Ecology of the Family
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Family Systems (Basic Structures)
Family System Theories
Looks within the family and sees it as a whole.
Nuclear Family
Husband, wife, and children
Family orientation
The family into which one is born
Family or procreation
The family that develops when one marries and has children.
Matriarchal Family
Mother is formal authority
Patriarchal Family
Father has formal authority
Egalitarian Family
Both sides of extended family has formal authority
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Family Basic Functions
Reproduction
Ensures the population continues
Socialization/Education
Ensure's society's beliefs, values, attitudes, knowledge, skills, and techniques will be taught to children
Social Roles
Provides identity to offspring
Economic Support
Protects and nourishes the child
Emotional Support
First experience in interaction (intimate, nurturing, and enduring)
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Family Transitions
Divorce
64% of children (0-17) lived with 2 married parents, 24% lived with their mother, 4% lived with their father, 4% lived with two unmarried parents and 4% lived with neither parent
Change in economic status means a change in housing which can cause stress to a child and a parent.
With authority, the child was used to listening to one main parent. Now they have to authorities, and if those authorities do not agree with one another, i can cause confusion and rebellion and draw a wedge further into the dynamics of the family.
Custody
Single Parent custody
28% of kids live with a single parents. This can happen through divorce, death, wedlock, etc.
With mothers, they are more likely to be poor because the mother has lower paying jobs, and spends a lot of time with the kids.
Fathers have a hard time finding child-care help that can work with the job hours.
Joint Custody
This can make it so the child has access to both parents and their roles. It can be split up legally (decision making about the child) and physically (where the child spends holidays, weekends, etc.)
Binuclear families is where the child is part of two homes and two family groups
Sometimes parents split up the areas decisions need to be made because they cannot agree, so they handle them separately.
Kin Custody
Blood relatives or those related by marriage or adoption taking custody. Some of this is informal, without legal action or guardianship, but some of it is.
Stepfamilies
They are no longer part of the statistics. Because they are becoming more popular, institutions such as schools, hospitals, and courts much acknowledge them. But they have no legal rights to decisions (like surgery, child support, etc.)
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Families of Diverse Parents
Diverse parents include unmarried, interethnic interfaith, and same-sex families
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Macrosystem Influences on Family and Children.
Socioeconomic Status
Rank/position within the society based on social and economic factors
Ascribed Status
Social class, or position, determined by lineage, gender, birth order, or skin color.
Achieved Status
Social class determined by education, occupation, income, and place of residence.
Traditional Society
A society that relies on customs handed down from past generations as ways to behave.
Modern Society
A society that looks to the present for ways to behave and is thus responsive to change
Social Class Structure
Capitalist Class (1%. $2 Mill)
Upper Middle Class (14%. $150,000)
Middle Class (30%. $70,000)
Working Class (30%. $40,000)
Under Class
13% $25,000 (Manual retail/service workers)
12% $15,000 Unemployed or part-time workers
Operational Definition
Contains Terms that are indentifiable and can be researched.
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Macrosystem Influences on Families, Ethnic Orientation
Gemeinschaft
Communal, cooperative, close, intimate, and informal interpersonal relationships.
Gesellschaft
Associative, practical, objective, and formal interpersonal relationships
Collectivism
Emphasis on interdependent relations, social responsibilities, and the well-being of the group
Individualism
Emphasis on individual fulfillment and choice
Norms
Rules, patterns, or standards that express cultural values and reflect how individuals are supposed to behave