GROUP 4

TOPICS:
FIRST TOPIC: SOCIAL STRATIFICATION
SOCIAL INEQUALITY

SECOND TOPIC: FAMILY

THE FAMILY
A. Basic Concept
1. Functions of the Family
2. Marriage
3. Kinship
B. Family Cultural Variations
1 Marriage Patterns
2. Residential Patterns
3. Patterns of Descent
4. Patterns of Authority
STAGES IN THE FAMILY CYCLE
1.Courtship
2. Settling in: Ideal and Real Marriages
3. Child Bearing
4. The family in Later Life/Aging
ALTERNATIVE FAMILY FORMS
1. Single Parent
2. Cohabitation
3. Same Sex Marriage
4. Staying Single

SOCIAL STRATIFICATION
A. Dimensions of Stratification
1. Class
2. Power
B. System of Stratification
1. Caste System
2. Class System
SOCIAL MOBILITY

MAJOR ENRICHMENT TOPIC

ABORTION

SOCIAL STRATIFICATION
Social Inequality
Social Stratification
Social Mobility
NOR JOHN CEDRIC LAFORTEZA
CATHY FRUGALIDAD

SOCIAL INEQUALITY
NOR JOHN CEDRIC LAFORTEZA

Social Inequality
Is the existence of unequal opportunities and
rewards for different social positions or statuses
within a group or society.
Social inequality has several important
dimensions. Income is the earnings from work or
investments, while wealth is the total value of
money and other assets minus debts. Other
important dimensions include power, occupational
prestige, schooling, ancestry, and race and
ethnicity.
NOR JOHN CEDRIC LAFORTEZA

Social inequality occurs when resources in a given

society
are
distributed
unevenly,
typically
through norms of allocation, that engender specific
patterns along lines of socially defined categories of
persons. While many societies worldwide hold that their
resources are distributed on the basis of merit, research
shows that the distribution of resources often follows
delineations that distinguish different social categories of
persons on the basis of other socially defined
characteristics. For example, social inequality is linked
to racial inequality, gender inequality, and ethnic
inequality as well as other status characteristics and these
forms can be related to corruption.
NOR JOHN CEDRIC LAFORTEZA

1. Gender Inequality
2. Racial and Ethnic Inequality
3. Age Inequality

NOR JOHN CEDRIC LAFORTEZA

Gender Inequality
Sex- and gender-based prejudice and
discrimination, called sexism, are major
contributing factors to social inequality.
Gender discrimination, especially concerning the lower social
status of women, has been a topic of serious discussion not only within
academic and activist communities but also by governmental agencies
and international bodies such as the United Nations. By making use
of gender analysis, researchers try to understand the social expectations,
responsibilities, resources and priorities of women and men within a
specific context, examining the social, economic and environmental
factors which influence their roles and decision-making capacity. By
enforcing artificial separations between the social and economic roles of
men and women, the lives of women and girls are negatively impacted
and this can have the effect of limiting social and economic development.
NOR JOHN CEDRIC LAFORTEZA

Racial and Ethnic Inequality

Racial or ethnic inequality is the result of
hierarchical social distinctions between racial and ethnic
categories within a society and often established based
on characteristics such as skin color and other physical
characteristics or an individual's place of origin or culture.
Even though race has no biological connection, it has become a socially
constructed category capable of restricting or enabling social status. Unequal treatment
and opportunities between such categories is usually the result of some categories being
considered superior to others. This inequality can manifest through discriminatory hiring
and pay practices.
Racial inequality can also result in diminished opportunities for members of
marginalized groups, which in turn can lead to cycles of poverty and political
marginalization. Racial and ethnic categories become a minor category in a society.
Minority members in such a society are often subjected to discriminatory actions resulting
from majority policies, including assimilation, exclusion, oppression, expulsion,
and extermination.
NOR JOHN CEDRIC LAFORTEZA

Age inequality
Age discrimination is defined as the unfair
treatment of people with regard to promotions,
recruitment, resources, or privileges because of their age.
It is also known as ageism: the stereotyping of and
discrimination against individuals or groups based upon their age. It
is a set of beliefs, attitudes, norms, and values used to justify agebased prejudice, discrimination, and subordination. One form of
ageism is adultism, which is the discrimination against children and
people under the legal adult age. An example of an act of adultism
might be the policy of a certain establishment, restaurant, or place
of business to not allow those under the legal adult age to enter
their premises after a certain time or at all.
NOR JOHN CEDRIC LAFORTEZA

SOCIAL STRATIFICATION
NOR JOHN CEDRIC LAFORTEZA

Social Stratification
refers to the ranking of individuals and
groups in any given society.
The hierarchical arrangement and establishment of
social categories that may evolve into social groups as
well as of statuses and their corresponding roles.
An institutionalized pattern of inequality in which social
categories are ranked on the basis of their access to
scarce resources.
NOR JOHN CEDRIC LAFORTEZA

Theories of Social Stratification

1.

The Functionalist Perspective

Sociologist Kingsley Davis and Wilbert Moore believed

that stratification serves an important function in society.
Believed that an unequal distribution of societys
rewards is necessary to encourage people to take on the more
complicated and important work that required many years of
training.

2.

Conflict Theory: Karl Marx

In this view, close-knit groups compete with one

another to gain possession of the scarce resources that are a
source of power.
NOR JOHN CEDRIC LAFORTEZA

Modern Society has two Classes of People:

1.

Bourgeoisie
Owners of the means of production.

2. Proletariat
These are the workers.

Max Webbers
Stratification:
EXAMPLE:

Perspective

on

Social

He believes that stratification exist because of

class and status distinction on of power.
He also argued that owning property such
factories or equipment is only part to determines
a person as a social class, also the power and
prestige we have.
NOR JOHN CEDRIC LAFORTEZA

Webers Dimension of Social Stratification:

1.

Class (Economic Dimension)

Refers to a persons economic positions in a society

which is related to wealth and income.

2.

Status (Social Dimension)

It is associated with a persons prestige, social honor,

or popularity in a society.
Education is open to all, but status segregation is
predicted on where ones obtain educational training.

3.

Power (Political Dimension)

Refers to a persons ability to get their way despite the

resistance of others.
NOR JOHN CEDRIC LAFORTEZA

3 Sources of Power:
1. Class
Base of wealth, power derived from wealth and life
chances.

2.

Social Status

Amount of honor and prestige a person receives from

others in community.

3.

Party

Organizations in which decisions are made to reach the

groups goals.

NOR JOHN CEDRIC LAFORTEZA

System of Stratification:
1.

Caste System

A caste system is social stratification based on ascription or birth. Caste

systems are typical of agrarian societies because the lifelong routines of agriculture
depend on a rigid sense of duty and discipline.

Caste systems shape peoples lives in four crucial ways:

Caste largely determines occupation.
Caste systems generally mandate endogamy.
Caste systems limit outgroup social contacts.
Powerful cultural beliefs underlie caste systems.

2. Class System

Class is not based on religion or law but economic differences between groups
and individual.
Level of social hierarchy is not clear between or within classes.
Class system provides upward and downward social mobility.
It is not completely ascribed status. There is no legal or religious restriction to
mobility.
Intermarriage between the classes is possible.
Class system is meritocratic.
NOR JOHN CEDRIC LAFORTEZA

Three Main Classes:

Upper Class: Wealthy people, employers and
industrialists;
Middle Class: white-collar workers and
professionals;
Working Class: Blue-collar workers and those who
perform manual jobs;
Peasants: Those who perform traditional
agricultural productions and etc..

NOR JOHN CEDRIC LAFORTEZA

SOCIAL MOBILITY
NOR JOHN CEDRIC LAFORTEZA

CATHY FRUGALIDAD

Social Mobility
Individuals are normally recognized in society
through statuses they occupied and roles they enact.
Not only society is dynamic but also the individuals
are dynamic. Social mobility mean move from lower
position to the higher position, secure previous job from
an inferior one.
Thus people in society continue to move up and
down the status scale, this movement is called social
mobility. The study of social mobility is an important is an
important aspect of social stratification.
NOR JOHN CEDRIC LAFORTEZA

Individual & Group Mobility:

Mobility can take place at the individuals as
well as group level. It may take place at the level
of individuals, groups, societies.
Individual Mobility:
When individuals get into seats of political position, they
are said to have achieved individual mobility.

Group Mobility:
Like individuals even groups also attain high social
mobility. The Jews as community in America and Paris as a group
in India. e.g. have been able to attain a relatively high position in
their respective societies.
NOR JOHN CEDRIC LAFORTEZA

Types of Social Mobility:

Sorokin has distinguished between two
types of social mobility mainly
1. Vertical Social Mobility
2. Horizontal Social Mobility
This typology is normally followed by the other sociologist also.

Vertical Social Mobility:

Vertical social mobility refers to the movement of an
individual or people or groups from one status to another. It
involves change in class, occupations or power positions. e.g.
movement from poor class to middle class. From occupation
laborer to the bank clerk.
NOR JOHN CEDRIC LAFORTEZA

Horizontal Social Mobility:

Horizontal mobility is change in position without the
change in status. It indicates a change in position within the
range of the same position or status.
It is movement from one status to its equivalent.
e.g. a college graduate within a degree of chemistry working in
Govt. research chemical institute and after a year he find that
the work seems dull repetitive, with no improvement in sight
then he became a professor in chemistry at a nearby university.
e.g. An engineer working in factory may resign job and join
another factory as an engineer and may work in more or less the
same capacity or join an engineering college and start working
as professor.
NOR JOHN CEDRIC LAFORTEZA

Forms of Vertical Mobility

Upward Mobility
Downward Mobility
Inter- generational Mobility
Intra-generational Mobility
Structural Mobility

CATHY FRUGALIDAD

Upward Mobility
This type of mobility denotes social
ascendance. It denotes the said movement from a
lower social position or status to a higher social
position or status. It reflects social improvements.
e.g. a retail businessman who earns lot of profit
may become a whole sale businessman.
In the same manner the son of a mason
through educational attainments may become a
university professor. Both are two example of
upward mobility indicates an improvement or
ascendance in the status of the concerned person.
CATHY FRUGALIDAD

Downward Mobility
This type of mobility denotes social
descendance or social failure on the part of
individual or group. Sometimes individuals who fail
to maintain their social, political or economic
positions, and lose their statuses.
Often they stand to lose their position e.g.
big businessmen who have invested huge money
in business but face heavy loss. People in high
officers might be denoted due to their corrupt
practices and so on.
CATHY FRUGALIDAD

Inter-generational Mobility
It refers to a change in the status of family members from one
generation to the next, e.g. a plumbers son become the Nazim of
their community. Bus conductors son become the chief minister of a
status.

Intra-generational Mobility
A change in social status which occurs within a persons adult
career Wallace & Wallace e.g. a lecturer in a pre-university college
becoming a professor at the university after his doctoral degree.
A person working as a supervisor in a factory becoming its
Assistant Manager after getting promotion.

Structural Mobility
Social mobility is relatively common in the Soviet Union,
especially structural social mobility, a shift in the social position of
large numbers of people due more to changes in society itself than to
individual efforts.
CATHY FRUGALIDAD

Causes of Vertical Mobility:

The necessity of filling in emptied or vacant

positions.
In most of the societies some upper positions are filled in for a fixed period by
some persons. On the expiry of their term, they will have to be replaced by some new
persons.

Obtaining eligibility by imitating the

the upper strata.

Life-styles

of

There are various criteria by which the social status of the people is
evaluated. Life Styles represent, and people of the lower strata to the upper.

To fill in the social vacuum created.

Because of a lower birth rate within the upper strata, asocial vacuum is
created. This can be filled in by the persons recruited from the lower layers.

Inability to perform the tasks assigned.

The unfitness of many individuals to perform the proper functions relevant to

their stratum often causes vertical mobility.

Effect of widespread changes in the social-cultural

political environment.

FAMILY
The Family
Stages in the Family Cycle
Alternative Family Forms
JEANNIE JARO
MA. GLADYS HAYCO
KRISMARIE JOY LOZADA
MARCO GARCIA
EMI SHAIRA MABINI

THE FAMILY

1.Functions of the family

2.Marriage
3. Kinship

JEANNIE JARO

Family
A social group of two or more people, related by
blood, marriage, or adoption who usually live together. In
other words it is a group of persons directly linked by kin
connections, the adult members of which assume the
responsibility for caring for children.
This is a conventional definition of family. In the technologically
advanced societies, today, some people object to defining only married couples
and children as "families" because it implies that everyone should accept a single
standard of moral conduct. More and more organizations are coming to
recognize families of affinity, that is people with or without legal or blood ties
who feel they belong together and wish to define themselves as a family.

JEANNIE JARO

Functions of the Family

JEANNIE JARO

Functions of the Family:

Stable satisfaction of Sexual needs
Procreation and Rearing of Children
Provision of Home
Socialization

JEANNIE JARO

Essential functions of family

Maclver has divided functions of family into
essential and non-essential types. Under essential
functions he includes mainly three functions such as,
stable satisfaction of sex needs, production and rearing of
children and a provision of home.
But besides these Maclverian functions of family,
family may also perform some other essential functions.
But it must be remembered that essential functions are
those functions which are basic or fundamental in nature
and no other institutions can perform these functions so
successfully as family can. However family performs the
following essential functions:

JEANNIE JARO

(1) Stable satisfaction of Sexual needs:

This is the most important essential function of family.
Family has been performing this functions since the inceptions of
human civilization. It is a well known fact that sex urge is the most
important and powerful instinct and natural urge of human being.
It is the primary duty of family to satisfy the sexual urge of its
members in a stable and desirable way. Through the mechanism of
marriage family regulate the sexual behavior of its members.
Because satisfaction of sex instinct brings the desire for life
long partnership of husband and wife, satisfaction of this sex needs
in a desirable way helps in the normal development of personality.
Ancient Hindu Philosopher Manu and Vatsayan opines that
satisfaction of sex needs is the primary objective of family. If it is
suppressed it creates personality maladjustments.
JEANNIE JARO

(2) Procreation and Rearing of Children:

It is another important sectional function of family.
Necessary arrangement of stable satisfaction of sexual urge
resulted in procreation.
Family provides the legitimate basis for production of children. It
institutionalizes the process of procreation. By performing this function of
procreation family contributes to the continuity of family and ultimately human
race. Hence perpetuation of human race or society is the most important
function of family. Not only the production of children but also child rearing is
another important function of family. Family is the only place where the function
of child rearing is better performed.
It provides food, shelter, affection, protection and security to all its members. It
plays a vital role in the process of socialization of child. It provides healthy
atmosphere in which the personality of the child
develops properly. Family takes care of the child at the time of need. Hence it is
rightly remarked that family is an institution par excellence for the procreation
and rearing of children. It has no parallels.
JEANNIE JARO

(3) Provision of Home:

Family perform another important function of providing a
home for common living to all its members.
It is only in a home that children are born and brought up. Even if
children are born in hospitals in modern time still they are taken care of and
properly nourished in a home only. Because family and a home have no
substitute. In a home all the members of family live together and a child is
brought up under the strict vigilance of all its members. Image All the members
need a home to live happily with comfort, peace and protection. A home
provides emotional and psychological support to all its members. Mans
necessity of love and human response got fulfilled here. Family provides
recreation to its members. In a home family performs the role of a modern club.
Man got peace by living in a home.

JEANNIE JARO

(4) Socialization:
It is another important essential function of family. It is said
man is not born human but made human.
New born human baby became human being after they are
socialized. Family plays an important role in the socialization
process. It is one of the primary agents of socialization. Living in a
family human baby learns norms, values, morals and ideals of
society. He learns culture and acquires character through the
process of socialization. His personality develops in the course of
his living in family. From family he learns what is right and wrong
and what is good or bad. Through socialization he became a social
man and acquires good character.

JEANNIE JARO

Marriage and Kinship

JEANNIE JARO

Marriage
Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a
socially or ritually recognized union or legal contract
between spouses that establishes rights and obligations
between them, between them and their children, and
between them and their in laws as well as society in
general. The definition of marriage varies according to
different cultures, but it is principally an institution in
which interpersonal relationships, usually sexual, are
acknowledged. In some cultures, marriage is
recommended or considered to be compulsory before
pursuing any sexual activity. When defined broadly,
marriage is considered a cultural universal.
JEANNIE JARO

Individuals may marry for several reasons, including

legal, social, libidinal, emotional, financial, spiritual, and
religious purposes. Whom they marry may be influenced by
socially determined rules of incest, prescriptive marriage
rules, parental choice and individual desire. In some areas of
the world, arranged marriage, child marriage, polygamy,
and sometimes forced marriage, may be practiced as a
cultural tradition. Conversely, such practices may be
outlawed and penalized in parts of the world out of concerns
for women's rights and because of international law. In
developed parts of the world, there has been a general trend
towards ensuring equal rights within marriage for women
and legally recognizing the marriages of interfaith or
interracial, and same sex couples. These trends coincide with
the broader human rights movement.
JEANNIE JARO

Kinship
Broadly, kinship patterns may be considered to
include people related by both descent i.e. social
relations during development and by marriage.
Human kinship relations through marriage are
commonly called "affinity" in contrast to the
relationships that arise in one's group of origin, which
may be called one's descent group.
In some cultures, kinship relationships may be
considered to extend out to people an individual has
economic or political relationships with, or other forms
of social connections. Within a culture, some descent
groups may be considered to lead back to Gods or
animal ancestors (totems). This may be conceived of on
a more or less literal basis.
JEANNIE JARO

Types of Kinship
Patrilineal
Patrilineality, also known as the male line or agnatic kinship, is a form
of kinship system in which an individual's family membership derivesfrom and
is traced through his or her father's lineage. It generally involves the
inheritance of property, rights, names, or titles by persons related through
male kin.

Matrilineal
Matrilineality is a form of kinship system in which an individual's
family membership derives from and is traced through his or her mother's
lineage.

Bilateral descent
Bilateral descent is a form of kinship system in which an individual's
family membership derives from and is traced through both the paternal and
maternal sides. The relatives on the mother's side and father's side are equally
important for emotional ties or for transfer of property or wealth. It is a family
arrangement where descent and inheritance are passed equally through both
parents.

JEANNIE JARO

1. Marriage Patters
2. Residential Patterns
3. Pattern of Descent
4. Patterns of Authority

MA. GLADYS HAYCO

Marriage Patterns
Marriage: A legally sanctioned relationship of two or more
people, usually involving economic cooperation as well as
normative sexual activity and childbearing that people
expect to be enduring.
Marriage is the appropriate context for procreation
that is how the concept of illegitimacy comes in. It is a
socially approved mating arrangement usually marked out
by a ritual of some sort (wedding) indicating the couple's
new public status. Cultural norms, as well as laws, identify
people as suitable or unsuitable marriage partners. Incest
taboos prohibit marriage between certain close relatives.
Who is a close relative may vary from society to society. For
example in Pakistan the marriage between first cousins is
allowed but in most of the industrialized societies it has
prohibited by law.
MA. GLADYS HAYCO

Endogamy: The practice of mate selection from the same social category. It

limits marriage prospects to others of the same age, race, religion, or social
class.

Exogamy: The practice that mandates marriage between different social

categories. It could imply an incest taboo, which could also be transformed
into written law.

Monogamy: A form of marriage joining two partners. At a time the two

partners are only in "one union". The two partners may divorce and enter into a
new union at a time, which may be referred to as serial monogamy. This
practice is mostly followed in technologically advanced societies.

Polygyny: A form of marriage uniting one male and two or more females.
Islamic nations four wives, though they have to fulfill certain conditions.

Polyandry: A form of marriage uniting one female with two or more males.
This pattern appears only rarely (often quoted example of Tibet).

Group marriage: A group of men marrying a group of women. It is an odd

situation.

MA. GLADYS HAYCO

Residential Patterns
Just as societies regulate mate selection, so they
designate where a couple resides after marriage. In
preindustrial societies, most newly weds live with one
set of parents, gaining economic assistance and
economic security in the process.
Patrilocal: A residential pattern in which a married
couple lives with or near the husband's family.
Matrilocal: A residential pattern in which a married
couple lives with or near the wife's family.
Neolocal: A residential pattern in which a married
couple lives apart from the parents of both the spouses.
MA. GLADYS HAYCO

Patterns of Descent
Descent refers to the system by which the
members of a society trace kinship over generations.
Most preindustrial societies trace kinship through only
one side of the family the father or the mother. It is also
an orderly way of passing property and other rights to
the next generation.
Patrilineal: A system tracing kinship through males. Children are
related to one another only through their fathers and fathers
typically pass their property on to their sons. It is mostly found in
agrarian societies.
Matrilineal: A system tracing kinship through women.
Bilateral: (two sided descent) A system tracing descent through
both men and women. One may come across this system in
industrial societies portraying gender equality.
MA. GLADYS HAYCO

Patterns of Authority
Patriarchy: A system in which authority is vested in
males male control of a society or a group. This is
the most prevalent system all over the world.
Matriarchy: Authority vested in females female
control of a society or group. True matriarchy
rarely found in history.
Egalitarian: Authority more or less equally divided
between people or groups (husband and wife). In
reality patriarchy continues typical bride takes the
groom's last name children are given the father's
last name.
MA. GLADYS HAYCO

STAGES IN THE FAMILY CYCLE

KRISMARIE JOY LOZADA

1. Courtship
2. Settling: Ideal and Real Marriage
3. Child Bearing
4. Aging

KRISMARIE JOY LOZADA

Courtship
Is the period in a couple's relationship which
precedes their engagement and marriage, or
establishment of an agreed relationship of a more
enduring kind.
During courtship, a couple get to know each other and
decide if there will be an engagement or other such agreement. A
courtship may be an informal and private matter between two
people or may be a public affair, or a formal arrangement with
family approval. Traditionally, in the case of a formal
engagement, it has been perceived that it is the role of a male to
actively "court" or "woo" a female, thus encouraging her to
understand him and her receptiveness to a proposal of marriage.
KRISMARIE JOY LOZADA

Arranged Marriage
Throughout the world, people consider courtship to be too
important to leave to the younger generations.
They represent alliances between families with similar social
standings. Some are married as young as 15. They put little
thought into whether two individuals will be personally
compatible, they only care about culturally compatible.

Romantic Love
Affection and sexual passion for another person is the basis
of marriage. Romantic love is a less stable foundation for
marriage than social and economic consideration. The divorce
rate is higher than those with
arranged marriages. However,
most people fall in love with others of the same race/age/social
class.

Homogamy
Marriage between people of the same social characteristics.
KRISMARIE JOY LOZADA

Settling: Ideal and Real Marriage

Ideal Marriage
Happily Ever After picture.
We fall in love with other not necessarily as they are,
but as we want them to be.
>An endless sexual honeymoon with all-consuming
passion.

KRISMARIE JOY LOZADA

Real Marriage
Only after marriage do people face day to day
routines and responsibilities.
Marital sex does decline over time. Couples with
the most fulfilling sexual relationships experience
the most satisfaction in their marriages. Good sex
and good relationships go together.

KRISMARIE JOY LOZADA

Infidelity
Sexual activity outside of marriage. Thats it.

KRISMARIE JOY LOZADA

Child Rearing
Despite the demands children make on us, adults identify raising
children as one of the greatest joys.
Most people only want three children, instead of 8, the national
average 2 centuries ago. Big families were needed in the pre-industrial
societies to supply labor. It now costs $200,000 to raise a child. ( note the small
families now. ) About 2/3 of parents would like to devote more time to child
rearing, but that means a lower standard of living. Children of working parents
spend time a school but then come home and fend for themselves. Family and
Medical Leave Act in 1993 was passed to allow women to have 90 days of
unpaid leave from work for a new child.

KRISMARIE JOY LOZADA

The Family in Later Life/ Aging

At age 50 raising children is usually completed.
Empty Nest occurs. Couples experience an increase in
understanding and compassion for one another. Some
adults may begin to take care of their elderly parents.
The final transition in married life comes with the death
of spouse. Wives typically outlive their husbands. ( who
have beards by the way ) Men have a harder time
because they keep less friends and have poor
housekeeping skills.

KRISMARIE JOY LOZADA

ALTERNATIVE FAMILY FORMS

1. Single Parent
2. Cohabitation

MARCO GARCIA

Single Parent

A single parent is an uncoupled individual who

shoulders most or all of the day today responsibilities
for raising a child or children.
A mother is more often the primary caregiver in a
single parent family structure that has arisen due to
death of the partner, divorce or unplanned pregnancy.
Historically, death of a partner was a major cause of
single parenting. Single parenting can also result from
the breakup or divorce of coupled parents. Custody
battles, awarded by the court or rationalized in other
terms, determine who the child will spend majority of
their time with. In western society in general, following
the separation of a heterosexual couple, a child is placed
with the primary caregiver, usually the mother, while
the secondary caregiver is usually the father, though the
reverse does happen and joint custody is on the rise.
MARCO GARCIA

Fathers have been the less common primary caregiver in the recent past,
presumably due to the father working most of the day resulting in less bonding
with the children, or possibly a young child needing to still nurse, or if childcare was
necessary while the father works, the mother would be seen to be better suited
while fathers works. This scenario has shifted in recent years, as many fathers are
taking an active parental role as a stay at home dad as more mothers are in the
workforce and being the sole provider to the family, resulting in fathers bonding
and connecting more to their children. Recent years have seen the increasing
incidence and visibility of uncoupled women who choose to be single parents.
When single women seek to get pregnant intentionally in order to
become single mothers by choice (or "choice moms"), they often seek an
anonymous or known sperm donor. Single parent adoption or fostering is also
sometimes an option for single adults who want to raise a family. The
demographics of single parenting show a general increase worldwide in children
living in single parent homes.
Although divorce is one of the main events that leads to single parenting,
it may be that the majority of cases in the US are from pregnancy outside of
wedlock. Single parenting has become a norm in the United States and is a trend
found in multiple other countries. The morality and advisability of single
motherhood has long been debated in the US the topic is less contentious in
Western European countries where all families enjoy more robust state sponsored
social benefits.
MARCO GARCIA

Cohabitation
Living together before or in marriage is a growing option
for many couples.
Cohabitation, when a man and woman live together in a
sexual relationship without being married, was practiced by an
estimated 1.6 million people (16.7 percent of all census families)
in 2011, which shows an increase of 13.9 percent since 2006.
This surge in cohabitation is likely due to the decrease in social stigma
pertaining to the practice. In Quebec in particular, researchers have noted that
it is common for married couples under the age of 50 to describe themselves in
terms used more in cohabiting relationships than marriage: mon conjoint
(partner) or mon chum (intimate friend) rather than mon mari (my husband)
(LeBourdais and Juby 2002). In fact, cohabitation or common law marriage is
much more prevalent in Quebec (31.5 percent of census families) and the
northern territories (from 25.1 percent in Yukon to 32.7 percent in Nunavut)
than in the rest of the country (13 percent in British Columbia, for example)
(Statistics Canada 2012).
MARCO GARCIA

Cohabitating couples may choose to live together in an effort to

spend more time together or to save money on living costs.
Many couples view cohabitation as a trial run for marriage. Today,
approximately 28 percent of men and women
cohabitated before their first marriage. By comparison, 18 percent of men and
23 percent of women married without ever
cohabitating (U.S. Census Bureau 2010). The vast majority of cohabitating
relationships eventually result in marriage only 15 percent of men and women
cohabitate only and do not marry. About one half of cohabitators transition
into marriage within three years (U.S. Census Bureau 2010).
While couples may use this time to work out the kinks of a
relationship before they wed, the most recent research has found that
cohabitation has little effect on the success of a marriage. Those who do not
cohabitate before marriage have slightly better rates of remaining married for
more than 10 years (Jayson 2010). Cohabitation may contribute to the increase
in the number of men and women who delay marriage. The average age of
first marriage has been steadily increasing. In 2008, the average age of first
marriage was 29.6 for women and 31 for men, compared to 23 for women and
25 for men through most of the 1960s and 1970s (Milan 2013).
MARCO GARCIA

3. Same Sex Couples

4. Staying Single

EMI SHAIRA MABINI

Same Sex Marriage

There is some concern from socially conservative
groups, especially in the United States, regarding the
well being of children who grow up in same sex
households, research reports that same sex parents are
as effective as opposite sex parents. In an analysis of 81
parenting studies, sociologists found no quantifiable
data to support the notion that opposite sex parenting
is any better than same sex parenting. Children of
lesbian couples, however, were shown to have slightly
lower rates of behavioral problems and higher rates of
self esteem (Biblarz and Stacey 2010).
EMI SHAIRA MABINI

Staying Single
Although both single men and single women report social
pressure to get married, women are subject to greater scrutiny.
Single women are often portrayed as unhappy spinsters
or old maids who cannot find a man to marry them. Single men,
on the other hand, are typically portrayed as lifetime bachelors
who cannot settle down or simply have not found the right girl.
Single women report feeling insecure and displaced in their
families when their single status is disparaged (Roberts 2007).
However, single women older than 35 report feeling secure and
happy with their unmarried status, as many women in this
category have found success in their education and careers. In
general, women feel more independent and more prepared to
live a large portion of their adult lives without a spouse or
domestic partner than they did in the 1960s (Roberts 2007).
EMI SHAIRA MABINI

The decision to marry or not to marry can be based a

variety of factors including religion and cultural
expectations. Asian individuals are the most likely to marry
while black North Americans are the least likely to marry
(Venugopal 2011).
Additionally, individuals who place no value on
religion are more likely to be unmarried than those who
place a high value
on religion. For black women, however, the importance of
religion made no difference in marital status (Bakalar 2010).
In general, being single is not a rejection of marriage rather,
it is a lifestyle that does not necessarily include marriage. By
age 40, according to census figures, 20 percent of women
and 14 of men will have never married (U.S. Census Bureau
2011).
EMI SHAIRA MABINI

MAJOR ENRICHMENT TOPIC:

ABORTION: FEMALE INFANTICIDE
EMI SHAIRA MABINI

Abortion
A medical procedure used to end a
pregnancy and cause the death of the
fetus.
Selective abortion
Most abortions are caused because
the pregnancy is unplanned and having a
child causes a crisis for the woman.
EMI SHAIRA MABINI

EMI SHAIRA MABINI

Therapeutic abortions result from a medical problem

where allowing the pregnancy to continue to birth would
endanger the woman's health.
Selective abortions, which are a small fraction of all
abortions, occur in those cases where a particular fetus is
perceived as having undesirable characteristics. Selective
abortion is also done when there are too many fetuses in a
pregnancy. These include cases where:
the unborn child is a girl, and the parents, for cultural or
other reasons, want a boy
the fetus is defective
the fetus does not suit the parents in some other way
the pregnancy is intended to produce a child with specific
genetic properties, and this fetus doesn't have them

EMI SHAIRA MABINI

Fertility treatment
A different sort of selective abortion occurs when
the pregnancy involves several fetuses, and unless one
or more are aborted all the fetuses will be endangered
therefore some of the unborn must be removed for the
good of the others. This case is usually a result of
fertility treatment.
The ethics of selective abortion Selective
abortions raise all the other ethical issues associated
with abortion, but they raise several issues of their own
as well.
EMI SHAIRA MABINI

Sex selective abortion

Modern medicine allows parents to learn the sex
of a baby before it is born, and in some cultures this can
lead to a fetus being aborted if it is female. In the 2000s
this has been of particular concern in India, where it is
partly responsible for a low and declining population
ratio of women to men there were 972 females against
1,000 males in 1901 and 933 females against 1,000
males in 2001. The Hindu newspaper reported in 2002
that "in Delhi, one in seven female fetuses is said to be
aborted."
EMI SHAIRA MABINI

Similar issues have caused concern in South Korea and China. The
preference for male children is part of the general inequality of women in
some cultures. This is largely economic and due to reasons like these:
Family continuity depends on sons
Girls cannot hold property in some societies so a male child is
essential for a family to retain its wealth
Girls are transitory members of a family they marry and leave
home
even while girls remain in the family they generally earn less than
boys
The family may have to produce a dowry when a girl child
marries (this could be regarded as a back door way of a woman
getting to inherit some of the family wealth)
Boys bring in a dowry when they marry, adding to the family
wealth
A wife's status (and thus her economic security) is not
consolidated until she produces a so the trend to small families
means that parents don't want to have several girl children before
having a son
EMI SHAIRA MABINI

The practice of aborting female fetuses not only stems

from a demeaning attitude to women, but reinforces it.
Surprisingly this attitude to women is so deeply ingrained that it
is commonly found in women as well as men.
It would be easy to regard female infanticide and
(nowadays) feticide as ancient practices that the modernization
of society should soon finish off. But some Indian social scientists
disagree, and regard it: not as a relic of an atavistic past, but as
consequence of a narrowly based, consumerist path of capitalist
development within a framework of strong patriarchy and son
preference, and an environment of universalization of the small
family norm.
At an awareness camp for school children conducted by
an NGO in an infanticide prone area the children were asked who
they preferred for a sibling boy or girl. 99 per cent of them
favored boys girls, they said, cost more to their parents.
EMI SHAIRA MABINI

EMI SHAIRA MABINI