Functions of marriage in sociology

Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. Especially in Western cultures, the modern family is today more of a consuming as opposed to a producing unit, and the members of the family The general rule in marriages until modern times was the legal transfer of dependency, that of the bride, from father to groom. Not only did the groom assume guardianship, he usually assumed control over all of his wife’s affairs. Often, the woman lost any legal identity through marriage, as was the case in English In general, modern marriage is best-described as a Dissolution of marriages is one of the areas in which laws must try to balance private and public interest, since realistically it is the couple itself that can best decide whether its marriage is viable. In many older systems—e.g., Roman, Muslim, Jewish, Chinese, and Japanese—some form of unilateral The issue of children poses special problems for family law. In nearly every culture, the welfare of children was formerly left to the parents entirely, and this usually meant the father. Most societies have come to recognize the general benefit of protecting children’s rights and of prescribing certain standards of rearing. Thus, more than in any other area, family law intervenes in private lives with regard to children.

Figure 14.2 If you asked a small child who is in their family, their response might depend more on their living arrangements than on their understanding of formal family structures. Marriage and family are key structures in many societies. Many of us learn from a young age that finding and joining the right person is a key to happiness and security. We’re told that children need two parents. Many of the tax laws, medical laws, retirement benefit laws, and banking and loan processes seem to favor or assume marriage. Should those assumptions be changed? Is marriage still the foundation of the family and our society? In 1960, 66 percent of households in America were headed by a married couple. That meant that most children grew up in such households, as did their friends and extended families. Marriage could certainly be seen as the foundation of the culture. By 2010, that number of households headed by married couples had dropped to 45 percent (Luscombe 2014). The approximately 20 percent drop is more than just a statistic; it has significant practical effects. It means that nearly every child in most parts of America is either in or is close to a family that is not headed by a married couple. It means that teachers and counselors and even people who meet children in a restaurant can’t assume they live with two married parents. Some view this decline as a problem with outcomes related to values, crime, financial strength, and mental health. Sociologists may study that vi...

\( \newcommand\) • • • The primary function of the family is to perpetuate society, both biologically through procreation, and socially through socialization. Key Points • From the perspective of children, the family is a family of orientation: the family functions to locate children socially. • From the point of view of the parents, the family is a family of procreation: the family functions to produce and socialize children. • Marriage fulfills many other functions: It can establish the legal father of a woman’s child; establish joint property for the benefit of children; or establish a relationship between the families of the husband and wife. These are only some examples; the family’s function varies by society. Key Terms • family: A group of people related by blood, marriage, law or custom. • Sexual division of labor: The delegation of different tasks between males and females. The primary function of the family is to ensure the continuation of society, both biologically through procreation, and socially through socialization. Given these functions, the nature of one’s role in the family changes over time. From the perspective of children, the family instills a sense of orientation: The family functions to locate children socially, and plays a major role in their socialization. From the point of view of the parents, the family’s primary purpose is procreation: The family functions to produce and socialize children. In some cultures marriage imposes upon women the obli...

\( \newcommand\) • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Key Points • Functionalists identify a number of functions families typically perform: reproduction; socialization; care, protection, and emotional support; assignment of status; and regulation of sexual behavior through social norms. • For functionalists, the family creates well-integrated members of society by instilling the social culture into children. • Radcliffe-Brown proposed that most stateless, “primitive” societies, lacking strong centralized institutions, are based on an association of descent groups. These clans emerge from family units. Key Terms • family: A group of people related by blood, marriage, law or custom. • Radcliffe-Brown: A British social anthropologist from the early twentieth century who contributed to the development of the theory of structural-functionalism. • institution: An established organization, especially one dedicated to education, public service, culture, or the care of the destitute, poor etc. Structural functionalism is a framework that sees society as a complex system whose parts work together to promote solidarity and stability. In this way, society is like an organism and each aspect of society (institutions, social constructs, etc.) is like an organ that works together to keep the whole functioning smoothly. This approach looks at society through a macro-level orientation, which is a broad focus on the social structures that shape society as a whole. Functionalism addr...

Learning Outcomes At the end of this chapter you will be able to do the following. Compare pre- and post-industrial family patterns. Define family structure. Define the functions of the family. Relate group complexity to number of members. Compare and contrast types of statuses. In all societies, the family is the premier institution for socialization of children, intimate adult relationships, economic support and cooperation, and continuity of relationships along the life-course. Sociologists have functioned in a core role for describing, explaining, and predicting family-based social patterns for the United States and other countries. Sociologists help others to understand the larger social and personal level trends in families. F AMILY S TRUCTURES The family structures that were very common a century ago are not nearly as common today. In the U.S. around the year 1900, most families had three generations living in one home (e.g., children, parents, and uncles/aunts/grandparents) and most did manual labor. Today, very few families live with multiple generations. Most modern families fall into one of two types: nuclear or blended. The nuclear family is a family group consisting of parents and their biological or adopted children. This is the family type that is mostly preferred. One variation of this type is the single-parent family ( one parent and his or her biological or adopted children), which can be created by unwed motherhood, divorce, or death of a spouse. The sec...

Table 10.1 Theory Snapshot Theoretical perspective Major assumptions Functionalism The family performs several essential functions for society. It socializes children, it provides emotional and practical support for its members, it helps regulate sexual activity and sexual reproduction, and it provides its members with a social identity. Family problems stem from sudden or far-reaching changes in the family’s structure or processes; these problems threaten the family’s stability and weaken society. Conflict theory The family contributes to social inequality by reinforcing economic inequality and by reinforcing patriarchy. Family problems stem from economic inequality and from patriarchal ideology. The family can also be a source of conflict, including physical violence and emotional cruelty, for its own members. Symbolic interactionism The interaction of family members and intimate couples involves shared understandings of their situations. Wives and husbands have different styles of communication, and social class affects the expectations that spouses have of their marriages and of each other. Family problems stem from different understandings and expectations that spouses have of their marriage. Social Functions of the Family Recall that the functional perspective emphasizes that social institutions perform several important functions to help preserve social stability and otherwise keep a society working. A functional understanding of the family thus stresses the ways in...

https://socialsci.libretexts.org/@app/auth/3/login?returnto=https%3A%2F%2Fsocialsci.libretexts.org%2FBookshelves%2FSociology%2FIntroduction_to_Sociology%2FIntroduction_to_Sociology%253A_Understanding_and_Changing_the_Social_World_(Barkan)%2F11%253A_The_Family%2F11.03%253A_Sociological_Perspectives_on_the_Family \( \newcommand\) • • • • • • Learning Objectives • Summarize understandings of the family as presented by functional, conflict, and social interactionist theories. Sociological views on today’s families generally fall into the functional, conflict, and social interactionist approaches introduced earlier in this book. Let’s review these views, which are summarized in Table 11.1. Table 11.1 Theory Snapshot Theoretical perspective Major assumptions Functionalism The family performs several essential functions for society. It socializes children, it provides emotional and practical support for its members, it helps regulate sexual activity and sexual reproduction, and it provides its members with a social identity. In addition, sudden or far-reaching changes in the family’s structure or processes threaten its stability and weaken society. Conflict The family contributes to social inequality by reinforcing economic inequality and by reinforcing patriarchy. The family can also be a source of conflict, including physical violence and emotional cruelty, for its own members. Symbolic interactionism The interaction of family members and intimate couples involves shared unders...

Learning Objectives By the end of this section, you should be able to: • Recognize variations in family life • Explain the prevalence and unique characteristics of single parents, blended families, foster care, cohabitation, same-sex couples, and unmarried individuals • Discuss the social impact of changing family structures The combination of husband, wife, and children that 99.8 percent of people in the United States believe constitutes a family is not representative of 99.8 percent of U.S. families. According to 2010 census data, only 66 percent of children under seventeen years old live in a household with two married parents. This is a decrease from 77 percent in 1980 (U.S. Census 2011). This two-parent family structure is known as a nuclear family, referring to married parents and children as the nucleus, or core, of the group. Recent years have seen a rise in variations of the nuclear family with the parents not being married. Three percent of children live with two cohabiting parents (U.S. Census 2011). Figure 14.4 Military families sometimes have to endure long parental absences. The other parent or other family members, including older siblings, often take on more responsibility during deployments. The serving parent faces stress and detachment when they are away. (Credit: The National Guard.) Single Parents, Blended Families, and Foster Families Single-parent households are on the rise. In 2017, 32 percent of children lived with a single parent only, up from 25 ...