SOC101Y1 Chapter Notes - Chapter 11: Talcott Parsons, Premarital Sex, Symbolic Interactionism
Document Summary
Family: any social unit, or set of social relations that does what families are popularly imagined to do, by whatever means to do so. View family as a central institution in society microcosm of society with individual family members coming together in a unified and productive whole. Expect changes in a family to mirror changes in the larger society. Talcott parsons & robert bales views the family"s division of labour as the key to its success (specialization that family institution accomplishes several important functions regulation, psychology, materials) Ronald immerman & wade mackey almost all marriage systems across the world support monogamy, and this is the most efficient in human life. Reduces risk of stis, out-of-wedlock birth, infant morbidity, violent crime, etc. Monogamous societies tend to function better than communities that do not maintain pair bonding. Some functionalists argue that cohabitation is inferior to traditional (legal) marriage.
