1) Chapter nine is all about single people. It begins with a discussion of “the single option,” defining what it means to be single. It also lists, next, all the different kinds of single people there are. This included voluntary temporary, voluntary stable, involuntary temporary, and involuntary stable singles. Next, it talks about living in a home alone. Then, it discussed why people are single more now than in the past. The next section was about single people of different races and ethnic backgrounds. Also, there was an interesting part about all the differences between the myths and realities about singles. Then there was a part about cohabiting with someone. Gay and lesbian couples were the next section. And, last, there were a few paragraphs about living arrangements that are communal.
2) One very interesting part I found was the part about female infanticide. This was about killing female fetuses or young children because of a preference for boys. It talked about how there are a lot of “sex determined abortions” too. This is continuing to exist even when the countries are altering their regulations on childbirth to prevent these sorts of things from happening. I just thought this was an interesting topic that would be good to learn a lot more about.
3) One question I had was about the percentages of people who are single. The book said that about 80% were white. I thought it would be interesting to discuss why this is so.
Natalie LaBarbera
I feel like this could probably be tied to some other factors such as out-of-wedlock child births. If we remember back to the statistics there, they mentioned that it is more common for young black females to have children than white. Perhaps because these females search for help from family and friends to raise a child that could be a reasoning as to why more whites live alone. Although the aspect of family plays a huge part in this, we can also relate this to the amount of money that different races make on average. It has been proven that the black college graduate male only makes on average that of which a white high school graduate male makes. It takes more money to have the ability to live alone and financially support yourself than it would if you had two people living together who have regular dependable incomes.
ReplyDeleteI had mainly thought that it was related to the idea of family in certain ethnicities. We had discussed a few weeks back that for other ethnicities, extended family, etc. played a very important role in their lives, and thus was instilled in their values. Because of this, I feel that people of other ethnicities may feel more pressure/more of a burden to be/get married than people who are white.
ReplyDeleteKarl Wahlen