Marriages and Families, 9e

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Marriages and Families, 9e

• Lamanna
• Riedman

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Chapter 1Family Commitments

• Making Choices in a Changing Society

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Chapter Outline

• Defining Family
• The Freedom and the Pressure of Choosing
• Making Choices
• A Family of Individuals
• Marriages and Families Four Themes

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Defining Family

• Law and Science
• People related by blood, marriage or adoption.
• U.S. Census Bureau
• Two or more persons who share a household and who
  are related by blood, marriage or adoption.

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Which of These Is a Family?

• A husband and wife and their offspring.
• A single woman and her three children.
• A 52-year-old woman and her adoptive mother.
• A man, his daughter, and the daughters son.
• An 84-year-old widow and her dog, Fido.
• A man and all of his ancestors back to Adam and
  Eve.

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Which of These Is a Family?

• Two lesbians and their children from a previous
  marriage of one woman and a previous relationship
  of the other woman with a male friend.
• Two children, their divorced parents, the current
  spouses of their divorced parents, and the
  children from previous marriages of their
  stepparents.

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Which of These Is a Family?

• Two adult male cousins living together.
• A 77-year-old man and his best friend.
• A childless husband and wife who live 1,000 miles
  apart.
• A divorced man, his girlfriend, and her child.
• Both sets of parents of a deceased married
  couple.
• Six adults and their 12 young children, all
  living together in a communal fashion.

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American Households, 2000
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Facts U.S. Families Today

• Fewer people are currently married.
• People are postponing marriage.
• Cohabitation has emerged as a lifestyle
  intermediate between marriage andsinglehood.
• Some cohabitants maintain gay and lesbian
  domestic partnerships.

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Facts U.S. Families Today

• The number of people living alone is substantial.
• Many adult children live with their parents.
• A much higher proportion of older men than older
  women are married.

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Facts U.S. Families Today

• Parenthood is increasingly postponed and
  fertility has declined.
• More births are to unmarried mothers than in the
  past.
• There are now fewer children and more elderly.
• Divorce rates have stabilized, but remain high.

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Facts U.S. Families Today

• Remarriage rates have declined, but remain high.
• Most children live in two parent households.
• Over the last five years the proportion of
  children living in singleparent families has
  stabilized.

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Facts U.S. Families Today

• There is considerable variation in childrens
  living arrangements.
• Children are more likely to live with a
  grandparent today than in the recent past.
• Most parents are working parents.
• Children are more likely than the general
  population or the elderly to be living in poverty.

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New Definition of Family

• Any sexually expressive or parentchild or other
  kin relationship in which people related by
  ancestry, marriage, or adoption
• Form an economic unit and care for any young.
• Consider their identity to be significantly
  attached to the group.
• Commit to maintaining that group over time.

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Making Choices

• People make choices even when they are not aware
  of it.
• There are two forms of decision making
• choosing by default
• choosing knowledgeably

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Making Choices Knowledgeably

• Recognizing as many options or alternatives as
  possible.
• Recognizing the social pressures that influence
  personal choices.
• Clarifying ones own values.
• Choosing knowledgably

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Choosing by Default

• Choices people make when they are not aware of
  alternatives or when they pursue the path of
  least resistance.
• Sometimes, college students choose their courses
  or even their majors by default.
• Many decisions concerning marriages and families
  are made by default.

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Choosing Knowledgeably

• Two components in choosing knowledgeably
• Recognizing as many options or alternatives as
  possible.
• Recognizing the social pressures that may
  influence personal choices.
• An important aspect of making knowledgeable
  choices is considering the consequences of
  alternatives rather than gravitating toward the
  one that seems most attractive.

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A Family of Individuals

• 91 of Americans report that family relations are
  extremely important to them.
• Family values such as family togetherness,
  stability, and loyalty focus on the family as a
  whole.
• Placing family wellbeing over individual
  interests and preferences is termed familism.

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Families Boundaries

• Families create boundaries between themselves and
  the rest of the world.
• Families mark off physical space that is private
  and theirs alone.
• Family members determine what is allowed to enter
  the family space and under what conditions.
• Family boundaries create a space in which members
  can relax and be themselves.

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Archival Family Function

• Families create, store, preserve, and pass on
  objects, events, or rituals.
• Archives contain a variety of symbols
• Snapshots of happy times
• Family movies
• Artifacts from infancy or childhood
• Symbols of recognition and achievement
• Anecdotes which reinforce an identity as the
  reckless one, the helpful one, etc.

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Marriages and Families Four Themes

• Personal decisions must be made throughout the
  life course.
• Decision making is a trade-off once we choose an
  option, we discard alternatives.
• No one can have everything.
• The best way to make choices is knowledgeably.

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Marriages and Families Four Themes

• People are influenced by the society around them.
• Cultural beliefs and values influence our
  attitudes and decisions.
• Societal or structural conditions can limit or
  expand our options.

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Marriages and Families Four Themes

• We live in a changing society, characterized by
  increased ethnic, economic, and family diversity
  by increased tension between familistic and
  individualistic values by decreased marital and
  family permanence and by increased political and
  policy attention to the needs of children.
• This situation can make personal decision making
  more difficult and more important.

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Marriages and Families Four Themes

• Personal decision making feeds into society and
  changes it.
• We affect our social environment every time we
  make a choice.
• Making family decisions can mean choosing to
  become politically involved in order to effect
  family-related social change.
• Making family choices according to our values
  gives our family lives greater integrity.

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Quick Quiz
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• Placing family well-being over individual
  interests and preferences is referred to in the
  text as
• familism.
• modified individualism.
• kinship focusing.
• primokinship.

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Answer a

• Placing family well-being over individual
  interests and preferences is referred to in the
  text as familism.

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• 2. The archival family function refers to
• cataloging family heritage.
• family lineage.
• maintaining the family as a unique experiential
  reality or group.
• family tradition.

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Answer c

• The archival family function refers to
  maintaining the family as a unique experiential
  reality or group.

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• 3. According to the text, the best way to make
  decisions about our personal lives is to make
  them
• by default.
• according to the principles of familism.
• according to the principles of individualism.
• knowledgeably.

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Answer d

• According to the text, the best way to make
  decisions about our personal lives is to make
  them knowledgeably.