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Stats on U.S. Families: Characteristics, Changes, and Issues

By on January 17, 2014

Family Organization

Traditional: extended family form, power resided in elders, kin-group located near, married into kin groups with similar norms, constant from one generation to the next (orderly replacement)

Pluralism: many and varied forms of marital and family organization

Marriage becomes a personal issue rather than a kinship one

Free-choice rather than arranged marriages

Multiple number of acceptable forms of marriage and family (pluralistic nature)

Benefits for Same-Sex Domestic Partners (p.123)

First at Wayne State University (1995)

(Image courtesy of Stuart Miles/FreeDigitalPhotos.net)

Family Functions

Traditional functions

Familism over individualism, education should be centered in the home, children should care for their aging parents, prayer and religious rituals should be basic parts of daily family life, recreation should involve the family as a unit, and affection should be shared relatively exclusively among family members.

Emergent normsà performed by other agencies: economic factory and office, prestige and status with individual family member rather than reputation, teachers and day-care (substitute parents), police, reform schools, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, unemployment compensation, professional priests, rabbis, and clergy, source of recreation, and affection found elsewhere.

Emotional support à family and peer groups

Stabilization of adults and socialization of members

Marital- and Gender-Role Differentiation

Traditionally – no difficulty

Characteristics of U.S. Families

Population about 275 million (2000)

White 82.2%

Black 12.8%

American Indian/Eskimo/Aleut .9%

Asian or Pacific Islander 4.1%

Numbers of Families and Households

72 million family households (2000)

55.3 million married couples

4.0 million male householder/no wife present

12.7 million female householder/no husband present

Household: all persons who occupy a housing unit

104.7 million households

Sizes of Families and Households

Persons who are living together and are related by birth, marriage, or adoption

Average size 3.24 persons in 2000

White 3.13 persons

Black 3.41

Hispanic 3.94

Household 2.62 persons

Shortage of household space

Marital Status

Married, single, widowed, or divorced

Women are more likely than men to be widowed or divorced

Marriage continues to be popular

Nonmarried – premarital status for young; postmarital status for older

Most are married

When divorce – most remarry

Family Income

Median $50,891 (2000)

$9,867 (1970)

White $53,256

Hispanic $35,050

Black $34,204

Male householder/no wife $37,523

Female householder/no husband $25,787

Married with wife in the paid labor force $69,467

Higher: Northeast and bachelor’s degree

Today’s Families: Significant Changes (Census data)

Demographics

Female labor force increased

Average number of person per household decreased

Increase in never married

Delay in the median age at marriage

Divorce

Persons living below the official government poverty level decreased

Families living below poverty level increased

Median age of first marriage increased

Interracial married couples

Unmarried couples lived together

Childless

Births to unmarried women increased

Life expectancy

Living alone

Ideal-type constructs: extremes – continuum

Ideal type: standard with which to assess what any phenomenon would be if it always or never conformed to its own definition

Issues in U.S. Families

Arland Thornton: three decades of changing norms and values – American family (1950s-1980s)

Weakening of the imperatives to marry, to remain married, to have children, to restrict intimate relations to marriage, and to maintain separate roles for males and females

Away from traditional attitudes

Less committed to traditional family patterns

Meaning of Marriage and the Family

Sources of authority in marital an family decisions

Family as sacred

Traditional and nontraditional norms (p.120)

Social obligations: maintain social respectability, conform to kin and community wishes, and maintain a proper image within society.

Individual: concern with me

Marriage is sacred, social contract and success is viewed in terms of conformity to societal demands, marriage is highly personal, highly individualistic

Marital- and Gender-Role Differentiation

Traditionally – no difficulty

Patriarchal family – religious fundamentalist groups

Hierarchy of power

Androgyny (no gender-role differentiation) has not been achieved

Equal partners

Egalitarian-type marriage

Gender-Role Changes over Five Decades (p.125)

The Gallup Poll Monthly (1997) woman has a more difficult life

Household duties and housework

Family Change in Sweden (p.127)

Industrialization – work structure

Partner Selection

Traditionally – arranged marriages more prevalent

Traditional norms today à parents give their approval (permission)

Many choose according to whether or not he/she will meet parents’ approval

In-group (endogamous) selection: one’s own social class, religion, racial, ethnic, or neighborhood group

Outsider à future marital problems

Out-group (exogamous selection) à increasingly common

Love

Social construction of love

Is love necessary for marriage?

Intensity?

Exclusiveness of love relationships

Conflicting view: cannot and perhaps need not meet all of a partner’s intimacy needs

Sexual Relationships

Limited to marriage

Double standard

Prior to the turn of the twentieth century – taboo

Now mores

Sex separated from reproduction – source of pleasure for both sexes

Premarital cohabitation

Same-sex liaisons

Sexual norms

Family Size and Family Planning

Determining whether to have children

Determining how many to have and when

Selecting the appropriate means to accomplish these ends

One-child families

Population shifts when families removed form farms – children less of an economic asset

Current norm à maximum number should be two or three

4-6 is too many

And 10-14 is disastrous

Socially acceptable to have only one child or even no children

TRADITIONAL sacred NORMS – Abortion was never an option

Fertility control – legitimate

Family-size limitation – individual choice

Aged Family Members

Traditional – deference, respect, and recognition

Prestige, experience, and wisdom

Violence and Abuse among Intimates

Family Permanence

Permanent, lifelong commitment, or temporary, situational arrangements

Sacred – lasts until death (celestial marriage)

Disorganization and reorganization

Divorce – traditionally – one party had to be at fault

Norval Glenn: when people have the option or are encouraged to end unsatisfactory relationships, existing marriages become so insecure that rational people will not invest a great deal of time, energy, or money in such unions

Other Contemporary Issues

Social policy, social problems, pollution, health care, taxation, immigration, affirmative action, student loans, school prayer, burning the flag, the homeless, crime, terrorism, …

Social events, social circumstances, and social policies influence people’s behaviors and lifestyles.

 

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Teaching Sociology is very enjoyable for me. Sociology is like a gateway to a plethora of knowledge and understanding. The subject material is directly applicable to real-world events and situations found in everyday life. The methods and concepts of sociology yield powerful insights into the social processes shaping the contemporary world. The ability to identify and understand these processes is valuable preparation for professional participation in an ever changing and complex society.