Class Notes for Exploring Marriages and Families, 3rd Edition

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Instructor’s Manual and Test Bank
For
Exploring Marriages
& Families
Third Edition
Karen Seccombe
Portland State University
Prepared by
SME, Melissa O’Connor
Canisius College

Contents
Chapter 1 Why Study Families and Other Close Relationships? 1
Chapter 2 Social Status: Sex, Gender, Race, Ethnicity, and Social Class 15
Chapter 3 Building Relationships 27
Chapter 4 Love and Loving Relationships 38
Chapter 5 Sexual Identity, Behavior, and Relationships 48
Chapter 6 Communication, Conflict, and Power in Our Relationships 61
Chapter 7 Marriage 71
Chapter 8 Thinking about Parenthood 81
Chapter 9 Raising Children 91
Chapter 10 Families and the Work They Do 102
Chapter 11 Family Stress and Crisis: Violence among Intimates 113
Chapter 12 The Process of Divorce 125
Chapter 13 Family Life, Partnering, and Remarriage after Divorce 135
Chapter 14 Families in Middle and Later Life 144
Chapter 15 Looking Ahead: Helping Families Flourish 156

1
CHAPTER 1
Why Study Families and other close
Relationships?
CHAPTER SUMMARY
Family can be defined as a relationship by blood, marriage, or affection, in which members may
cooperate economically, may care for children, and may consider their identity to be intimately
connected to the larger group. While important differences may exist among families, there are
some important universal patterns. These include regulating sexual behavior, reproduction and so-
cialization of children, property and inheritance laws, economic cooperation, and social placement
of family members. Social structures like the economy, government, religion, and education affect
family structures. Important family structures include statuses and roles; other important patterns
that affect family structure and family dynamics include marriage patterns (e.g., monogamy versus
polygamy), patterns of authority (e.g., patriarchy versus egalitarianism), patterns of descent (bi-
lateral, patrilineal, and matrilineal), and residence patterns (neolocal, patrilocal, and matrilo-
cal). Research demonstrates that families are always in transition; many important changes in the
family have been documented in both China and the United States. Many of these changes concern
urbanization and industrialization. Social science theory and research play an important role in
helping family researchers objectively understand families and family dynamics. The major re-
search methods used by researchers include surveys, in-depth interview, experiments, focus
groups, observational study, and secondary analysis. Theories help us frame research questions
and analyze data. Some theories focus on macro-level phenomena (structural functionalism, con-
flict theory, and feminist theory), while others focus on micro-level phenomena (social exchange
theory, symbolic interactionism, developmental theory, and systems theory).
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After reading Chapter 1, students should be able to:
1. Identify the different definitions of “family” and their implications.
2. Describe the functions of families.
3. Recognize the link between micro-level and macro-level perspectives on families.
4. Assess the ways that families are always changing.
5. Summarize the importance of social science theory and research.
CHAPTER OUTLINE
I. HOW DO WE DEFINE
FAMILY?
A. The question of how to define the concept of family may seem simple, but it can have a
surprisingly complex answer.

2 Instructor’s Manual and Test Bank For Exploring Marriages & Families
B. The number of traditional two-parent heterosexual parent families has declined, while the
number of nontraditional families is on the rise.
1. Nontraditional family forms include childfree married couples, multigenerational
families, unmarried adults who cohabitate and sometimes have children, stepparents
whose stepchildren reside with them only part of the time, and gay and lesbian cou-
ples are increasing in number.
2. Diversity in family forms increases the difficulty of providing an adequate defini-
tion.
C. Legal versus Social Science Definitions
1. The U.S. Census Bureau defines family as two or more people living together who
are related by birth, marriage, or adoption.
a) This definition excludes heterosexual or homosexual unmarried partners, and is
used as the basis for many social programs and policies.
b) Many people object to this definition because it excludes groups that consider
themselves to be family.
D. This text uses a more inclusive definition, and proposes that a family is a relationship by
blood, marriage, or affection, in which members may cooperate economically, may care
for children, and may consider their identity to be intimately connected to the larger
group.
1. It includes the family of orientation, or the one into which a person is born.
2. It includes the family of procreation, or the one a person creates by marrying,
partnering, or becoming a parent.
E. The text includes fictive kin in its definition of family.
1. Fictive kin are nonrelatives whose bonds are strong and intimate.
2. These persons provide important services and care for individuals; yet they are not
allowed to claim benefits that traditional family members can expect to receive (tax
benefits or health insurance).
F. Why Are Definitions So Important?
1. Societal definitions of concepts like the family have consequences for rights and
privileges, including health insurance and Social Security benefits.
a) Unmarried partners cannot file a joint tax return.
b) The offspring of an employed person may receive health insurance benefits,
while the unmarried partner may be excluded.
c) Unmarried partners are not eligible for membership discounts.
II. THE FUNCTIONS OF FAMILIES
A. Despite some differences, family forms are remarkably similar across time and place.
1. All societies have marriage, a public, institutional arrangement between persons to
recognize social and intimate bonds.

CHAPTER 1 Why Study Families and other close Relationships? 3
2. Norms exist to regulate who can marry whom, how many spouses a person can
have, what the ceremony should be like, and how married persons should behave.
B. Anthropologist William Stephens defines marriage as a socially legitimate sexual union
that is publically announced; undertaken with some idea of permanence; and implies a
contract that spells out reciprocal obligations between spouses and between spouses and
children.
C. Marriages and families in all cultures include a variety of functions such as the following:
1. Regulation of Sexual Behavior. All societies stipulate who can have sex with
whom and when. The incest taboo, which forbids sex between close family
members, is a cultural universal.
2. Reproducing and Socializing Children. All societies need to produce new mem-
bers and ensure socialization. Socialization means that children are taught the
rules, expectations, and culture of the society in which they live. When repro-
duction is undertaken by the family, rather than by unrelated partners, the birth
parents are held responsible for socializing children.
3. Property and Inheritance. As societies evolved, they developed surplus food
and property, which meant that they needed to be able to identify heirs to
wealth. Monogamy meant that men could identify their offspring and their
heirs.
4. Economic Cooperation. Families cooperate to clothe, feed, shelter, and support
children and other members. Gender is often linked to a division of or.
5. Social Placement, Status, and Roles. Families provide members with an identity
and place in society (statuses and roles). This includes social class, racial and
ethnic identities, and religious affiliation.
6. Care, Warmth, Protection, and Intimacy. Humans need more than food and
shelter to survive. Families are expected to provide the emotional care necessary
to survive.
D. Because we have lived in a family, we may think of ourselves as family “experts.” How-
ever, our personal experiences are part of a larger picture that we may not see; we cannot
fully appreciate this without understanding the environment in which family processes
take place.
THEME 1: LINKING THE MICRO-LEVEL AND MACRO-LEVEL PERSPECTIVES ON
FAMILIES
A. Understanding families by linking the micro-level and the macro-level perspectives.
1. While we may think of family in terms of our own personal experiences, we must
locate family in the context of the social structure found in our society.
2. Social structure refers to the patterns of social organization that guide our interac-
tions with others.
a) Most people focus on their micro-level experience (e.g., I chose her or him be-
cause, we decided not to have children because) and concentrate on individual-
level interactions in specific settings.

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4 Instructor’s Manual and Test Bank For Exploring Marriages & Families
b) People who use this perspective focus on individuality and personal decision
making, and the interactions between groups in specific situations.
3. Despite having unique qualities, family relationships also share many important
qualities.
4. A theme of this text is that elements of social structures shape our daily experienc-
es, privileges, and constraints.
5. A macro-level perspective examines the ways in which marriage, families, and in-
timate relationships are interconnected with the rest of society and with other social
institutions.
a) Families are not isolated entities.
b) Social, cultural, political, and economic forces shape our decisions.
B. Family as a Social Institution
1. Families are social institutions upheld by beliefs and rules organized to meet basic
human needs.
2. In early human civilization, families were the center of most activities; they educat-
ed the young, cared for the sick, and practiced religion.
3. Despite a high divorce rate, people still want to marry, and still agree on some basic
behavioral expectations for husbands and wives. Fidelity is one example.
4. Family is linked to other social institutions; religious customs, the type of economy,
the structure of education, and political systems all shape family patterns, as do atti-
tudes, behaviors, and opportunities.
C. Social Status and Families
1. Status is another element of social structure; this refers to the social position that
one occupies.
2. Most people occupy many statuses; son, daughter, friend, roommate are examples.
3. Master statuses dominate others. Sex, race, ethnicity, and social class generally
operate as master statuses.
a) Racial discrimination may play a role in these differences.
D. An Example of the Interrelationship of Macro-level and Micro-level Perspectives:
Unemployment and Marriage Rates
1. Single-parent households are blamed for a variety of social ills, and are more likely
to be poor. The text raises the question of why poor and low-income women like
Terry Lynn have children without marrying their children’s father.
2. Some research shows that poor women value marriage highly, and believe that their
own relationships cannot meet their expectations.
3. William Julius Wilson’s research indicates that inner-city women view inner-city
men as risky because they cannot support families on their low wages.
4. Outsourcing and relocation of jobs to suburbs drives up unemployment and poverty
rates, thereby decreasing marriage rates.

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CHAPTER 1 Why Study Families and other close Relationships? 5
5. Substance abuse, homicide, violence, high incarceration rates, immigration policies,
technological advances, women’s opportunities, and new conceptions of fatherhood
also affect marriage rates.
E. Human agency refers to the ability of humans to create viable lives even when they are
constrained or limited by social forces.
1. Regardless of social class, age, or gender, we are actively directing our lives, even
though powerful social forces shape our opportunities.
2. This reinforces the idea that we must be aware of the ways that social structure in-
fluences our lives and choices.
IV THEME 2: FAMILIES ARE ALWAYS CHANGING
A. The second theme of this book is change; families are constantly undergoing change as
they adapt to meet their needs.
B. Marriage patterns include monogamy, polygamy, polygyny, and polyandry.
1. Monogamy refers to marriage between one man and one woman. This pattern is
found widely, though not exclusively throughout the world.
2. Polygamy refers to a system that allows for more than one spouse at a time (gender
unspecified).
3. Polygyny is a form of polygamy that allows men to have more than one wife.
a) Although illegal in the United States, there are estimated to be about 50,000–
100,000 families that practice polygyny, primarily in the western states.
b) This pattern is also legal in some areas of Africa, the Middle East, and South
America. Having numerous wives is a status indicator for wealth and education.
It is also a way to increase fertility within a family.
4. Polyandry is a form of polygamy that allows women to have more than one hus-
band.
a) This rare pattern is most often found in areas where harsh environmental condi-
tions increase the likelihood that men will need to share the burden of support-
ing a wife and children.
b) Infant girls are more likely to be seen as burdensome, increasing the likelihood
of female infanticide. In turn, this increases the shortage of women.
C. Patterns of Authority: Patriarchy, Matriarchy, and Egalitarianism.
1. Patriarchy means rule of the father; this system grants men authority over women.
This right is reflected in the rest of the major social institutions, including religion,
government, and the economy. This pattern is widespread throughout the world.
2. Matriarchy is a pattern that grants women the right to have power over men; how-
ever, no true cases of matriarchy have ever been documented.
3. Egalitarianism is a pattern that vests power in men and women equally. The United
States and other developed countries are moving in this direction.
D. Patterns of Descent: Bilateral, Patrilineal, and Matrilineal.

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6 Instructor’s Manual and Test Bank For Exploring Marriages & Families
1. Developed nations typically trace lineage and property rights through both the
mother and the father. This gives a person two sets of grandparents.
2. Patrilineal systems trace lineage and inheritance exclusively or primarily through
the father’s family line. Minimal connections exist between offspring and the moth-
er’s side of the family.
a) Some vestiges of this are still evident in the United States. For example, off-
spring are more likely to bear the father’s last name, and sons are often given
their father’s first name in subsequent generations. There is no equivalent pat-
tern for girls.
E. Residence Patterns: Neolocal, Patrilocal, and Matrilocal.
1. Neolocal residence patterns assume that couples will establish their own residence
after marriage.
2. Patrilocal residence patterns assume that couples will live with the husband’s fami-
ly.
3. Matrilocal residence patterns assume that couples will live with the wife’s family.
F. Families in Transition: China
1. Many changes have taken place over the past few decades. These include an emerg-
ing market-based economy, a more highly educated workforce, and a large numbers
of cars and the infrastructure necessary for cars.
2. Many traditional beliefs have changed, including those relating to women’s roles,
marriage, and children.
3. Couples in China are still required to apply for permission to marry. The govern-
ment decides when a couple can marry in order to regulate births.
a) This pattern is part of the one-child policy. Most couples are allowed to have
only one child, and face heavy fines or pressure to have an abortion if they get
pregnant without government permission.
b) Until the policy was liberalized in late 2013, the one-child policy worked to im-
prove the standard of living for many Chinese people.
4. The Chinese government recently banned elective amniocentesis tests. Ultrasound
scanners are restricted; this means that parents cannot determine the sex of the
child. They have also implemented an educational program designed to change pa-
rental attitudes toward girls.
5. Changes in the numbers of abandoned girls available for adoption have been noted:
in 2015, there were 2,354 Chinese girls adopted in the United States, down from
7,900 in 2005.
G. History of Family Life in the United States
1. The U.S. history provides evidence of ongoing changes in families.
2. Family Life in Colonial America: European Colonists. Family historians have
shown that families were the cornerstone of colonial society and acted as:

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CHAPTER 1 Why Study Families and other close Relationships? 7
a) Businesses. Families were the center of economic production; households were
nearly self-sufficient at producing food, clothing, furniture, and household
goods.
b) Schools. Formal schooling was rare; parents educated their children in voca-
tional and technical skills.
c) Churches. Churches tended to be far away; families worshipped and prayed to-
gether.
d) Correctional institutions. Jails were rare; courts sentenced criminals to work for
and with respected families.
e) Health and social welfare institutions. There were no hospitals and few doctors,
so families and women in particular took care of the sick, the aged, the home-
less, and the orphaned.
3. Most colonial families lived in nuclear families rather than extended families.
a) Nuclear families consist of adults and their children.
b) Extended families comprise parents, children, and other relatives, such as
grandparents.
c) Families were large (e.g., six or more children) and siblings could be as much as
25 years apart in age.
d) High mortality rates meant that husbands or wives might have married two or
three times.
e) Marriage and family were central events in people’s lives; couples were seen as
a team. However, women were not seen as equals, but as helpmates and were
expected to obey their husbands.
f) Parents believed that children were born with “original sin” and therefore, were
very strict. No concept of adolescence existed; as soon as children were old
enough, they were expected to labor on the farm or in the household.
4. Colonial America: African Americans and Slavery. The first Africans forcefully
brought to the colonies were indentured servants, and were freed and able to buy
land once they served a specified amount of time.
a) By the 1800s, the United States prohibited importing new slaves. This resulted
in some owners encouraging family relationships and childbearing among the
slaves they owned.
b) Slave marriages were fragile; more than one-third were terminated due to the
husband or wife being sold to another household.
c) Prior to the Civil War, there were over a million slaves in the United States with
150,000 free African Americans living in the South, and another 100,000 living
in the northern part of the United States.
d) Being “free” did not necessarily mean that African Americans were allowed to
vote, attend White schools, or be hired for jobs. This led to high poverty rates
and many female-headed households.
5. Industrialization, Urbanization, and Immigration. These three factors brought
many changes to families during the 19th and early 20th centuries.
a) Industrialization meant that the economy shifted from small farms to large, ur-
ban industries. Work became something people did away from the home.

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8 Instructor’s Manual and Test Bank For Exploring Marriages & Families
b) In search of jobs, many people moved from rural areas to the city; this is known
as urbanization.
c) Immigrants from Europe and Asia moved to the United States in search of a bet-
ter life, and provided cheap labor that fueled further industrialization.
6. The Poor and Working Classes. Most immigrants were poor and lived in sub-
standard housing without adequate sanitation.
a) Working conditions were extremely dangerous; many people worked 60–80
hour workweeks.
b) Stressors like these were associated with alcoholism, violence, crime, and other
social problems.
7. Middle and Upper Classes. The ideal for these families was a breadwinner father
and stay-at-home mother. Children were seen as “innocents,” who could be shaped
by proper parenting (the mother’s role).
8. The Rise of the “Modern” Family—the 20th Century. The early- to mid-1900s
saw two World Wars, a depression, and the relative affluence of the 1950s and
1960s.
a) Increasing numbers of cars meant that more families lived in suburbs and that
fathers commuted to work.
b) Companionate families, based on mutual affection, sexual attraction, compati-
bility, and happiness emerged.
c) The average age at first marriage dropped, 19 for women and 20 for men.
d) Federal programs played a role in these trends by underwriting projects for
highway construction, more homes in the suburbs, and low interest loans.
H. Families Today. Over the past few decades, our economy has outsourced many manu-
facturing jobs and replaced these with lower-paying service sector positions.
a) This trend has made it hard for families to survive on one paycheck, and so,
many women have entered the workforce.
b) There is evidence of increasing social inequality; middle-class and working-
class wages have stagnated.
c) Increasing numbers of workers have evening or weekend shifts; this increases
the risk of divorce in families with children.
d) Purchasing power has declined because wages are not keeping up with inflation;
this especially hurts low-income workers.
e) Half of all workers earning minimum wage are over age 25; most work in the
food service industry.
f) A minimum wage of $7.25 per hour translates into an annual income of only
$14,500.
g) Housing costs remain unaffordable for many people. The average price of a sin-
gle-family home in late 2016 was $232,000; a two-bedroom apartment averages
$1,330.00 per month. About 12 million households pay more than half their in-
come in housing.

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CHAPTER 1 Why Study Families and other close Relationships? 9
V. THEME 3: THE IMPORTANCE OF SOCIAL SCIENCE THEORY AND RESEARCH
A. The third theme in this book is an appreciation for the role that social science theory and
research play in helping people understand families and close relationships.
1. Everyone has opinions based on information filtered through the lens of the mass
media, friends, parents, religious teachings, and laws.
2. Because we have been raised in a family ourselves, we may assume that our per-
sonal experiences or our “common sense” gives us expertise.
3. This text assumes that the scientific method can provide information that is more
objective; commonsense notions of how women should be treated have changed
substantially in our country. Other countries still allow husbands to beat wives.
4. If common sense varies so much over time and from place to place, we need to use
an empirical approach, which answers questions through a systematic collection
and analysis of data.
5. The empirical approach can help us to understand patterns of family dynamics, and
ultimately, to build stronger families. The goals of family research can
a) Describe some phenomenon (patterns of domestic violence).
b) Examine factors that predict or are associated with a phenomenon (who reports
violence and who does not).
c) Explain cause-and-effect relationships (how alcohol and violence are linked).
d) Examine the meanings and interpretations of some phenomenon (how men and
women interpret the meaning of the label “victim”).
B. How Do We Know What We Know? Methods of Social Research
1. There are many ways to gather information about families; the text discusses six re-
search methods.
2. Surveys gather information via questions; if done correctly, a survey produces gen-
eralizable results.
a) Random samples are the key to generalizable results.
b) Every member of the population has the same chance of being selected for the
study.
c) If it is impossible to find a complete list of everyone of interest, we may use a
snowball sample.
d) There are several types of surveys, including phone, mail, and in-person sur-
veys.
3. In-depth interviews allow an interviewer to obtain detailed responses to questions.
The question formats can be highly structured or emergent.
4. Experiments are used to test cause-and-effect relationships under highly controlled
conditions
5. Focus groups obtain information from small groups of people who are brought to-
gether to discuss a topic. Such group interview may work well when the researcher
is in an exploratory stage of research.

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10 Instructor’s Manual and Test Bank For Exploring Marriages & Families
6. Observational studies go to the natural setting to observe people in action. Some
observational studies use direct observation, while others require the researcher to
go undercover and become a participant observer.
7. Secondary analysis research makes use of previously gathered information. The
U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Justice often provide such sources of in-
formation. While not as expensive as other methods, compromise is often involved
for the researcher, because the data may not have been collected in the way that the
researcher would have collected it.
8. Some research is quantitative, and makes use of information that can be measured
numerically; other research is qualitative and uses narrative description with words
rather than numbers to analyze patterns.
a) No one method is superior to the others—it depends on the question being
posed.
C. Theories: Helping Us Make Sense of the World
1. Research is guided by theory, a general framework, explanation, or tool used to
understand and describe the real world.
a) Theory is important before and after the data has been collected.
b) Prior to research, theories help to frame questions; after the data has been col-
lected, they help us to interpret findings.
2. Some theories are more macro. These include structural functionalism, conflict the-
ory, and feminist theory. These theories attempt to understand large-scale features
of society.
3. Other theories are micro. These include social exchange theory, symbolic interac-
tionism, developmental theory, and systems theory. These theories help us to under-
stand dynamic interaction.
4. Structural functionalism theory attempts to determine the structure, systems,
functions, and equilibrium of social institutions.
a) This theory focuses on how the family is organized, and how it interacts with
other social institutions, the functions that the family performs, and how it
works to stabilize our society.
b) Parsons and Bales studied the division of labor in the family, and noted the
ways that this contributed to the stability and functioning of the family.
5. Conflict theory emphasizes social inequality, power, conflict, and change.
a) Marxist theorists focus on the ways that capitalism affects family life.
b) Other conflict theorists examine power and inequality; for example, why the el-
derly receive universal health care while children do not.
6. Feminist theory is related to conflict theory, but makes gender the central focus of
their research. They are interested in power imbalance between men and women;
such imbalance is reflected in the gendered division of household labor.
7. Social exchange theory draws upon an economic model of human behavior; hu-
mans are seen as rational decision makers who assess costs and rewards. Family
structures and dynamics are seen as the result of a rational decision-making process

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CHAPTER 1 Why Study Families and other close Relationships? 11
that evaluates social, economic, and emotional costs and benefits relative to known
alternatives.
8. Symbolic interaction theory emphasizes the symbols we use in everyday interac-
tion—words, gestures, appearances, and how these are interpreted. Our interactions
with others are based on the way we interpret symbols such as a ring, a kiss, or a
smile.
9. Developmental theory suggests that families and individual family members go
through distinct stages over time. Each stage has its own set of tasks, roles, and re-
sponsibilities. The stages include getting married, having children, preschool years,
school-age years, teen years, launching children into adulthood, being a middle-
aged parent, and aging.
a) Now theorists recognize that not all families experience these events (e.g., some
couples do not have children, or do not marry).
b) Developmental theorists use both micro and macro approaches to describe and
explain family relationships.
10. Systems theory proposes that a family system—the family members and the roles
they play—is larger than the sum of its individual members.
a) The family contains subsystems, such as the married couple subsystem, the sib-
ling subsystem, or the parent–child subsystem.
b) Communication patterns are important to role maintenance and stability.
D. Family Decline or Not? What Does the Research Reveal?
1. Some people are concerned that the family is in trouble. There are three major con-
cerns: Americans are rejecting traditional marriage and family life; family members
are not adhering to roles within families; social and moral problems result from
these changes.
2. Others suggest that families have always faced challenges. Efforts to bolster the
family have often met with resistance. For example, childcare, jobs, health care, and
housing programs are at odds with the rugged individualism of the United States.
3. To determine which view is correct, we must rely on research to answer the ques-
tion of family decline.
E. Are We Rejecting Marriage and Family Relationships? Attitudes
1. Research shows that there is a continued emphasis on and commitment to marriage,
children, and family life.
2. University of Michigan research has shown that high school seniors have not
changed their attitudes much toward marriage and family life since 1976.
F. Are We Rejecting Marriage and Family Relationships? Behaviors
1. U.S. Census data show that the percentage of people who are currently married has
declined.
2. It is likely that the rising age at first marriage may explain why fewer people are
currently married.
3. Divorce is declining, not increasing.

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12 Instructor’s Manual and Test Bank For Exploring Marriages & Families
4. While data show that an increasing number of people do not have children, many of
these (about half of childfree women ages 40–44) are involuntarily childless.
VI. BRINGING IT FULL CIRCLE
A. Our views about family relationships reflect both micro-level and macro-level factors.
1. Micro-level factors include personal choice and interpersonal dynamics.
2. Macro-level factors include broader social structures, such as social institutions, and
the statuses of race, sex, and ethnic identity.
B. Rather than relying on common sense or personal opinion, family researchers are inter-
ested in systematically uncovering patterns and answering questions using social science
research methods.
TEACHING SUGGESTIONS FOR ACTIVE LEARNING
1. The opening vignette raises the question of how students see their families. Use a
thinking map to allow students to draw their family tree (a tree map works best for
this). Thinking maps are especially helpful to students who are visual learners. Al-
ternatively, students can locate genogram software online. Have students bring their
completed family trees (or, allow them to do this in class), and then tally the num-
ber of times specific family statuses are mentioned. Have students write a reflection
or summary of the patterns they see.
2. To assess student perceptions of different family forms, ask them to complete a
bubble map in which they provide as many adjectives for the “single-parent” family
as they can in five minutes. Tell students not to write their names on the bubble
map. After the students have completed their adjective list, tally the list of adjec-
tives, deleting duplicates. Have students write a reflection or summary of the pat-
terns they see. Are there any patterns of prejudice?
3. Have students explore the issue of pets as family members. Ask them to locate em-
pirical data on the amount of money that people spend on pets per year. This can in-
clude overall expenditures, insurance for pets, as well as legacies for pets. What
factors might contribute to the change in the status of pets as family members?
(Students might think in terms of delayed marriage, longer life spans, more mobili-
ty, etc.) A useful journal source is Albert, A., & Bulcroft, K. (1988). Pets, family,
and the life course. Journal of Marriage and Family, 50, 543–552.
4. The website for Changing Minds provides a comprehensive list of various heuristics
and fallacies. Break the class down into groups, assign a heuristic to each group,
and have them explain the heuristic to the class and provide examples that relate to
the family. For example, the concepts of illusory correlation and the confirmation
bias can be discussed to show how easy it is for students to draw inappropriate con-
clusions about other groups (e.g., gay families, single-parent families, and families
in poverty). This site also has a list of various attributional errors that can be used to
make similar points. For example, in her book So You Think I Drive a Cadillac?
Welfare Recipients’ Perspectives on the System and Its Reform, Third Edition,
2011, Seccombe discovers that welfare recipients see their own use of the system
differently than they see others use of the system.

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CHAPTER 1 Why Study Families and other close Relationships? 13
5. To encourage students to use critical thinking skills as they analyze family forms
and patterns, have them access the website for the Critical Thinking Community.
Have students write a short essay on the elements of critical thinking.
6. To encourage students to apply family theories to analyze family behaviors, have
them apply one or more of the theories discussed in Chapter 1. For example, stu-
dents could use Merton’s concepts of manifest and latent functions to analyze how a
legal change in the definition of the family might impact society. Be sure to have
them make a list of manifest dysfunctions so that they can think about the role that
political pressures might play in resisting changes to the official definition.
7. Have the class conduct a short survey outside of class and present the findings to
the rest of the class. It may be helpful to break the class into groups of three or four
students and give them one or two questions to research. Each student should inter-
view between five and ten respondents. For example, students could ask respond-
ents how they feel about men who choose to take their wives’ names, or if they
favor changing the legal rights of unmarried partners. They should be sure to get the
gender and the marital status of the respondents. Have them present their findings in
either bar charts or pie charts (to keep it simple) to the rest of the class. Make sure
they understand that gender and marital status are independent variables, and the re-
spondent’s attitude would be the dependent variable. Students should also discuss
the limitations of their “study,” as they will most likely have to use snowball or
convenience sampling.
VIDEO SUGGESTIONS
Beyond the Nuclear Family describes case studies and interviews with family members. The pro-
gram examines changing roles, structures, and functions of the family unit. It covers such topics
as societal expectations, technological advancements, and changes in cultural and sexual diversity
and highlights emotional, environmental, economic, and health-related considerations for evolv-
ing family characteristics. 2008. 25 minutes. Insight Media. 2162 Broadway, New York, NY
10024-0621. 800-233-9910.
Families Today and Tomorrow This program explores types of modern families, including single-
parent families, stepfamilies, and multigenerational families who live in a single household. 2007.
30 minutes. Insight Media. 2162 Broadway, New York, NY 10024-0621. 800-233-9910.
The Power of Family looks at different family types and examines physical, emotional, intellectu-
al, social, and moral development in each of the types. 2008. 18 minutes. Insight Media. 2162
Broadway, New York, NY 10024-0621. 800-233-9910.
The Way We Never Were: American Families and the Nostalgia Trap. 9/2010. Stephanie Coontz,
YouTube.
SUGGESTED READINGS
Bianchi, Suzanne, John P. Robinson, and Melissa A. Milkie. 2007. Changing Rhythms of Ameri-
can Family Life. 2007. New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation.
Flick, Uwe. 2011. Introducing Research Methodology: A Beginner’s Guide to Doing a Research
Project. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

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14 Instructor’s Manual and Test Bank For Exploring Marriages & Families
Powell, Brian, Catherine Bolzendahl, Claudia Geist, and Lala Carr Steelman. 2010. Counted Out:
Same Sex Relations and Americans’ Definition of Family. New York, NY: Russell Sage Founda-
tion.
White, James. 2007. Family Theories. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. As noted in Chapter 1, the one-child policy in China reduced the population, but
came with serious costs. Were the costs worth it? What other strategies can popu-
lous countries like China employ to reduce the population to prevent starvation?
How would conflict theorists and structural functionalists view this policy?
2. According to Chapter 1, divorce seems to be declining. What are some macro-level
reasons for this decline?
3. Why is there so much variation among the states with respect to the divorce rate?
For example, in 2007, the divorce rate in Florida was 86.4, while in Oregon, it was
only 14.8. What are some possible reasons for such variation?
4. How do recessions (macro-level) affect one’s personal decision to marry or divorce
(micro-level)?
5. Suppose that you were in charge of family policies in the United States. What poli-
cies would you implement to increase the marriage rate among the poor? What pos-
sible unintended consequences might emerge from your policies?
6. Which of the family functions listed in Chapter 1 do you think is the most important
in contemporary society and why? As the text notes, in colonial times, the family
functioned as a commonwealth. However, today, many of those functions have dis-
appeared as society industrialized, and labor markets became more specialized.
What social forces will change family functions in the future?

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15
CHAPTER 2
Social Status: Sex, Gender, Race,
Ethnicity, and Social Class
CHAPTER SUMMARY
Sex, race, ethnicity, and social class are social statuses that have a strong influence on our lives.
Depending on these status characteristics, we have different opportunities, experiences, and treat-
ment. Patriarchy intersects with sex as a biological construct and gender as a sociological con-
struct. They are found in a wide variety of social institutions, including legal, educational,
religious, and economic ones. One powerful example of patriarchy is genital cutting, a practice that
is widespread and appears to be growing. Patriarchal norms still exist in the United States, and are
reflected in high rates of plastic surgery, name changes, pay differentials, and occupations. Gender
socialization exists in all societies; agents responsible for this process include parents, schools,
toys, peers, and the mass media. In turn, gender influences our family and our close relationships,
as well as the division of household labor. Race and ethnicity influence our close relationships,
including fertility rates. The United States is racially diverse—yet, this diversity has not eliminated
the problems of prejudice and discrimination. Some discrimination is individual; some is institu-
tionalized, and may go unrecognized. Recent research documents that both of these are still prob-
lematic in the U.S. Educational attainment and family structure vary by race; for example, Asian
Americans are more likely than other groups to go to college and earn an advanced degree. The
impact of social class in the United States is often denied or downplayed. Researchers have identi-
fied six social classes: the upper class, the upper middle class, the middle class, the working
class, the working poor, and the underclass. Social class influences the likelihood of being born,
our health, our gender expectations, our values, the likelihood of going to college, dating practices,
the likelihood of marrying, our hobbies, and the types of stressors we experience. People in differ-
ent classes have differing levels of social capital, or the social contacts that provide valuable in-
formation. About 43 million persons experience poverty in the United States. Those who live in
poverty experience more stress and more adverse life events than those who do not.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After reading Chapter 2, students should be able to:
1. Summarize the link between private experiences and social structure.
2. Explain the importance of sex, gender, and patriarchy to families.
3. Describe the importance of race and ethnicity to families.
4. Identify the importance of social class to families.
5. Discuss how poverty affects families.
6. Analyze the intersections of sex, gender, race, ethnicity, and class.

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CHAPTER OUTLINE
I. THE LINK BETWEEN PRIVATE EXPERIENCES AND SOCIAL STRUCTURE
A. Sex, race, ethnicity, and social class are social statuses that, alone and together, have a
strong influence upon us throughout our lives. They are also dimensions of social stratifi-
cation.
1. Not all categories are treated equally. Some people have more, less, or at least dif-
ferent opportunities because of their sex, race, social class, or a combination of
these.
2. Women and men, Whites and minorities, and the rich and the poor can have quite
different experiences. For example, low-income families have significant difficul-
ties finding even something as basic as housing. The median wage needed to pay
for a two-bedroom rental unit was about $20 per hour, more than double the mini-
mum wage and far more than many families earn.
3. Thus, the rich and the poor, women, minorities, and Whites often have different so-
cial experiences. Acknowledging differences allows us to concede that our private
lives and family relationships are affected by what is happening in society. This
recognition is called the sociological imagination. Certain categories of people are
more likely to experience certain events than are others.
4. Some students are reluctant to acknowledge sex, race, or ethnicity as organizing
constructs in our society. However, economic data reveal that women still earn only
83 percent of men’s earnings, even when both work full time.
5. Many neighborhoods remain racially segregated. In Chicago, Illinois, Whites live in
neighborhoods that average 80 percent White, despite being only 60 percent of the
population. Blacks live in neighborhoods averaging 75 percent Black, yet they
comprise only 20 percent of the population in Chicago. People in the same neigh-
borhood who attend the same schools and churches are likely to be of the same so-
cial class and share similar values. Lack of contact with individuals outside our
social class, race, and ethnicity can foster misconceptions about these individuals.
6. Understanding the ways in which race and ethnicity, sex and gender, and social
class shape our lives allows us to make rational choices about our own lives and our
relationships with others. Acknowledging differences does not have to make us feel
superior or inferior.
II. SEX, GENDER, AND PATRIARCHY
A. Sex refers to biological differences between men and women and their role in reproduc-
tion; gender describes the culturally and socially constructed differences between males
and females that we find in meanings, beliefs, and practices associated with “femininity”
and “masculinity.”
B. Sex and Gender Differences
1. Poems, nursery rhymes, and songs often accentuate the traditional differences be-
tween men and women. Historically, people have viewed masculinity and feminini-
ty as a set of different, or even opposite, traits. Men are often considered to be
naturally more aggressive, strong, and independent, whereas women may be con-
sidered to be more emotional, nurturing, and sensitive.

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CHAPTER 2 Social Status: Sex, Gender, Race, Ethnicity, and Social Class 17
2. Researchers note some important biological differences between men and women
beyond those needed for reproduction. For example, males are diagnosed with a
wider variety of physical illnesses despite being stronger, more active, and more
aggressive on average. In contrast, females are more likely to be diagnosed with an
emotional illness such as depression.
3. On average, males and females also solve intellectual problems differently. Men
tend to perform better on certain types of mathematical reasoning tests. Women
outperform men in the precision with which they perform certain manual tasks.
Women also tend to excel on tests measuring recall and matching.
4. Studies in the last few decades suggest that the size, shape, and use of the brain may
differ somewhat between men and women in regions involved in language,
memory, emotion, vision, hearing, and navigation. Women also seem to use more
parts of their brain at once. Hormonal differences may be the cause of some of the
dissimilarity, as women have higher levels of estrogen and progesterone, and men
have high levels of testosterone.
5. We do know that social and cultural factors, alongside biology, are very powerful.
What one culture defines as feminine behavior, another may see as quite masculine.
Thus, gender is socially constructed.
C. Gender Learning
1. We learn expected gender behavior through a process called gender socialization,
which teaches us cultural norms associated with being male or female.
2. Gender socialization also has an important evaluative component. We learn that
many traits associated with men or boys are considered “better” than the ones asso-
ciated with women or girls.
3. Agents of socialization are the social groups responsible for gender socialization
and include parents, schools, toys, peers, and the mass media, as shown in Table
2.2.
a) Parents: Parents provide the first exposure to a particular culture, and con-
sciously or not, they may treat their sons and daughters differently.
b) Schools: From daycare through high school, schools present a hidden curricu-
lum that informally teaches girls to value compliance. School textbooks and
readers often have stories of boys or men as main characters, relegating girls
and women to the sidelines or showing them in a limited number of roles or oc-
cupations.
c) Toys: Children’s toys, books, and games also reflect our gendered culture and
teach children important cultural messages about what is means to be a boy,
girl, man, or woman. Video games are an increasing part of children’s and
teens’ entertainment. Women and girls are featured much less frequently and of-
ten shown in subordinate or hypersexualized ways.
d) Peers: The influence of peer groups begins early, reaching its peak in adoles-
cence. Psychologist Eleanor Maccoby found that children between the ages of
two and three tend to sort themselves into same-sex play groups when given the
opportunity to do so, and are more social with children of the same sex.
e) The Media: The mass media, including television and video games, represent
an increasingly important mechanism for socializing children. In top-grossing
G-rated films, 80.5 percent of all working characters are male and 19.5 percent

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18 Instructor’s Manual and Test Bank For Exploring Marriages & Families
are female. In contrast, in the real world, women comprise half of the paid
workforce.
D. How Do Race, Ethnicity, and Class Shape Gender Socialization?
1. It does appear that there are significant class, racial, and ethnic variations in the
gender socialization process.
E. Gender’s Influence on Our Family and Close Relationships: Division of Household
Labor.
1. Gender is particularly evident within families and close relationships. A striking ex-
ample is how work chores are divided in the home. Cooking, cleaning, grocery
shopping, yard work, and laundry are critical functions, and take increasing time
when a family has children. Household labor has been traditionally defined as
“women’s work” and was not deemed worthy of scientific study 20 or 30 years ago.
2. Yet, a 2007 poll by the Pew Research Center reveals many people are adamant that
sharing household chores is “very important for a successful marriage.”
3. We now know that women average up to two to three times the amount of time on
household tasks that men do. A similar although less dramatic pattern occurs with
childcare. These differences continue to hold when the wife is employed or when
both partners are retired, and they persist at all income levels. In fact, marriage has
been shown to increase women’s time spent in housework, while it reduces men’s
time.
4. One explanation for why women do a disproportionate share of the household labor
is that society has defined such work as simply part of being a woman.
F. Male Privilege: Patriarchy
1. Patriarchy, introduced in Chapter 1, is found in a wide variety of social institutions,
including legal, education, religious, and economic ones.
2. As women improve their economic status, male-female relationships tend to be-
come more egalitarian. Clear patterns of male dominance continue to exist even in
the United States.
3. Female Genital Mutilation: “Female circumcision,” “female genital cutting,” or
“female genital mutilation” is commonly practiced in over two dozen countries in
Africa, the Middle East, and among some immigrant communities in North Ameri-
ca and Europe.
a) In one form, clitoridectomy, the clitoris is literally cut out of the body. In the
more extreme form, infibulation, a girl’s entire external genitalia is removed.
b) More than 200 million girls and women today have had their genitals cut or mu-
tilated, and the practice appears to be spreading.
c) Although no religion formally endorses female genital mutilation, it is wide-
spread because of customs demanding that women be virgins at the time of mar-
riage and remain sexually faithful thereafter.
d) Female genital mutilation persists because women’s status is low, and their op-
tions in society are few. Marriage and motherhood are the primary ways in
which they receive recognition.

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CHAPTER 2 Social Status: Sex, Gender, Race, Ethnicity, and Social Class 19
4. Does patriarchy exist in the United States? The United States has its own set of pa-
triarchal norms and customs.
a) Nearly 16 million cosmetic surgery procedures were performed in the United
States in 2015.
b) Most children carry their father’s last name. When they marry, most women
take their husband’s last name.
III. RACE AND ETHNICITY
A. Like sex and gender, race and ethnicity are also statuses that deeply influence our rela-
tionships and families.
1. Blacks are more likely than Whites to live in extended families.
2. Hispanics have the largest number of children, while Asian Americans are most
likely to be childfree.
3. Blacks are less likely than other groups to remarry.
4. Teenage pregnancy and birth rates are declining among all racial groups, but the
largest declines have been among Blacks.
5. Whites are least likely to live in poverty, while Native Americans are most likely to
do so.
6. Hispanics, in particular Mexican Americans, are least likely to have health insur-
ance.
7. Asian Americans are least likely to divorce.
8. Blacks begin sexual activity earlier than other groups.
B. The Population Is Growing More Diverse. Theoretically, race is category describing
people who share real or perceived physical traits that society deems socially significant,
such as skin color. However, over the last half-century or so, due to tremendous growth
in our knowledge of genetics, race has ceased to be a useful construct.
1. Ethnicity, or shared cultural characteristics such as language, place of origin, dress,
food, religion, and other values, is a more useful concept. Ethnicity represents cul-
ture, whereas race attempts to represent biological heritage. People who share spe-
cific cultural features are members of an ethnic group.
2. Minority groups are categories of people who have less power than the dominant
group, and who are subject to unequal treatment.
3. The United States is a nation with many minority groups, and is becoming even
more diverse. About one person in three is a member of a minority group, and in
Hawaii, New Mexico, California, Texas, and the District of Columbia, minorities
outnumber non-Hispanic Whites. By 2050, minority groups are likely to comprise
more than half of the U.S. population.
4. Throughout its history, people have immigrated to the United States. Today, about
13 percent of our population, or 42 million people, immigrated to the United States
as either children or adults.
C. Prejudice and Discrimination: Pervasive Problems. Researchers at the University of
Chicago submitted fictitious resumes to over a thousand ads in Boston and Chicago

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20 Instructor’s Manual and Test Bank For Exploring Marriages & Families
newspapers. Resumes were randomly assigned Black- or White-sounding names, but oth-
er aspects of their resumes were similar.
1. Many jobs are never posted in newspaper want ads, but are advertised informally
through “word of mouth” or through social networking connections. These connec-
tions, referred to as social capital, can be a valuable source of information.
2. Prejudice is a negative attitude about members of selected racial and ethnic groups.
It often comes from stereotypes, or an oversimplified set of beliefs about a group of
people.
3. Discrimination is behavior that has harmful effects, such as refusing to hire or
promote someone because of his or her race or ethnicity. Discrimination remains
widespread in the United States today, as noted by the Equal Employment Oppor-
tunity Commission.
4. Individual Discrimination: One person exhibiting a negative behavior toward an-
other person.
5. Institutional Discrimination occurs when social institutions, such as the govern-
ment, religion, and education, create policies and practices that are systematically
disadvantageous to certain groups.
D. Hispanic Families
1. The label “Hispanic” contains so many diverse ethnic groups that it may not make
much sense to combine them into one category.
2. In the past, the growth in the Hispanic population was primarily fueled by immigra-
tion, but today only about a third of Hispanic children are first generation, that is,
were born elsewhere and immigrated here. Instead, the rapid growth of the Hispanic
population is attributable to its high birthrate.
3. Differences between first- and second- or third-generation Hispanics are very pro-
nounced, and the future of U.S.-born children of Hispanic immigrants looks bright.
They are better educated and more likely to speak English, and more likely to hold
mainstream U.S. values.
4. Second- and third-generation Hispanics are becoming increasingly assimilated and
often blend in easily with Whites. Nonetheless, many second-generation Hispanics
report personal experience with discrimination.
E. Black Families
1. Blacks, comprised primarily although not exclusively of African Americans, make
up about 13 percent of the U.S. population. On average, Black families tend to be
somewhat larger than those of Whites.
2. Black families are also larger because they are more likely to contain extended fam-
ily members, including grandparents, aunts, and uncles.
3. Black families are more likely than any other racial or ethnic group to be headed by
females. In 2014, 70 percent of Black children were born to single mothers, com-
pared to 53 percent of Hispanics and 20 percent of Whites in that year.
F. Asian American Families
1. The term “Asian” or “Asian American” is a catchall for many different groups who
had their origins with the early peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indi-

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CHAPTER 2 Social Status: Sex, Gender, Race, Ethnicity, and Social Class 21
an subcontinent. Often combined with these diverse groups are Pacific Islanders
who have origins in Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, or other Pacific islands.
2. Asian Americans have been sometimes nicknamed a “model minority.” This is be-
cause their families tend to be stable, their parents are highly educated and work in
professional jobs, and they have the highest family incomes of any group, surpas-
sing that of Whites.
3. Many important factors help to explain why Asian American families are so suc-
cessful. Many who came to the United States were from privileged social classes in
their counties of origin.
4. Not all Asian American families are doing well on social and economic indicators.
In particular, some of the more recent immigrants lack the resources of other Asian
Americans, and therefore have low incomes and high rates of poverty.
G. Native American and Alaska Native Families
1. Native Americans and Alaska Natives comprise about 2 percent of the U.S popula-
tion, at about 5.4 million. Three-quarters identify themselves as belonging to a spe-
cific tribe.
2. Extended families are the cornerstone of Native American family life, and children
enjoy close relationships with their grandparents, particularly grandmothers. More
than half of Native Americans and Alaska Natives live with their grandchildren.
3. Native American families do face many challenges. Infant mortality rates are com-
paratively high and life expectancy is low. Unemployment and poverty rates are
high, and many live in inexpensive and substandard housing.
H. Interracial and Interethnic Families
1. Millions of people in the United States have a clear and unequivocal connection to
two or more racial or ethnic groups.
2. Parents of multiracial or multiethnic children continue to face issues that other par-
ents do not experience. For example, when both parents are White, despite good in-
tentions, they may know very little about how prejudice and discrimination really
operate.
IV. SOCIAL CLASS
A. While social class is less visible than race, ethnicity, or sex, we are probably all aware, to
some degree, that social class can have a significant impact upon our lives.
1. In the United States social class is often downplayed or denied. Social class is not
just about money; it encompasses an entire way of seeing and experiencing the
world.
2. Think back to Becca in the opening vignette. How do you think that poverty influ-
enced her sense of self and her self-esteem?
B. Approaches to Measuring Social Class
1. Social class is an abstract concept compared to sex, race, or ethnicity because we
cannot always identify social class or who are members of these classes. Social
classes are based most obviously on income and wealth, but also on other resources,
such as education and your occupational prestige.

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22 Instructor’s Manual and Test Bank For Exploring Marriages & Families
2. Today researchers often define class as some combination of education, occupation,
and income, and we sometimes call this combination socioeconomic status or SES.
Dennis Gilbert and Joseph A. Kahl (1993) have developed a widely used model of
social class based on SES: (1) the upper class; (2) the upper middle class; (3) the
middle class; (4) the working class; (5) the working poor; and (6) the underclass.
3. The Upper Class: The upper class is the wealthiest and most powerful social class
in the United States and consists of only about 3–5 percent of the population.
4. The Upper-Middle Class: Approximately 15–20 percent of the U.S. population is
categorized as “upper middle class.” Members of the upper middle class tend to be
highly educated professionals, including physicians, dentists, lawyers, college pro-
fessors, and business executives. Household income may be in the range of
$120,000 to $250,000.
5. The Middle Class: Most people say they are middle class, but less than 40 percent
of households are. Middle class families earn about $50,000 to $120,000 per year.
The median household income is a little over $54,000 for all households, $68,000
for married couples, and $36,000 for female-headed households.
6. The Working Class: The term “working class” is somewhat misleading because
just about all adults work. Therefore, some people refer to this group as the “lower
middle class.” They earn less than middle-class families, approximately $25,000 to
$50,000. Jobs may include factory and custodial work and semiskilled labor. About
23 percent of U.S. families belong to the working class.
7. The Working Poor: The working poor, comprising about 20 percent of the popula-
tion, are employed in minimum- or near-minimum-wage jobs, such as service work
in the fast-food industry. Their wages hover near or only slightly above the poverty
line, up to about $25,000 a year.
8. The Underclass: This group, perhaps 3–5 percent of the population, is extremely
poor and often unemployed.
C. How Does Social Class Affect Our Family and Close Relationships? Just as with sex,
race, and ethnicity, social class influences many aspects of family life.
1. Our likelihood of being born
2. Our health
3. Our gender expectations
4. The values our parents socialize in us
5. Our likelihood of attending and graduating from college
6. Our dating and premarital sexual expectations
7. Our likelihood of marriage and age at first marriage
8. Our hobbies and pastimes
9. The types of stresses we experience and coping mechanisms we employ
D. Social Mobility and the Lack of It
1. While theoretically people in the Unites States can be anything they want to be, in
reality there is little upward social mobility, or movement from one social class to
another. People usually live out their lives in the same social class in which they are

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CHAPTER 2 Social Status: Sex, Gender, Race, Ethnicity, and Social Class 23
born because of the norms they learn and the constraints and privileges they experi-
ence.
V. POVERTY
A. The Social Security Administration established the official poverty threshold in 1964 as a
way to measure the number of people living in poverty. Survey data in the early 1960s
indicated that families spent approximately one-third of their income on food.
B. The poverty threshold varies by family size (and a few other features) and is revised year-
ly based on inflationary changes in the Consumer Price Index. The 2015 poverty thresh-
olds were $18,871 for a family of three, and $24,257 for a family of four.
C. Who Is Poor? About 43 million people, or 13.5 percent of the U.S. population, lived in
poverty in 2015. Twenty percent of children—about one in five—live in poverty.
D. Consequences of Poverty. Poor families face a higher degree of stress, disorganization,
and other problems.
1. Poor children exhibit more antisocial behavior and are more likely to drop out of
school or become teenage parents, are more likely to suffer from depression, and
are in poorer health.
2. Inadequate Health and Nutrition: Poor children also may receive inadequate food
nutrition. About 14 percent of households experienced food insecurity at some point
in a year. Seventeen percent of households with children are food insecure. Chil-
dren run the risk of more frequent colds, ear infections and other infectious disease,
impaired brain function, and stunted growth, and are more vulnerable to lead and
other environmental toxins.
3. Quality of the Home Environment: Poverty has a significant negative effect on the
quality of stimulation of the home environment. One study of the linguistic capa-
bilities of young children found that poor children on welfare between the ages of
13 and 36 months hear only half as many words per hour as the average working-
class child, and less than one-third the average of a typical child in a professional
family.
4. Parental Stress and Mental Health: Parents who are living in poor conditions have a
high level of stress, depression, and mental health problems related to their situa-
tion. Poor children have a higher probability of being abused, neglected, and more
severely injured by abuse than do their affluent peers.
5. Fewer Resources for Learning: On average, poor children have fewer resources for
learning in the home, including books and educational toys. Childcare and pre-
school are expensive, so many poor children start school behind their peers.
6. Housing Problems: Poor families often live in crowded and disease-ridden housing
that may lack proper cooking, heating, or sanitation facilities.
7. Poor-Quality Neighborhoods: Poor children are increasingly isolated from the non-
poor in their communities and live in inner cities where violence, crime, truancy,
loitering, and a sense of despair predominate. Guns kill over 2,700 children and
teens each year, and homicide is the leading cause of death.

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24 Instructor’s Manual and Test Bank For Exploring Marriages & Families
VI. THE INTERSECTIONS OF SEX, GENDER, RACE, ETHNICITY, AND CLASS
A. Despite the statuses previously described, we are not simply male or female, Asian
American or Hispanic, rich or poor. Our statuses intersect with one another. For ex-
ample, a person may be a White working-class female; a Chinese American upper-
class male, a Black middle-class female, a White upper-class female, or any number
of other racial, ethnic, gender, sex, and class combinations. We have multiple status-
es, and they all interact to shape our lives.
VII. BRINGING IT FULL CIRCLE
A. Sex and gender, race and ethnicity, and social class, individually and together, shape a
constellation of privileges and constraints that can affect our goals, opportunities, and
choices. These statuses shape both us and the way others respond to us.
TEACHING SUGGESTIONS FOR ACTIVE LEARNING
1. The text makes the point that there are many similarities between men and women.
One way to demonstrate the extent to which gender is socially constructed is to
consider gendered language. In general, women are expected to express themselves
in a more passive way, and to be supportive and nurturing. Men are expected to be
direct and express themselves in more aggressive or assertive ways. Select a series
of famous quotes by leaders that contradict these expectations, and have the stu-
dents attempt to guess the gender of the speaker, or match the quotes to the person.
Margaret Thatcher, Benazir Bhutto, Eva Perón, Mohandas Gandhi, and the Dalai
Lama are interesting sources, because their quotes often contradict gender stereo-
types. One of Thatcher’s famous quotes that may surprise students is: “A world
without nuclear weapons would be less stable and more dangerous for all of us.” A
famous quote by Eva Perón is: “Answer violence with violence. If one of us falls
today, five of them must fall tomorrow. “The Dali Lama said: “Be kind whenever
possible. It is always possible.” Mohandas Gandhi said: “In a gentle way, you can
shake the world.”
2. William Julius Wilson has argued that the significance of race is declining, and that
social class is a more important determinant of life chances for African Americans.
However, not all research supports this conclusion. Divide students into groups and
ask half the group to create a fishbone diagram that shows factors that may support
Wilson’s hypothesis (class shapes outcomes); the other half should create a fish-
bone diagram that refutes it by showing how race shapes social class outcomes.
3. Marketers and advertisers play a significant role in gender socialization. At the
heart of this multibillion-dollar industry is the process of persuasion. Neuromarket-
ing is the latest trend in advertising. This body of research shows that consumers
may make decisions without even being aware of the decision-making process.
Have students watch the Frontline program “The Persuaders.” How can these tech-
niques be used to create explicit and implicit gender-based messages?
4. Have students read Devah Pager’s 2003 “The Mark of a Criminal Record” [Ameri-
can Journal of Sociology 108 (5) 937-975], and discuss the implications of this arti-
cle for Wilson’s hypothesis, and for minority family outcomes in general.
5. To further help students understand the important role played by the media in gen-
der socialization, have them access the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media.
Students can read research summaries and view videos on this topic.

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CHAPTER 2 Social Status: Sex, Gender, Race, Ethnicity, and Social Class 25
6. Have students explore the links between race and class by visiting the Economic
Policy Institute website. Ask them to access the State of Working America page,
and use the links there to learn more about childcare funding, unemployment, and
more.
7. Break the class down into groups and assign each group a “social class.” Assign
them typical family incomes, and then tell them they are to figure out how to pur-
chase a car, and insure it. Have them use local ads and bank information to create
their plan. If possible, they should try to get accurate financial information about the
odds of someone getting a loan when they are unemployed, or severely underem-
ployed. Have them present their reports to the rest of the class. Ideally, the report
should contain photos of the car, prices, interest rates, and so on. Some of the
groups may find that it is impossible to purchase a car and then also insure it. In
contrast, the “very wealthy” groups will find that they can spend hundreds of thou-
sands of dollars on their car (Mercedes Maybach, Maserati, Ferrari, etc.). The Na-
tional Center for Children in Poverty has a family budget calculator that may be
helpful to students.
8. A variant on the previous exercise would be to assign students to a social class, and
then tell them they have just won five thousand dollars. Ask them to indicate how
members of each class would likely spend the money.
VIDEO SUGGESTIONS
Generation M: Misogyny in Media and Culture. This program explores sexism in the media. It
examines the hypersexualization of commercial products aimed at girls, violence in video games,
and stereotypes of femininity and feminism. 2008. 58 minutes. Insight Media. 2162 Broadway,
New York, NY 10024-0621. 800-233-9910.
Brain Sex. This program shows that brain chemistry does not fit neatly into male and female cate-
gories. It presents scientific experiments that explore such sex-related brain functions as emotion-
al recognition, empathy, competition, communication, and basic cognition. 2005. 51 minutes.
Insight Media. 2162 Broadway, New York, NY 10024-0621. 800-233-9910.
Born With a Wooden Spoon: Welcome to Poverty USA. This program focuses on the consequenc-
es of poverty; multigenerational poverty is also discussed. 2006. 60 minutes. Insight Media. 2162
Broadway, New York, NY 10024-0621. 800-233-9910.
People Like Us: Social Class in America. This video explores social class issues in the United
States. Topics covered include race, class, social mobility, the class structure, and lifestyle. 2002.
124 minutes. Insight Media. 2162 Broadway, New York, NY 10024-0621. 800-233-9910.
SUGGESTED READINGS
Carr, Patrick J. and Maria J. Kefelas. 2010. Hollowing Out the Middle: The Rural Brain Drain
and What It Means for America. Boston: Beacon Press.
Ehrenreich, Barbara and Deirdre English. 2005. For Her Own Good: Two Centuries of the Ex-
perts’ Advice to Women. New York: Anchor/Random House Books.
Hansen, Karen V. 2005. Not-So-Nuclear Families: Class, Gender, and Networks of Care. Pisca-
tawny, NJ: Rutgers University Press.

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26 Instructor’s Manual and Test Bank For Exploring Marriages & Families
Hill, Shirley and Susan J. Ferguson. 2008. Families and Social Class: Families in the 21st Centu-
ry. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Korgen, Kathleen Odell. 2010. Multiracial Americans and Social Class: The Influence of Social
Class on Racial Identity. New York: Routledge.
Laureau, Annette. 2003. Unequal Childhoods: Class, Race and Family Life. Berkeley, CA: Uni-
versity of California Press.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. An important theme in this chapter is the role played by social class. Football coach
Barry Switzer is famous for the following quote: “Some people are born on third
base, and go through life thinking they hit a triple.” Have students discuss the sig-
nificance of this quote for social class. How can students who are born in the mid-
dle and upper social classes understand the lived experiences, the challenges, and
the stresses experienced by those who live in the working class or the underclass?
2. Have students discuss the connection between gender socialization and the division
of household labor. Given that statistics show a majority of women still do a dis-
proportionate share of household chores, what social forces might work to change
this?
3. Have students read the Washington Post article “The High Cost of Poverty: Why
the Poor Pay More,” (DeNeen L. Brown, 5/18/2009) and then have them discuss the
implications of regressive taxes, substandard housing, inadequate public transporta-
tion, and so on for the family.
4. While most students will agree that the Federal Poverty Guidelines are unrealistic,
few have thought about the consequences of changing the guidelines. Have the class
analyze the implications of raising the bar to $30,000 dollars for a family of four.
What positive outcomes would result? What negative outcomes would result?
5. Given that the United States is increasing in diversity, when will institutionalized
discrimination cease to be a problem? Or, will it always be with us in some form or
the other?
6. In many cases, students overlook the role of power in culture (e.g., false conscious-
ness); they may conclude that if women support genital cutting, then what is the
harm? Have them apply the conflict perspective to this issue.

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27
CHAPTER 3
Building Relationships
CHAPTER SUMMARY
Interpersonal relationships are shaped by macro-level social and cultural factors. These increase or
decrease the chances of remaining single, dating, cohabiting, and marrying. There are four types of
singles: the voluntary temporary single, the voluntary stable single, the involuntary stable sin-
gle, and the involuntary temporary single. Friendships, another type of interpersonal relationship,
vary by gender, race, ethnicity, and social class. Men and women have about the same number of
friends, but men’s friendships appear less personal or intimate than women’s do. Members of the
working class are more likely to have enduring friendships than are those in the middle classes.
Cross-sex friendships present many challenges. Industrialization and consumerism have played
roles in changing the nature of courtship from parent directed and supervised to self-directed, with
less parental involvement. A separate period of life known as adolescence emerged, which had a
significant impact on courtship patterns. Dating became associated with fun and entertainment.
Popular students were found to have more dates than those who were not. Waller’s research on
dating couples found that the level of emotional attachment between dating partners varied signifi-
cantly. He coined the term principle of least interest to describe the unequal emotional involve-
ment between romantic partners. Thus, dating is more distinct from mate selection than in the past.
Relationships (romantic and non-romantic) tend to be homogamous because of propinquity and
parental pressure to choose those who are similar to us. Most dating partners still meet in tradition-
al places, for example, work, school, friends, and family. Still, gendered scripts continue to exist
with respect to dating. Reasons for heterosexual cohabitation have varied over the past century.
Today, cohabitation is very common, and attitudes toward it are more favorable than in the past.
However, cohabitation is no guarantee of subsequent marital stability. Overall, research on gay and
lesbian relationships do not find many significant differences; however, some research suggests
that same-sex couples may actually be closer, more open, and more autonomous than heterosexual
couples.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After reading Chapter 3, students should be able to:
1. Analyze a typology of singlehood.
2. Describe issues surrounding friendships.
3. Identify the influences on dating, courtship, and mate selection.
4. Describe heterosexual cohabitation.
5. Discuss gay and lesbian intimate relationships.

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28 Instructor’s Manual and Test Bank For Exploring Marriages & Families
CHAPTER OUTLINE
I. ANALYZE SINGLEHOOD
A. We may all be born single, but very few of us remain that way forever. Only about 4 per-
cent of people never marry—a number that has remained stable for generations. Howev-
er, what is different today is the large and growing number of people who delay marriage,
who prefer to cohabit instead of marrying, or who are divorced.
B. How Many Stay Single? It Depends on How You Define It
1. The U.S. Census Bureau classifies people into one of several specific groups: “nev-
er married,” “married,” “separated,” “divorced,” and “widowed.” Can you see a
problem with this classification? It ignores the social meaning of being single. Peo-
ple like Jono and Meghan, who live together, are classified as “never married,” im-
plying that they are single even though they have a committed partner. Divorced
and widowed persons, who are single, are not classified as such.
C. What Does It Mean to Be Single? A Useful Typology
1. If we want to broaden our understanding of singles, we should ask two critical ques-
tions: (1) Is it voluntary? and (2) Is it temporary? Together, these two dimensions
yield four very different groups of singles.
a) Voluntary temporary singles: Many so-called single people are really just de-
laying marriage. They may be pursuing higher education or establishing them-
selves in a career.
b) Voluntary stable singles: Voluntary stable singles want to be single, and want
to be so for life. Catholic priests and nuns, for example, take a vow of celibacy.
In most states, same-sex couples cannot legally marry, and therefore would be
categorized as voluntary stable singles.
c) Involuntary temporary singles: Involuntary temporary singles are those who
would like to be married, but cannot seem to find a partner.
d) Involuntary stable singles: A small number of people who would like to be
married never will be.
II. FRIENDSHIPS
A. Some of our most important and intimate relationships are with our friends. Friendships
not only provide companionship but they are also good for our health. Having close
friends that you can confide in may help you live longer. Friends have been shown to
lower blood pressure, heart rates, and cholesterol levels. Friendships perform a myriad of
duties: They support us, help us build communities, enhance our self-esteem, and teach
us about ourselves and others.
B. Being Friends: Sex Differences
1. Researchers looking at same-sex friendships have compared the quality and quanti-
ty of men’s and women’s attachments. Men and women have about the same num-
ber of friends, but men’s friendships appear less personal or intimate than women’s.
Women are more verbal and self-disclosing with their friends, while men spend
time with other men engaging in activities.
2. A study of adolescents found several important differences in same-sex friendships.

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