Friday, April 9, 1999
Announcements:

• Students with bad grades should talk to the professor

1. Family and Marriage

1. Adaptive Institution – families deal with political, economic, and social change. Example: People in Kosovo; their families are being torn apart by the war.
2. Polyandry (Fraternal Polyandry) Economic Reasons:

1. Limited economic resources such as land
2. Division of Labor among men – the land needs 4 or more men to work on it.
3. All have small pieces of land, want to keep them in tact
4. All take responsibility to child – social fatherhood

1. Theoretical Analysis of Family

1. Functionalist Perspective (see April 7 notes)
2. Conflict Perspective (see April 7 notes) – Randall Collins – men are sexual aggressors and women are the sexual prize. Virginity is cherished.

1. Symbolic-Interactionist Perspective

1. Family is made through symbols
2. Families reinforce relationships through symbolic mechanisms of rituals. Examples: Birthdays, Holidays. They gather to reassure family members that the family still cares about each other.
3. There are 2 kinds of marriages: His marriage and Her marriage
4. Expectations of marriage are too high and therefore marriage inevitably ends in a divorce
5. Social Exchange analysis – Dating, courtship, marriage is a negotiation in which the couple offers each other valuable societal resources – Partners evaluate the pro’s and con’s of the relationship. Cost-Benefit analysis – Do the benefits outweigh the cost? Humans stay in marriage as long as the rewards are high and the cost is low. If rewards are high, they reinforce the relationship.

1. Family Disorganization

1. Definition of the family

1. Traditional – social group with 2 or more people, have lived together, related by blood. Core of family is parent-child relationship – links 2 generations
2. US Bureau of the Census – same as traditional
3. Social Change – Includes partnerships based on long term sexually relationship (homosexual and heterosexual) Qualities a family should have: mutual respect, care, love, affection, enduring relationship. Legal aspect of marriage is not important