Chapter 1

David Komorowski
Chapter 1 Blog Post
Summary: In reading the title “The Changing Family” I had a lot of thoughts about what this chapter could be about but never thought it would go as in depth as it did in describing family life. Within this chapter, the legal definition of family is introduced—which is a mother, father, and child—but also other things that help support and define the family in other ways. These other ways include governmental support as well as fictive kin who are family members that are not blood related but very close. The chapter also goes on to say that fictive kin is mostly shared between minorities within America. I also read how families are similar across societies with a few being that most involve social class placement, emotional support, and regulation of sexual activities. Near the end the chapter talks about statistics of the family and how even if divorce rate were higher than before, the re-marriage rate is also extremely high showing that family is not deteriorating but getting stronger.

What I learned: In looking at the chapter for the first time I saw that there was a quiz on the family and decided to take it. I thought I did pretty well until I read that all of the answers should’ve been false which I did not have down. With that being said I learned a lot about the myths of families and how they can be functional and dysfunctional. These myths include myths about the “natural” family, how they must be self sufficient, about the past, etc. If anything I would have to say that what I learned or realized the most was that no family is perfect and that there is really no ‘true’ definition of the family unless you are talking in legal terms.

One thing I wish was explained more: As I read the chapter I came across about how fictive kin is mostly among minority groups such as African Americans and Latinos in America. Yet I with the chapter had explained why it happens to be more common amongst the minority group than the majority.