11 Families and Intimate Relationships

Families in GLobaLPerspective

FamiLy StructureandCharacteristics MarriagePatterns Patterns of Descent and Inheritance Power andAuthority in Families ResidentiaLPatterns

TheoreticaL Perspectives on Families

FunctionalistPerspectives Conflict andFeminist Perspectives Symbolic InteractionistPerspectives Postmodernist Perspectives

DeveLoping Intimate ReLationships andEstabLishing Families

Love and Intimacy Cohabitation andDomesticPartnerships MarriageHouseworkandChild-Care Responsibilities

Child-ReLated Family Issues andParenting

Deciding to Have Children AdoptionTeenagePregnancies Single-Parent HouseholdsTwo-Parent HouseholdsRemaining Single

Transitions and ProbLems in Families

Family TransitionsBased onAge and the Life CourseFamily ViolenceChildren in FosterCare Elder AbuseDivorceRemarriage

Family Issues in the Future

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M

yson began commuting betweenhis two homes at age4. Hetraveledwitha Hello Kittysuitcase with a pretend lock and keyuntilitembarrassed him....Hegraduated to a canvasbackpack filled witharevolvingarsenal of essentialstuff: books and journals, plastic vampire teeth,"Star Trek" Micro Machines, a Walkman, CD's,a teddybear. Thecommuter flights between San Francisco and LosAngeles weretheonlytimes a parent wasn't lording over him, so he was able to order Coca-Cola,verboten at home.... But such benefits were insignificant when contrastedwith his preflightnightmares about plane crashes.... Lik esomany divorcing couples, wedivided the china andart and our young son.... First he was ferried back and forth between our homes across town,andthen, when his mother moved to Los Angeles,across thestate.For the eightyears since, hehas beenone ofthethousands ofAmerican childrenwith two homes, two beds, twosets of clothes andtoys and two toothbrushes.

-Severalyearsago,David Shef f (1995:64),explaining how divorce and joint custody had af fected hisson,NickSheff

mostworkplaces,jobs are either gender segregatedor themajority of employees are of the same gender.Al- though the degree of gender segregation inthe prof es- sional workplace hasdeclinedsince the

197 0s,

racial and ethnicsegregation remains deeply embedded.

•How is occupationaL segregation reLated to thepay gap?

Many womenwork in lower-paying,less-prestigious jobsthan men. This occupational segregation leadsto adisparity,or paygap,between women's andmen's earnings. Evenwhen women are employed inthe samejobasmen,on average theydo not receivethe same, or comparable, pay.

Key Terms

body consciousness 292 comparableworth306 feminism 311 gender 292 genderbias 301 gender identity292 genderrole 292 hermaphrodite 289 homophobia292 matriarchy294 patriarchy294 paygap 305 pnmarysex characteristics 288

Questions for Critical Thinking

1. Do themediareflectsocietalattitudes on gender, or dothe mediadetermineand teachgenderbe- havior?

( As

a related activity,watch televisionf or several hours, and list the roles for womenand men depicted in programs and those represented inadvertising.) 2. Examine the variousacademic departmentsat your college. What is the gender breakdownof the

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Supplement your review of thischapter by goingto thecompanionwebsite to take one of the tutorial quizzes,use theflash cardsto master k eyterms,and check out themanyotherstudy aidsyou'll find

•How do functionalists and conflict theorists dif-fer in their view of division of Labor by gender?

According to functionalist analysts,women'sroles as caregiversin contemporary industrializedsocieties are crucial in ensuring that key societal task s are f ulfilled. While the husband performstheinstrumental tasks of economic support and decision making,the wife assumes the expressive tasksof providingaffection andemotionalsupportf or the f amily.Accordingto conflictanalysts, thegendered divisionof labor within families and theworkplace-particularly in agrarianand industrialsocieties-resultsf rommale control and dominance overwomen and resources. secondary sex characteristics 288 sex 288 sexism 294 sexualorientation290 transsexual 289 transvestite289 faculty inselected departments? Whatisthe gender breakdownof undergraduates andgraduate studentsin thosedepartments? Aretherema jor diff erencesamong various academic areasof teach- ingandstudy? What hypothesiscanyoucome up with toexplain your observations? there.You'll also findspecial features suchas GSS Data andCensus2000information thatwill put data and resources at your fingertips to help youwith thatspecialproject or helpyou dosomeresearchon your own.

Four years later, Nick Sheff stated his own view onlong-distance joint custody:

l

am16 now and I still travel back and forth, but it's mostly up to meto decide when. I've chosen tospend more time with my friends atthe expense of visits with my mom.When I do go to L.A.,it's like mystepdad put it: I have a cameo role intheir lives. I say my lines and I'm off.It's painful.What's the toll of thisarrangement? I'm always missingsomebody. When I'm in northernCalifornia, I miss my mom andstepdad. But when I'm in L.A.,Imiss hanging out with my friends,my other set of parents and littlebrothers and sisters. After all theseback-and-forth flights, I've learnednot to get too emotionally attached.I have to protect myself.... No childshould be subjected to the hardshipof long-distance joint custody. Toprevent it, maybe there should be anaddition to the marriage vows: Doyou promise [that] ifyou ever havechildren and wind up divorced,[youwill] stay within the samegeographical area as your kids? ...Or how about some common sense?Ifyou move away from your children,

you

have to do the traveling to seethem. (Sheff, 1999: 16)

Changing family patterns and relocations for employmentopportunities have made sights such as this increasinglyf amiliar, as children travel alone to various destinations tobe reunited with a parent or other family member.

N

ick's family is one of millions around theglobe experiencing major change as a re-sult of divorce, death, or some other sig-nificant event. In this chapter, we examine theincreasing complexity and diversity of contemporary