Family & marriage Essay

1. The U.S. Census Bureau defines family as two or more people living together who ar related by birth, marriage, or adoption. Heterosexual or Homosexual unmarried partners ar excluded from this traditional definition. Many people object to the Census Bureaus definition. The journal of Marriage and Family, a scholarly journal about families published by the National council on Family Relations, opts for a broader, more exclusive definition verbalise that a family is a relationship by blood, marriage or affection, where members of the family gather economically, may cargon for children, and can consider their identity to be about connected by a larger group. It can include a family of orientation, which is the family that you were born into, and a family of procreation, which is the family that you make through marriage, partnering and/or parenthood.This text in addition includes fictive kin in its definition of family. Fictive kin are nonrelatives whose bonds are strong and int imate, such as the relationships shared among unmarried man or heterosexual partners, or close friends. Chapter 1, pg 3-5. 2. Regulation of Sexual expression All cultures regulate sexual behavior, including who can comport sex with whom and below what circumstances they must(prenominal) do so. A virtually regulation is the incest out(p) that forbids sexual activity among close family members. Reproducing and Socializing Children Each society must produce new members and ensure sociableization, teaching children the rules, expectations and culture of society. Property and heritage For much of human history, when people were nomadic hunters and gatherers, families owned little or nothing of their own, and so had nothing to pass down. Agriculture made it realizable for people to own property, or to obtain a surplus beyond what was needed to survive, therefore, it became important to identify heirs. Economic Cooperation A family is the group responsible for providing its members with food, shelter, clothing and other basic necessities.Social Placement, Status, and Roles Families give their members a social identity and position. Members find their place in the complex web of emplacement and roles. Care, Warmth, Protection, and Intimacy Humans need far more than food, shelter, and clothing to survive. Families are intended to provide the ablaze care needed to survive and thrive. Chapter 1, pg 6-7. 10. leanness comes in many different acts, sizes and colors. ridiculous families face a higher(prenominal) degree of stress, disorganization, ad other issues in their life.Poverty is hard on every one, but it weighs especially heavy on childrens physical, social, and excited health. Poverty puts the health of children at risk in many ways, including a low birth weight, which increases chances of serious chronic and acute illness, along with emotional and behavioral problems.Poverty has a negative effect on the tincture and stimulation of the home environmen t. Poor children on welfare who were between the ages of 13 and 36 months hear only half as many dustup per hour as the average working class child. Poor children have a higher probability of being abused, neglected, and more severely wound by abuse. On average, poor children have fewer resources for learning in the home, including books and educational toys. Because poor families cannot pay high rent they often survive in housing that may lack proper cooking, heating, or sanitation. Poor children live in inner cities where violence, crime truancy, loitering, and a sense of despondency predominate. Chapter 2, pgs 63-65. 11. We are all made up of many different characteristics.We arent simply male or female, Asian American or Hispanic, liberal or poor. A person may be a uncontaminating working-class female, a Japanese American upper-class male, a Cuban middle-class male, a white upper-class female, or any do of other racial, ethnic, gender, sex, and class combination. We have multiple statuses and they all interact to spurt our lives. Our statuses intersect with one another. Sex and gender, race and ethnicity, and social class, individually and together, shape a constellation of privileges and constraints that can affect our goals, opportunity, choices, and experiences. They influence family structure we are born into, the way our parents raise us, our choices and opportunities in intimate relationships, how we parent, and how we age. Chapter 2, pg 67.