Chapter 14 Discussion - Variations in Family Life

Sociology Homework

Chapter 14 Discussion

In this chapter we learn about Marriage and the Family which is the first social institution of the course. As you know social institutions are social structures in societies and macro level of analysis in sociology.

In Chapter 14: Page 313 of your book, we study Variations in Family Life.

Read below and answer the weekly question:

“Variations in Family Life - The combination of husband, wife, and children that 99.8 percent of people in the United States believe constitutes a family is not representative of 99.8 percent of U.S. families. According to 2010 census data, only 66 percent of children under seventeen years old live in a household with two married parents. This is a decrease from 77 percent in 1980 (U.S. Census 2011). This two-parent family structure is known as a nuclear family, referring to married parents and children as the nucleus, or core, of the group. Recent years have seen a rise in variations of the nuclear family with the parents not being married. Three percent of children live with two cohabiting parents (U.S. Census 2011).”

1.Discuss in detail the examples of Variations in Family life – such as Cohabitation, Single-Parent Households, and Same-Sex couples.

2.Tell the class five facts of each about the family life of this variations and whether society openly accepts and agrees with these variations with examples.