Chapter 1

Summary:

What is a family?

- A family can differ from one group of people to another and may change over time.

Example of Traditional Definition of a Family:

Traditional family has been defined as a unit made up of two or more people who are related by blood, marriage, and adoption; live together; form an economic unit; and bear and raise children.

Example of a Current Definition of a Family:

As the reading states, a family is an intimate group of two or more people who:

*Live together in committed relationship
*Care for one another and any children they have within the relationship
*Share activities and close emotional ties

-Reasons why people would disagree to the Current Family definition:

*Does not include marriage
*Procreation
*Or raising a child

5 important functions to ensure a society’s survival locally and globally:

· Regulation of sexual activity
· Procreation and socialization
· Economic security
· Emotional support
· Social class placement

Endogamy- requires people to marry or have sexual relations within a certain group

Ex: Our book states, Orthodox Jews in the United States, are endogamous because they require that couples marry within their own faith.

Exogamy- requires marriage outside the group, such as not marrying one’s relatives or members of the same clan/tribe.

Nuclear Families- consists of a couple that are married and are parents, either having biological children or adopted children.

Extended family- consists of parents, children, kin, such as uncles and aunts, nieces, nephews, cousins, and grandparents.

*Kin (AKA fictive Kin)-non-relatives who are accepted as part of the family because of a tight bond with biological family members. They also provide important services and care within the family.

Myths about family can be:

· Dysfunctional
Ex: When myths have negative consequences that disrupts a family (family crisis)

· Functional
Ex: When myths bring people together and promote social solidarity (good marriage)

· Past
Ex: When myths give highly unrealistic images of families (television shows like The Brady Bunch)

· What is Natural
Ex: When people voice their opinions on what is natural and unnatural in families (child-free marriages)

· Self-Sufficient Families
Ex: Cherished values consist of individual achievement, self-reliance, and being self-sufficient (self-help books)

· As a Loving Refuge
Ex: To provide love, nurturance, and emotional support

· Perfect Marriage, the Perfect Family
Ex: Historian John Gillis – we all have two families: one that we can live with, and another that we live by

Examples of Demographic Changes:

· Changes in family and non-family households
· Singles and cohabiting couples
· Marriage-Divorce-Remarriage
· Single-Parent families
· Employed mothers
· Older People

For Racial and Ethnic Composition of the U.S. review Figures 1.4 on page 20 and Figure 1.5 on page 21
Interests/ Unusual Items Learned:

I really enjoyed this chapter because I liked learning the new terms that describe families. I also enjoyed the journal entry on page 14 of the pioneer’s daughter. I found it interesting to see how other cultures define and makeup a family.

Additionally, I always had wondered if my parent’s era was really “the good old days”. As I read in the book, it helped to clarify that they had the same family problems as we have; however, they just kept the problems more to themselves.


Discussion:

I wanted to comment on the FDLS that was located near Eldorado, Texas. I remember this case made national news, and I remember that Oprah had interviewed some of these specific women from this ranch after this case made national news to get their side of the story. I know that the current residence denied those allegations.

However, considering that the Supreme Court ordered Child Protective Services to return the children due to lack of evidence with regard to the children really being in harms way, and the wives that had escaped only can tell their story of what happened almost seems like an injustice.

Shouldn’t there be a law in place for the protection of a child’s ability to gain proper education? These children were not receiving a proper education and their future is being denied because of their lack of knowledge and how to exist in a world based on knowledge.

Besides the lack of education, and considering the allegations these former residents are making, isn’t there some way that our law enforcement can possibly go undercover to inspect these conditions further? Perhaps that would shed some light as to how and why this society exists and how they do exist.

Natalie Sebula