Chapter 1

Summary
Chapter 1 focuses on defining the family.  It proves to be a difficult task as there are many definitions as to what a family can mean.  It begins by giving the dictionary definition of the family which includes "a unit made of of two or more people who are related by blood, marriage, or adoption." It then explains what the family is in a traditional sense, which is similar to the structural function theory.  Then the book explains how the family differentiates between cultures and societies.  One major type of society that they go into is the polygamist.  This is a society in which men have many different wives and have children to all of these wives. While this lifestyle is illegal in some states, in others it is not.
Next, the text talks about myths of the family.  It asks questions about how families are supposed to live and function and if these are really true in today's society.  Many myths are about what is "natural" in the family. It seems that there is no such thing as natural, each society in every country has their own "natural" definition of family. One that is particularly interesting is about marriage and how it is actually a myth that marriage can be perfect.  A antidote is given about how marriage is much like thinking you're going on vacation to Florida but ending up in the Alps in the freezing cold.
There is debate about weather the family is deteriorating or just changing.  This especially became and issue as more and more women had to go into the workforce.  Many thought the family was falling apart because the mother was not in the same role as she once was, however, many argue that this is just the way the family is evolving. There is a bar graph explaining the "Trends in Changing Families," which shows the statistics of single parents, employed mothers, divorce statistics. Our text book believes that the family is changing, not deteriorating and goes on to explain the growth of races other than caucasian in America.
The next also goes on to explain why the family is changing. There are micro level influences, such as marital problems, but the bigger issue seems to be macro level influences.  These include things like the economy, the changing culture, and technology.

What I found interesting:
I found it interesting how negative of a tone the chapter had.  Especially in the "The Myth of the Family as a Loving Refuge." It basically said that so many children are sexually and physically abused that the family is not as loving as it seems. To me, this was like when I realized that Santa Clause wasn't real. This section was just so blunt and matter of fact as to how children are abused and unemployment is so high and every family is headed for destruction. It made me feel bad to come from a family so fortunate and loving.

Discussion:
Towards the end of the chapter, it was mentioned that ethnic groups in American are going through family "boom." I found that interesting after I recently read an article in Time Magazine about the decline of marriages and family in African American communities.  70% of African American children are born to unwed mothers.  The article gives a lot of information about how difficult it is for African American women to find a man to marry, regardless of how educated she is. It is also stated that most research about marriage is from white, middle class families. When African American marriage/families are researched, it is only the poor and uneducated that are looked at.  It brings me to question weather the black community needs to speak up and have their marriages looked at in a sociological perspective.    It also brings me to ask, have other races been looked at as individuals? What about Hispanics and Muslims?

Here's a link to the article:
http://healthland.time.com/2011/08/31/is-marriage-for-white-people/

Gina Zidek