SOCA01H3 Lecture Notes - Social Reproduction, Nuclear Family, Stepfamily
Document Summary
Decline in the traditional nuclear family because marriage are decreasing, divorce rates are rising, larger number of children are being raised outside of marriage, lots of children being raised in single parent homes. 50% of canadian children spend time in a single parent home up until their 18. If you are in a common law (live together but aren"t married) situation the government sees that as a kind of marriage. If a common law marriage splits up you may be looking at support payments. Family is considered the fundamental unit for society. Functionalists say that society could not survive without family. The family does a great service to society by socializing; socializing children and preparing them for school. Sexual regulation is a function because we want to maintain kinship organization (ex. The incest taboo is close to being universal. In bilateral systems the incest system applies to close relatives, parents, siblings, grandparents, etc.
