ANT 2103 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Nuclear Family, Air Canada, Heterosexuality
16 May 2018
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ANT 2103
Tuesday, January 16, 2018
•ANT 2103
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••" What is a family?#
•o"We are so “familiar” that family implicitly appears as a self-evident institution, a
natural “given” #
•o"Some people think family is universal ... not completely true #
•o"Different people, different thoughts on what family is#
•o"Some people consider pets, best friends as family#
•o"“popular representation” of family .. media representation, “nuclear” family, main
stream, parents are heterosexual#
•o"popular representation ... make us think that this family type is universal #
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•o"pets are considered as family in 50% of households … pet owners are said to
spend more money on pets than their own children#
•o"human and non-human#
••" Family is not natural… is motherhood natural#
•o"The connection between and her children and doesn’t always and everywhere
have the effect that the mother is responsible for raising her children#
•o"Among the tupi kawahib Indians of central brazil, where a man can marry
several sisters, / a mother and daughters she has had other men, the children,
are raised by all co-owners #
•o"There are societies where family, understood as quasi-permanent associations
of a man, a woman and their children#
••" Definitions of family …: religious, legal, / official-based meaning of family, and may not
be consistent with public / scholarly definition. #
••" Statistic Canada definition of family: #
•o"A married couple (with / w/o children of either / both spouses), a couple living
common – law (w/ or w/o children of either or both partners,0 or a lone parent
of any marital status, with at least one child living in the same dwelling. A
couple living in common law may be of opposite sex or same sex. “children”
in a census family includes blood, step -, or adopted sons and daughters
(regardless of age / marital status) who are living with their parent(s), as well as
grandchildren living with their grandparent(s) but with no parents present. #
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•o"Aboriginal families in Canada have a different conception of a family#
•o"Economic#
•o"Correctional service of Canada family definition:#
• " …#
••" Air Canada definition of family:#
•o"… #
••" economic definition of family:#
•o"restaurants, museums, and amusement parks offer special deals only to
families. Of course, they often have some kind of definition of what constitutes
a family.#
••" Nuclear family:#
•o"Husband, wife and children#
••" Extended Family:#
•o"Family of orientation: the family that we are born into and raised in #
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ANT 2103
Tuesday, January 16, 2018
•o"Family of procreation: the family that we form through marriage and co-
habitation, and in which we raise our children#
••" Many families don’t fit into these categories
••" Intentional families: two or more individuals, not related by blood or marriage, who call
themselves a family and may share residence, finances, a common lifestyle
••" Ideological responses
••" Different theories
••" Definition of family has a political representation
••" “hospital” situation: who is considered family?
••" What is a theory?
•o"The process of systematically developing and organizing ideas to explain
phenomena, and a theory is the total set of empirically testable,
interconnected ideas formulated to explain those phenomena’s
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ANT 2103
Tuesday, January 16, 2018
• There are different definitions of family: #
•Religious, legal, / official - based meanings of family, and may not be consistent with
public / scholarly definitions#
•Many ideological responses#
•No single definition#
•Definition of family is socio-historical situated : definitions change according to culture,
time and space#
•… different theories : theory is also related with society (old thinking) .. connected with
values of society#
• Structural Functionalist Theory:#
•Family is understood as a social institution #
•Other institutions: schools, workplaces, and the healthcare system #
•Place of socialization, value and norms and shaped individually #
•institution: an institution is a structured set of value, norms, roles and behaviours shared
by a number of individuals#
•An organization food for a religious, educational, professional / social purpose#
•Institution also plays the role of a place of socialization for individuals#
•Family is a social institution, and is the main institution according to theorists #
•Idea of function#
•Focuses on stability … ignores topics such as abuse and violence#
•Tends to assume that society has one set of norms and values, something that is not true
of a multicultural society such as Canada#
•Father/husband - financial#
•Women - personal care of family members .. especially children#
•The family as a social institution #
•Five basic functions#
•Reproduction#
•Socialization#
•A lifelong process in which the cultural knowledge of how to survive and how to
take part in social life is passed on to each generation;#
•Socialization is the process of learning and internalization of cultural models,
values and social norms that make possible the integration of individuals into
the society #
•Question: can you identify some knowledge that you learned by socialization
in your family? #
•Social placement#
•Economic support#
•Emotional support#
•For structural functionalists, when the family performs all these functions well, social
stability results #
•“leave it to Beaver”#
•Gendered roles#
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