Social Problems

#11 The Family

This session will examine the changes to the contemporary family. Social norms, roles and scripts for family development are all changing. Some would argue that these changes are an attack on the traditional family. We will talk about some major social problems related to family life including aging and the new role of technology.

Readings:

Continuity & Change Chapter 10
Intro text book Chapter 13 Aging & Chapter 14 Family

What is a Family?

A family is a group of two or more people who are related by blood, marriage, adoption, or a mutual commitment and who care for one another. Defined in this way, the family is universal or nearly universal: Some form of the family has existed in every society, or nearly every society, that we know about (Starbuck, 2010). Yet it is also true that many types of families have existed, and the cross-cultural and historical record indicates that these different forms of the family can all “work”: They provide practical and emotional support for their members and they socialize their children.

There is not one form of family. but there are the same general expectations for all types of families.

Social Functions of the Family

Social stability
Material aid
Descent and inheritance
Care and socialization of dependents
Sexual regulation
Emotional comfort

What Sociologists Focus On

Sociologists often examine elder abuse through three perspectives:

Functionalism

How can families and institutions better protect older adults?
What social services reduce abuse?

Conflict Theory

How do power imbalances make older adults vulnerable?
How do economic pressures contribute to neglect or exploitation?

Symbolic Interactionism

How do family members define caregiving responsibilities?
How do victims interpret and respond to abusive behavior?

Infidelity

Peggy Vaughan, author of The Monogamy Myth, show that 60% of men, and about 40% of women, will have at least one extramarital affair in their lifetime.

We will talk about cheating in our modern times and how technology is now being employed to monitor relationships.

Jealousy in Relationships

How dangerous is jealousy in relationships? Are there any benefits to jealousy at all.

Note: Adult language and content!

jealousy cliparts #3108059

Cohabitation
Legal Aspect of Living Together

¨Some of the legal issues concerning cohabiting partners include:

Common-law marriage
Palimony
Child support
Child inheritance

Cohabitation may seem like a safe alternative to formal marriage. We will discuss how these relationships fair. Most people who cohabit don't think about the actual consequences "pooling your resources"

What are the benefits and drawbacks of cohabitation?

What things should you consider before you cohabit?

Divorce and Remarriage

“Divorce is like two lions in a den attacking each other. You know somebody is going to get hurt real bad. All kids can do is sit behind a window and watch it happen.”

-Anonymous nine-year-old boy

What are the real stats regarding divorce?
What are the stats regarding remarriage. Do second marriages last longer?
Who usually files for divorce?
What are the main causes of divorce?

¨Issues of Remarriage for the Divorced

¤Boundary maintenance

¤Emotional remarriage

¤Psychic remarriage

¤Community remarriage

¤Parental remarriage

¤Economic and legal remarriage

¤Resource distribution

¨Fear

¨Depression

¨Anger- agession

¨Confusion

¨Guilt

¨Anxious

¨ Overwhelmed

¨Abandoned

¨Relief

¨Grief…grieving

¨Role strain

¨Role confusion

¨Emotional suppression

¨Withdraw.

How do kids experience divorce?

Technology and the family

How will technology, social media, and AI impact the family?

How will we incorporate robots into our family. (In addition to sex bots, we also have several Robots being considered as companions.)

Technologies such as IVF, egg freezing, surrogacy, and genetic screening have already changed family formation.

Technology IS having an impact on family dynamics. Have you seen technology based changes in your own family?

Aging in Contemporary Families

We will talk about aging in the contemporary family. I will talk about elder abuse you will be surprised who some of the biggest abusers are. Older Americans lose billions of dollars annually to fraud, scams, and exploitation but unfortunately abusers are often not strangers. Family members, caregivers, and trusted individuals are frequently involved. In our society we are also constantly encouraged to be young, we have phrases like 50 is the new 30? What do we do with the old people? Some have suggested putting them in homes with robot companions to take the place of families. We will also talk about the rise of elder crime and deviance and STD's.

Many sociologists argue that elder abuse is not just an individual or family problem. It is also connected to broader social issues such as:

Ageism (negative attitudes toward older people)
Rising caregiving demands
Economic stress on families
Insufficient long-term care resources
Social isolation among older adults

Sociologists often view elder abuse as both a family issue and a social-structural problem.

We will also touch on global population aging and declining birth rates.

Assignment - Create Your Own Family Tree

This assignment is all about your creative expression. The goal is for you to think about all of the people in your world you consider family. Who are all of the people responsible for socializing you and making you the person you are? Who are the important people in your life? Who are the non-blood relatives that helped to grow you into the person you are? You can include friends, fictive kin, teachers, church members, fraternity group members, gangs, in-laws, etc…

This assignment is not just about blood relatives, but those people impacted your life. Do you have people you consider like family? You can also consider who influenced your choice to go to college. There is no right or wrong way to complete this assignment. Are you part of a step family or adoptive family? Are you closer to some people outside your family than some blood relatives? Figure out a way to illustrate those relationships.

You don’t have to write a paper but you should make it clear who the people are and how they impacted your life. You can create a PowerPoint or you can create an artistic expression in canvas of you and the people who are important in your life. You can include photos of the people, symbols of the important groups, or other symbolic representations of these important people.

Below are a few examples of what you can do for this project. You can do an attractive PowerPoint with images and explanations of your folks. Or you can do a canvas poster/infographics board or artistic project. Or you can do a visual essay and write a story about your family tree with illustrations. This assignment can be as long as you need it to be.

Since this is a 300 level class many of you will be thinking about graduation and going on to your next adventure. This assignment will give you an opportunity to reflect on where you have been and the people you’ve met who helped you become who you are.

The full assignment is posted to Canvas. This is just a brief overview.

You can investigate other presentation software online.

The goal of this assignment is for you to show your creativity, and for you to investigate an important family.

If you are adopted or do not know your family, you can still do the assignment. Talk about the people that feel like family to you or played the role of family for you.

You can include real images in your presentation, or if you don't have an image ask AI to create a sample image for you.