CHAPTER 13: FAMILIES AND
RELIGION BRIEF CHAPTER OUTLINE
I. Defining the Family
A. Extended Families
B. Nuclear Families
E. Single People
IV. Marriage and Divorce
A. Marriage
B. Divorce
V. Family Violence
VIII. Defining Religion
IX. The Significance of Religion in the United States
A. The Dominance of Christianity
B. Measuring Religious Faith
C. Forms of Religion
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Understand the features that define different kinship systems.
2. Compare and contrast sociological theories of families.
3. Relate the characteristics that define different types of contemporary family experiences.
4. Refute some of the myths about contemporary marriage and divorce.
KEY TERMS (listed in text)
bilateral kinship (328)
charisma (358)
churches (357)
collective consciousness (352)
patrilineal kinship (328)
patrilocal (328)
polygamy (327)
polytheism (351)
KEY PEOPLE
Emile Durkheim (352)
Arlie Hochschild (337)
Karl Marx (353)
Max Weber (353)
LECTURE OUTLINE
I. Defining the Family
1. As a social institution, the family is an established social system that
2. Despite the diversity of family forms, sociologists define the family as a
3. Families are part of kinship systems, which vary across cultures and change
over time.
4. Polygamy is an institutionalized marriage pattern.
a. The most common form of polygamy is polygyny—one man having
5. Monogamy is the practice of a sexually exclusive marriage with one
spouse at a time. It is:
a. the most common form of marriage in industrial and postindustrial
6. Kinship systems shape the distribution of property in society by descent.
a. Patrilineal kinship systems trace distribution of property and lines of
A. Extended Families are defined as the entire network of parents, children, and
other relatives—such as cousins and grandparents—who form a family unit,
share g labor and economic resources. They may also include those unrelated
by blood or marriage. Contemporary examples include:
1. so–called “othermothers” (a term derived from African American mothers’
B. Nuclear Families – The nuclear family is one in which a married couple
resides together with their children.
1. This type of family developed with industrialization, when paid labor was
performed mostly away from home by the father, resulting in the family
2. The development of racial-ethnic families in the United States was
influenced by disruptions posed by the experiences of slavery, migration, and
II. Sociological Theory and Families
A. Functionalist Theory and Families – Functionalist theorists view the family
as an integrative institution, maintaining social stability.
1. Families exist to meet particular societal needs, including socializing
children, regulating sexual activity and procreation, providing physical care
family.
B. Conflict Theory and Families – Conflict theorists see the family as an
institution subject to the same internal and external conflicts that characterize
the rest of society.
1. Families act as a system of power relations that reinforces and
C. Symbolic Interaction Theory and Families – Symbolic interaction theorists
study how the meanings that people give to behavior form the basis of their
social interaction.
D. Feminist Theory and Families – Feminist theorists focus on women’s
experiences within the family and the society. They contend that the gendered
III. Diversity among Contemporary American Families
1. Today the family is one of the most rapidly changing of all of society’s
institutions because family relationships emerge in response to social
conditions, which, in turn, shape the future direction of society.
2. Major trends include the following:
a. Families are smaller than in the past due to fewer births that are more
closely spaced.
A. Female-Headed Households
1. One of the greatest changes in family life is the increase in the number of
families headed by women.
2. One-fourth of all children live with one parent; 85% of single-parent
households are headed by women.
3. Primary causes for the growing number of women heading their own
households include:
a. The high rate of pregnancy among unmarried teens. Teen mothers are
4. The economic status of minority men, from high unemployment, low
life expectancy, and high incarceration rates, contributes to the large
parent families headed by women are more likely to be poor and suffer
severe economic problems. One-third of all female-headed households live
B. Married-Couple Families – The most significant change in married-couple
families—that now also include same-sex couples—has been the increased
participation of women in the paid labor force. This change has had other
repercussions on families and society.
1. Women, especially, work a “double day” of paid employment and unpaid work
C. Stepfamilies are becoming more common in the United States, matching the
rise in divorce and remarriage, and take many different forms.
1. About 40% of marriages in the United States involve stepchildren. Blended
D. Same-Sex Families have become more visible, resulting in an increasing
acceptance of gays and lesbians in society. Currently, 62% of Americans
support same-sex marriage.
1. Research indicates that gay and lesbian couples tend to be more flexible and
less gender-stereotyped in household roles than heterosexual couples.
E. Single People – The number of single people, including those who have never
married and those widowed and divorced, has increased to 50% today. This
trend can be explained by several other trends:
1. Men and women are marrying later due to:
2. Changes in sexual attitudes and the removal of the stigma from single life have
also contributed to the rise of singles and their reported happiness.
remaining in their parents’ homes for longer periods of time.
IV Marriage and Divorce
A. Marriage
1. Marriage relationships are shaped by a vast array of social factors.
2. Gender, income, and occupational level all influence power within marriage,
including the division of labor.
a. Power in a marriage relationship is related to the amount of money
3. Sociological factors influence the degree of marital conflict and stability.
B. Divorce
1. Since 1960, the rate of divorce has more than doubled, although it has
declined since its all-time high in 1980. The marriage rate is 6.9 marriages
2. The divorce rate is higher:
a. for young couples.
b. in second marriages.
c. among low-income couples.
V Family Violence
A. Domestic Violence and Abuse
a. The majority of domestic violence cases go unreported.
b. It is currently estimated that 1 in 3 women will be raped, assaulted, or
stalked by an intimate partner.
c. In some instances, wives assault husbands.
B. Child Abuse
1. Child abuse is behavior that puts children at risk, including physical
violence and/or neglect. Parents and relatives are the most common
C. Incest
1. Incest is a particular form of child abuse involving sexual relations
between persons who are closely related.
a. It has been related to a variety of other social and psychological problems.
D. Elder Abuse
1. Reports of elder abuse have increased, and it is estimated that 10% of elders
are abused.
VI Changing Families in a Changing Society
1. Many microsociological changes that people experience in families have
their origins in the broader macrosociological changes affecting society
as a whole.
B. Global Changes in Family Life – The increasingly global basis of the
economy influences patterns of work and migration, creating new family
forms.
VII Transnational families are families where one parent (or both) lives and works in
one country while their children remain in the country of origin. Families and
Social Policy
a. Balancing Work and Family – Balancing the multiple demands of
work and family is one of the biggest challenges for most families,
with serious health issues.
b. Child Care
a. Half of families have child care expenses, and the average family
spends $18,000 annually on child care.
middle- and upper-class families by women of color and immigrant women.
c. Elder Care
a. The shrinking size of families and longer life expectancies mean that
the proportion of elderly people is growing faster than the number of
VIII Defining Religion
1. Sociologists study religion as both a belief system and a social institution
because the belief systems of religion have a powerful hold on what people
think and how they see the world.
2. Sociologists define religion as an institutionalized system of symbols,
ultimate questions about the meaning of existence.
4. Religion is a feature of groups.
5. Religion is based on beliefs considered sacred (set apart from ordinary
activity for worship, seen as holy, and protected by special rites and rituals)
IX The Significance of Religion in the United States
1. The United States is one of the most religious societies in the world—55% of
A. The Dominance of Christianity – Despite the constitutional principle of
the separation of church and state, Christian religious beliefs and practices
dominate American culture.
B. Measuring Religious Faith
1. Religiosity is the intensity and consistency of practice of a person’s (or
group’s) faith.
a. It is measured both by asking people about their religious beliefs and by
measuring membership in religious organizations and attendance at
C. Forms of Religion
1. One basic way to categorize religions is by the number of gods or
goddesses they worship.
2. Another way to categorize religions is by their power structure.
a. The beliefs and practices of patriarchal religions are based on male
X Sociological Theories of Religion
1. The sociological study of religion probes how religion is related to the
structure of society and the basis of its coherence.
a. Emile Durkheim: The Functions of Religion
i. Durkheim argued that religion is functional for society because it
reaffirms the social bonds that people have with each other, creating
b. Max Weber: The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism
i. Weber demonstrated how the religious ideas supported by the
Protestant ethic (hard work and self-denial) dovetailed with the
needs of capitalism, thus demonstrating the association between
c. Karl Marx: Religion, Social Conflict, and Oppression
i. The power of religion can also fuel group conflict through religious
ethnocentrism.
ii. Marx saw religion as a tool for class oppression, an ideology
and Latin American liberation movements.
d. Symbolic Interaction: Becoming Religious
i. Becoming religious is the result of religious socialization that
can be informal or formal.
XI Diversity and Religious Belief
1. The world is marked by diverse religious beliefs. Christianity is the largest
A. The Influence of Race and Ethnicity
1. Race is one of the most significant markers when examining patterns of
XII Religious Organizations
1. Churches are formal organizations that tend to see themselves, and are
seen by society, as the primary and legitimate religious institutions.
Church.
4. They see all of the people in society as potential members.
a. Sects are groups that have broken off from an established church, when
a faction questions the legitimacy or purity of the church from which
they separated
XIII Religion and Social Change
1. Religion is a force of social change and social mobility.
2. Social theorists view the relationship of religion to social change differently:
a. Durkheim’s functionalism views religion as promoting social cohesion.
3. The role of religious organizations in social change has become a question of
public policy and debate related to funding of faith-based organizations for
humanitarian work.
4. Research does show that faith-based initiatives enhance the
LECTURE/DISCUSSION SUGGESTIONS