of china and India, just males acquit on the family surname. This gives males the prestige of permanent family unit membership while females are seen as but temporary members (Harrell 2001). U.Southward. society assumes some aspects of partrilineal decent. For instance, most children assume their father's concluding name even if the mother retains her nativity proper name.

In matrilineal societies, inheritance and family unit ties are traced to women. Matrilineal descent is common in Native American societies, notably the Crow and Cherokee tribes. In these societies, children are seen every bit belonging to the women and, therefore, one's kinship is traced to 1's mother, grandmother, nifty grandmother, and and then on (Mails 1996). In ambilineal societies, which are most common in Southeast Asian countries, parents may choose to associate their children with the kinship of either the mother or the father. This selection maybe based on the want to follow stronger or more prestigious kinship lines or on cultural customs such equally men following their father's side and women following their mother's side (Lambert 2009).

Tracing one's line of descent to one parent rather than the other can be relevant to the issue of residence. In many cultures, newly married couples move in with, or near to, family unit members. In a patrilocal residence system it is customary for the wife to live with (or near) her husband'due south blood relatives (or family or orientation). Patrilocal systems tin can exist traced back thousands of years. In a Deoxyribonucleic acid analysis of 4,600-year-old bones found in Germany, scientists found indicators of patrilocal living arrangements (Haak et al 2008). Patrilocal residence is idea to be disadvantageous to women because it makes them outsiders in the home and community; it besides keeps them disconnected from their own blood relatives. In Red china, where patrilocal and patrilineal customs are common, the written symbols for maternal grandmother (wáipá) are separately translated to mean "outsider" and "women" (Cohen 2011).

Similarly, in matrilocal residence systems, where information technology is customary for the hubby to live with his wife'south blood relatives (or her family of orientation), the husband can feel disconnected and tin be labeled equally an outsider. The Minangkabau people, a matrilocal society that is indigenous to the highlands of West Sumatra in Indonesia, believe that dwelling is the place of women and they give men footling power in problems relating to the home or family (Joseph and Najmabadi 2003). Most societies that use patrilocal and patrilineal systems are patriarchal, only very few societies that utilize matrilocal and matrilineal systems are matriarchal, as family life is oftentimes considered an important role of the civilization for women, regardless of their power relative to men.

Stages of Family Life

Every bit we've established, the concept of family has inverse greatly in recent decades. Historically, information technology was frequently thought that many families evolved through a series of anticipated stages. Developmental or "stage" theories used to play a prominent role in family unit sociology (Potent and DeVault 1992). Today, yet, these models have been criticized for their linear and conventional assumptions likewise as for their failure to capture the diverseness of family forms. While reviewing some of these once-pop theories, it is important to identify their strengths and weaknesses.

The set of predictable steps and patterns families feel over time is referred to equally the family unit life wheel. One of the get-go designs of the family life bicycle was adult past Paul Glick in 1955. In Glick's original blueprint, he asserted that nigh people will grow up, establish families, rear and launch their children, feel an "empty nest" period, and come to the end of their lives. This cycle will then continue with each subsequent generation (Glick 1989). Glick'due south colleague, Evelyn Duvall, elaborated on the family life cycle by developing these classic stages of family (Strong and DeVault 1992):

This tabular array shows one case of how a "stage" theory might categorize the phases a family goes through.

Stage Theory
Stage	Family Type	Children
1	Marriage Family	Childless
2	Procreation Family unit	Children ages 0 to 2.5
3	Preschooler Family unit	Children ages 2.v to 6
4	School-age Family unit	Children ages six–13
5	Teenage Family	Children ages 13–xx
6	Launching Family	Children brainstorm to get out home
7	Empty Nest Family	"Empty nest"; adult children have left home

The family life bike was used to explain the different processes that occur in families over time. Sociologists view each stage every bit having its own structure with different challenges, achievements, and accomplishments that transition the family unit from one stage to the next. For example, the problems and challenges that a family experiences in Phase 1 equally a married couple with no children are likely much different than those experienced in Phase 5 as a married couple with teenagers. The success of a family unit can be measured past how well they arrange to these challenges and transition into each stage. While sociologists use the family unit life cycle to written report the dynamics of family unit overtime, consumer and marketing researchers have used it to determine what goods and services families need equally they progress through each stage (Tater and Staples 1979).

Equally early "stage" theories have been criticized for generalizing family life and not accounting for differences in gender, ethnicity, culture, and lifestyle, less rigid models of the family unit life cycle have been adult. 1 example is the family life form, which recognizes the events that occur in the lives of families but views them equally parting terms of a fluid course rather than in sequent stages (Strong and DeVault 1992). This type of model accounts for changes in family unit evolution, such as the fact that in today's society, childbearing does non always occur with spousal relationship. It also sheds light on other shifts in the way family life is expert. Society's modern understanding of family rejects rigid "stage" theories and is more than accepting of new, fluid models.

The Evolution of Television Families

Whether yous grew up watching the Cleavers, the Waltons, the Huxtables, or the Simpsons, most of the iconic families you saw in television set sitcoms included a father, a female parent, and children cavorting nether the same roof while comedy ensued. The 1960s was the height of the suburban U.S. nuclear family unit on television with shows such as The Donna Reed Bear witness and Father Knows Best. While some shows of this era portrayed single parents (My Three Sons and Bonanza, for instance), the unmarried status near always resulted from being widowed—not divorced or unwed.

Although family unit dynamics in real U.S. homes were irresolute, the expectations for families portrayed on tv were not. The U.s.a.' starting time reality show, An American Family (which aired on PBS in 1973) chronicled Bill and Pat Loud and their children as a "typical" U.South. family unit. During the series, the oldest son, Lance, announced to the family unit that he was gay, and at the serial' decision, Bill and Pat decided to divorce. Although the Loud's union was among the 30 percent of marriages that ended in divorce in 1973, the family was featured on the encompass of the March 12 event of Newsweek with the title "The Broken Family unit" (Ruoff 2002).

Less traditional family structures in sitcoms gained popularity in the 1980s with shows such every bit Diff'hire Strokes (a widowed human being with ii adopted African American sons) and Ane Day at a Time (a divorced adult female with ii teenage daughters). Still, traditional families such as those in Family Ties and The Cosby Show dominated the ratings. The belatedly 1980s and the 1990s saw the introduction of the dysfunctional family unit. Shows such as Roseanne, Married with Children, and The Simpsons portrayed traditional nuclear families, but in a much less flattering light than those from the 1960s did (Museum of Circulate Communications 2011).

Over the by ten years, the nontraditional family unit has become somewhat of a tradition in television. While about situation comedies focus on single men and women without children, those that exercise portray families often stray from the archetype construction: they include unmarried and divorced parents, adopted children, gay couples, and multigenerational households. Fifty-fifty those that do feature traditional family structures may show less-traditional characters in supporting roles, such as the brothers in the highly rated shows Everybody Loves Raymond and Two and One-half Men. Even wildly popular children'south programs equally Disney's Hannah Montana and The Suite Life of Zack & Cody characteristic unmarried parents.

In 2009, ABC premiered an intensely nontraditional family with the broadcast of Modern Family. The show follows an extended family that includes a divorced and remarried father with one stepchild, and his biological adult children—one of who is in a traditional two-parent household, and the other who is a gay man in a committed relationship raising an adopted daughter. While this dynamic may be more complicated than the typical "modern" family unit, its elements may resonate with many of today'southward viewers. "The families on the shows aren't as idealistic, but they remain relatable," states television critic Maureen Ryan. "The most successful shows, comedies especially, accept families that you can look at and see parts of your family in them" (Respers French republic 2010).

Summary

Sociologists view marriage and families as societal institutions that help create the basic unit of measurement of social construction. Both union and a family unit may be defined differently—and proficient differently—in cultures across the earth. Families and marriages, like other institutions, adapt to social change.

Brusk Answer

1. According to inquiry, what are people's general thoughts on family in the United States? How do they view nontraditional family structures? How practice you remember these views might change in 20 years?
2. Explain the difference between bilateral and unilateral descent. Using your ain association with kinship, explicate which type of descent applies to yous?

Glossary

ambilineal

a type of unilateral descent that follows either the father'south or the mother's side exclusively

bilateral descent

the tracing of kinship through both parents' ancestral lines

bigamy

the act of entering into union while nevertheless married to another person

cohabitation

the human action of a couple sharing a residence while they are non married

family unit

socially recognized groups of individuals who may exist joined by blood, marriage, or adoption and who form an emotional connection and an economic unit of society

family life form

a sociological model of family that sees the progression of events as fluid rather than as occurring in strict stages

family life cycle

a set of anticipated steps and patterns families experience over fourth dimension

family of orientation

the family into which i is born

family unit of procreation

a family unit that is formed through matrimony

kinship

a person's traceable ancestry (by blood, wedlock, and/or adoption)

marriage

a legally recognized contract between ii or more people in a sexual relationship who have an expectation of permanence about their relationship

matrilineal descent

a type of unilateral descent that follows the mother'due south side merely

matrilocal residence

a system in which it is customary for a husband to live with the his wife's family

monogamy

the human action of being married to only one person at a time

patrilineal descent

a type of unilateral descent that follows the father'south line only

patrilocal residence

a system in which it is customary for the a wife to live with (or most) the her husband'due south family

polyandry

a form of marriage in which one adult female is married to more than than one man at once

polygamy

the state of being committed or married to more than 1 person at a time

polygyny

a course of matrimony in which one man is married to more than i woman at one time

unilateral descent

the tracing of kinship through 1 parent just.

Further Research

For more than information on family evolution and lines of descent, visit the New England Historical Genealogical Society's spider web site, American Ancestors, and discover out how genealogies have been established and recorded since 1845.

http://openstaxcollege.org/50/American_Ancestors

References

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Glezer, Helen. 1991. "Cohabitation." Family unit Matters 30:24–27.

Glick, Paul. 1989. "The Family Life Bike and Social Alter." Family Relations 38(2):123–129.

Griver, Simon. 2008. "One Wife Isn't Enough … So They Have Two or Three." The Jewish Relate Online, Apr 24. Retrieved February 13, 2012 (http://www.thejc.com/lifestyle/lifestyle-features/one-wife-isn't-plenty-then-they-take-two-or-iii).

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Jayson, Sharon. 2010. "What Does a 'Family unit' Look Like Nowadays?" USA Today, November 25. Retrieved February thirteen, 2012 (http://www.usatoday.com/yourlife/sex-relationships/spousal relationship/2010-11-18-pew18_ST_N.htm).

Joseph, Suad, and Afsaneh Najmabadi. 2003. "Kinship and Country: Southeast Asia, East asia, Australia and the Pacific." Pp. 351–355 in Encyclopedia of Women and Islamic Cultures: Family, Law, and Politics. Leiden, The netherlands: Brill Academic Publishers.

Lambert, Bernd. 2009. "Ambilineal Descent Groups in the Northern Gilbert Islands." American Anthropologist 68(3):641–664.

Lee, Richard. 2009. The American Patriot's Bible: The Word of God and the Shaping of America. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson.

Mails, Thomas Due east. 1996. The Cherokee People: The Story of the Cherokees from Earliest Origins to Contemporary Times. New York: Marlowe & Co.

Murdock, George P. 1967. Ethnographic Atlas: A Summary. Pittsburgh, PA: Academy of Pittsburgh Press.

Murphy, Patrick, and William Staples. 1979. "A Modernized Family Life Cycle." Journal of Consumer Research vi(one):12–22.

Museum of Circulate Communications. 2010. "Family on Television." Retrieved Jan 16, 2012.

O'Neal, Dennis. 2006. "Nature of Kinship." Palomar Higher. Retrieved January 16, 2012 (http://anthro.palomar.edu/kinship/kinship_2.htm).

Parsons, Talcott, and Robert Bales. 1955. Family Socialization and Interaction Process. London: Routledge.

Pew Research Center. 2010. "The Decline of Marriage and Rise of New Families." November 18. Retrieved Feb xiii, 2012 (http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1802/reject-marriage-rise-new-families).

Powell, Brian, Catherine Bolzendahl, Claudia Geist, and Lala Carr Steelman. 2010. Counted Out: Same-Sex activity Relations and Americans' Definitions of Family. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.

Respers France, Lisa. 2010. "The Evolution of the Television set Family unit." CNN, September 1. Retrieved February 13, 2012 (http://www.cnn.com/2010/SHOWBIZ/Boob tube/09/01/families.on.boob tube/index.html).

Ruoff, Jeffrey. 2002. An American Family: A Televised Life. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

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U.South. Demography Bureau. 2010. "Current Population Survey (CPS)." Retrieved January 16, 2012 (http://www.census.gov/population/world wide web/cps/cpsdef.html).

Useem, Andrea. 2007. "What to Expect When You lot're Expecting a Co-Wife." Slate, July 24. Retrieved January sixteen, 2012 (http://www.slate.com/articles/life/faithbased/2007/07/what_to_expect_when_youre_expecting_a_cowife.html).

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