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400    CHAPTER 12               Marriage and Family


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         CHAPTER  12      Summary and Review







       Marriage and Family in Global                           The Family Life Cycle
       Perspective
                                                                     Summarize research on love and courtship, marriage,
                                                               12.3
                                                               childbirth, child rearing, and family transitions.
        12.1 Define marriage and family and summarize their common
       cultural themes.
                                                               What are the major elements of the family life
       What is a family—and what themes are                    cycle?
       universal?                                              The major elements are love and courtship, marriage, child-
                                                               birth, child rearing, and the family in later life. Most mate
       Family is difficult to define because there are exceptions
       to every element that one might consider essential. Conse-  selection follows patterns of age, social class, and race–
       quently, family is defined broadly—as people who consider   ethnicity. Child-rearing patterns vary by social class.
       themselves related by blood, marriage, or adoption. Uni-  Pp. 374–381.
       versally, marriage and family are mechanisms for governing
       mate selection, reckoning descent, and establishing inheri-  Diversity in U.S. Families
       tance and authority. Pp. 367–371.
                                                                     Summarize research on families: African American, Latino,
       Marriage and Family in Theoretical                      Asian American, Native American, one-parent, couples without
                                                               12.4
       Perspective                                             children, blended, and gay and lesbian.

                                                               How significant is race–ethnicity in family life?
        12.2 Contrast the functionalist, conflict, and symbolic
                                                               The primary distinction is social class, not race–ethnicity.
       interactionist perspectives on marriage and family.
                                                               Families of the same social class are likely to be similar,
       What is a functionalist perspective on marriage         regardless of their race–ethnicity. Pp. 381–384.
       and family?                                             What other diversity do we see in U.S. families?
       Functionalists examine the functions and dysfunctions   Also discussed are one-parent, childless, blended, and gay
       of family life. Examples include the incest taboo and   and lesbian families. Each has its unique characteristics, but
       how weakened family functions increase divorce.         social class is important in determining their primary charac-
       P. 371.                                                 teristics. Poverty is especially significant for one-parent fami-
                                                               lies, most of which are headed by women. Pp. 384–388.
       What is a conflict perspective on marriage and
       family?                                                 Trends in U.S. Families
       Conflict theorists focus on inequality in marriage, espe-
       cially unequal and changing power between husbands
       and wives. P. 372.                                      12.5  Discuss changes in the timetable of family life, cohabitation,
                                                               and elder care.
       What is a symbolic interactionist perspective
       on marriage and family?                                 What major changes characterize U.S. families?
       Symbolic interactionists examine the contrasting experiences   Three major changes are postponement of first marriage,
       and perspectives of men and women in marriage. They stress   an increase in cohabitation, and having the first child at
       that only by grasping the perspectives of wives and husbands   a later age. With more people living longer, many middle-
       can we understand their behavior. Pp. 372–374.          aged couples find themselves sandwiched between rearing
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