Families in Social Systems Families as Systems (4/2)

1
Families in Social Systems Families as Systems
(4/2)

• Complete Naven and Family Strain
• What are the Forces Moving away from the
  Traditional Family?
• What are the Virtues and Vices of the Traditional
  Family?
• What Is the Dynamic of a Sick Family?

2
The Points

• Bateson argues two main points
• When you look at the custom in a complete social
  and cultural context, it makes sense and is
  needed
• The society is threatened with break-up into
  warring patrilineal clans.
• Gender roles threaten to become so constricting
  that neither men nor women can function
• Naven by a limited violation of norms, helps
  prevent both of these forms of schizmogenesis.

3
Schizmogenesis

• Bateson developed the concept of a
  self-reinforcing dynamic that makes people split
  or different.
• This self-reinforcing can take two forms
• In symmetrical schizmogenesis, what one person
  does makes another person do more of the same
  thing.
• In complementary schizmogenesis, what one person
  does makes another person do the opposite.

4
Symmetrical schizmogenesis

• For example the escalation of conflict or of
  boasting or of conspicuous consumption.
• Male competition and aggression always threaten
  to destroy Iatmul society,
• and so a mans being a mother to his nephew is
  very important.

Boasting by A
Boasting by B

5
Complementary schizmogenesis

• For example the bullying by one person elicits
  the timidity of another, which elicits more
  bullying by the first.
• Iatmul men are so macho that it is hard to be
  nurturant women so shy and deferent that it is
  hard to make a public display.
• Naven allows both, while expressing the
  embarressment.

Timidity of B
Bullying by A

6
Sexual Schizmogenesis

• Bateson argued that among the Iatmul, the macho
  role of men and the deferent role of women had
  progressed to the point where
• The only way a man could be nurturant to his
  nephew was to put on being a woman
• And the only way a woman could make a public
  display of congratulations to a niece was to put
  on being a man.
• And the ritual inversion of roles (as in Mardi
  Gras) allows people to let off steam

7
Explanations of the divorce rates in the text

• The account in the text is somewhat unsystematic,
  and undocumented, including
• Women have incentives and resources to terminate
  a marriage
• Spouses have more opportunity to come into
  contact with alternatives.
• Affective individualism ( 477) selfish goals
• Decline of stigma change of norms.

8
Do these or other factors explain the rates?

• Text also lists Other factors no fault
  divorce, decline of birth rate decline of
  family time increased sexual permissiveness.
• With respect to each, ask where it comes from and
  what changes it.
• I doubt that these factors, important as they
  are, can explain the data.

9
Re 4 Norms and Stigma

Behavior
Norms

• Norms always constitute a positive feedback loop
  What many people do becomes normal what is
  normal becomes normative.
• But that explanation just changes the question to
  why what many people did changed.
• What is the effect of increasing stigma without
  changing the conditions of the behavior?

10
Re 4 Change of Norms

• Does the Authoritative imposition of dominant
  norms help strengthen them in this case.
• Traditionalists say, Stop rewarding and
  recognizing Murphy Brown, welfare mothers, or
  same-sex unions.
• But liberals believe that such policies and norms
  will merely further stigmatize and disadvantage
  the children that are already disadvantaged.

11
Re 3 Affective individualism

• Sense of the self as a unique being with the
  right to pursue selfish goals.
• Connected to freedom and human rights.
• Any society where people are not able to
  subordinate their wishes to the needs of the
  family will have trouble maintaining families.
• Is the me generation real? Where does it come
  from?
• What kinds of normative system is consistent with
  individual freedom?

12
Re Laws, birth rate, time, sexual permissiveness

• Some of these changes are driven by very deep
  forces, and are unlikely to change.
• Others are probably symptoms rather than driving
  forces.
• The essential policy questions are not which can
  be changed by direct regulation (often none of
  them can, at least not constructively) but which
  can be altered structurally.

13
Conservative Accounts of Strain

• A number of theorists, many associated with the
  Family Research Council ascribe weakening of the
  family to
• The sexual revolution
• Feminism
• Breakdown of moral values
• Sociologically, to anomie.
• Politically, they believe there has been too much
  change in gender norms.