1. Chapter one starts out by setting up a definition of the family. It mentions that not everyone considers the family in the same way, which I think was a very important point to make. But, a solid definition of how the word “family” will be used in the book was nice to have. It then went on to discuss similarities and differences between families in different cultures and societies, of which there are many. Next, there was a section about all the myths people believe about families and marriages. I think this was important to have in the chapter because sometimes people just assume things that definitely don’t apply to everyone’s situations. After that, there were sections on family values and trends in changing families. Also, they went on to explain why these changes may occur. The last thing talked about was different cultural and global perspectives about the family.
2. There were quite a few things I found to be interesting or surprising in this chapter. The first was the issue of fictive kin the author brought up. I thought it was interesting because it’s not something people usually think to include in the family, even though these people may play a big part in the family, especially when raising children is involved. Another thing that surprised me was the church that still accepts polygamy and has very young children marry and have kids. The last thing that really stuck out to me was when the book said that marriages actually weren’t all that much better in the “old days,” but people just didn’t talk about it as much. I think this is important to consider because so many people do thing it was a much better time then.
3. One question that came to mind while reading this is about the primary and secondary groups. The distinction made between them is a good one, but there was no mention of people transferring groups. Isn’t it true that someone, such as a co-worker, could start out in the secondary group but eventually move into the primary? Or the other way around, someone who has been a close friend in the primary group for a long time could have a falling out with someone and they may not mean as much or be as close as they were before?
That is a very valid point--I was actually thinking the exact same thing the other day while I was at work! I recently became very good friends with a coworker that I had previously worked with for over two years--she definitely started out in the secondary group, but in the two months she definitely became part of my primary group.
ReplyDelete--Bonnie Noel