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Sociology

<OpenstaxFigure id="import-auto-id1169033121116" src="https://openstax.org/apps/archive/20240226.174525/resources/4b4e2da92ab8ad42df45dc8341efa681dda60c7a" alt="Two people stand close together. One has a child on their shoulders. The child reaches across and touches the head of the other person." mediaType="image/jpg" width="1000" height="667" />
<OpenstaxFigureText width="1000">
	<strong>Figure 14.3</strong> The ability for parents to socialize and the types of events they can attend is often influenced by the ages and characteristics of their children. Preparing to go out with a four-year-old is usually much easier than doing so with a four-month-old, but the four-year-old needs to be watched more carefully. As children grow and families have more children, and perhaps include extended families, members’ lives and perspective change. (Credit: Elvert Barnes/flickr)
</OpenstaxFigureText>
<OpenstaxParagraph>
	As we’ve established, the concept of family has changed greatly in recent decades. Historically, it was often thought that many families evolved through a series of predictable stages. Developmental or “stage” theories used to play a prominent role in family sociology (Strong and DeVault 1992). Today, however, these models have been criticized for their linear and conventional assumptions as well as for their failure to capture the diversity of family forms. While reviewing some of these once-popular theories, it is important to identify their strengths and weaknesses.
</OpenstaxParagraph>
<OpenstaxParagraph>
	The set of predictable steps and patterns families experience over time is referred to as the <OpenstaxTerm>family life cycle</OpenstaxTerm>. One of the first designs of the family life cycle was developed by Paul Glick in 1955. In Glick’s original design, he asserted that most people will grow up, establish families, rear and launch their children, experience an “empty nest” period, and come to the end of their lives. This cycle will then continue with each subsequent generation (Glick 1989). Glick’s colleague, Evelyn Duvall, elaborated on the family life cycle by developing these classic stages of family (Strong and DeVault 1992):
</OpenstaxParagraph>
<OpenstaxTable id="import-auto-id1169033113916">
	<OpenstaxThead>
		 
		<OpenstaxTr>
			 
			<OpenstaxTh>
				Stage Theory
			</OpenstaxTh> 
		</OpenstaxTr> 
		<OpenstaxTr>
			 
			<OpenstaxTh>
				Stage
			</OpenstaxTh> 
			<OpenstaxTh>
				Family Type
			</OpenstaxTh> 
			<OpenstaxTh>
				Children
			</OpenstaxTh> 
		</OpenstaxTr> 
	</OpenstaxThead>
	<OpenstaxTbody>
		 
		<OpenstaxTr>
			 
			<OpenstaxTd>
				1
			</OpenstaxTd> 
			<OpenstaxTd>
				Marriage Family
			</OpenstaxTd> 
			<OpenstaxTd>
				Childless
			</OpenstaxTd> 
		</OpenstaxTr> 
		<OpenstaxTr>
			 
			<OpenstaxTd>
				2
			</OpenstaxTd> 
			<OpenstaxTd>
				Procreation Family
			</OpenstaxTd> 
			<OpenstaxTd>
				Children ages 0 to 2.5
			</OpenstaxTd> 
		</OpenstaxTr> 
		<OpenstaxTr>
			 
			<OpenstaxTd>
				3
			</OpenstaxTd> 
			<OpenstaxTd>
				Preschooler Family
			</OpenstaxTd> 
			<OpenstaxTd>
				Children ages 2.5 to 6
			</OpenstaxTd> 
		</OpenstaxTr> 
		<OpenstaxTr>
			 
			<OpenstaxTd>
				4
			</OpenstaxTd> 
			<OpenstaxTd>
				School-age Family
			</OpenstaxTd> 
			<OpenstaxTd>
				Children ages 6–13
			</OpenstaxTd> 
		</OpenstaxTr> 
		<OpenstaxTr>
			 
			<OpenstaxTd>
				5
			</OpenstaxTd> 
			<OpenstaxTd>
				Teenage Family
			</OpenstaxTd> 
			<OpenstaxTd>
				Children ages 13–20
			</OpenstaxTd> 
		</OpenstaxTr> 
		<OpenstaxTr>
			 
			<OpenstaxTd>
				6
			</OpenstaxTd> 
			<OpenstaxTd>
				Launching Family
			</OpenstaxTd> 
			<OpenstaxTd>
				Children begin to leave home
			</OpenstaxTd> 
		</OpenstaxTr> 
		<OpenstaxTr>
			 
			<OpenstaxTd>
				7
			</OpenstaxTd> 
			<OpenstaxTd>
				Empty Nest Family
			</OpenstaxTd> 
			<OpenstaxTd>
				“Empty nest”; adult children have left home
			</OpenstaxTd> 
		</OpenstaxTr> 
	</OpenstaxTbody>
</OpenstaxTable>
<OpenstaxTableTitle>
	<strong>Table 14.1</strong>  - This table shows one example of how a “stage” theory might categorize the phases a family goes through.
</OpenstaxTableTitle>
<OpenstaxParagraph>
	The family life cycle was used to explain the different processes that occur in families over time. Sociologists view each stage as having its own structure with different challenges, achievements, and accomplishments that transition the family from one stage to the next. For example, the problems and challenges that a family experiences in Stage 1 as a married couple with no children are likely much different than those experienced in Stage 5 as a married couple with teenagers. The success of a family can be measured by how well they adapt to these challenges and transition into each stage. While sociologists use the family life cycle to study the dynamics of family over time, consumer and marketing researchers have used it to determine what goods and services families need as they progress through each stage (Murphy and Staples 1979).
</OpenstaxParagraph>
<OpenstaxParagraph>
	As early “stage” theories have been criticized for generalizing family life and not accounting for differences in gender, ethnicity, culture, and lifestyle, less rigid models of the family life cycle have been developed. One example is the <OpenstaxTerm>family life course</OpenstaxTerm>, which recognizes the events that occur in the lives of families but views them as parting terms of a fluid course rather than in consecutive stages (Strong and DeVault 1992). This type of model accounts for changes in family development, such as the fact that in today’s society, childbearing does not always occur with marriage. It also sheds light on other shifts in the way family life is practiced. Society’s modern understanding of family rejects rigid “stage” theories and is more accepting of new, fluid models.
</OpenstaxParagraph>
<OpenstaxNote>
	<OpenstaxNoteTitle> Sociology in the Real World </OpenstaxNoteTitle> <OpenstaxH3> The Evolution of Television Families </OpenstaxH3>
	<OpenstaxParagraph>
		Whether you grew up watching the Huxtables, the Simpsons, the Kardashians, or the Johnsons, most of the drama or comedy you saw involved the relationships, tensions, challenges, and sometimes ridiculousness of family life. You may have also seen a great deal of change. The 1960s was the height of the suburban U.S. nuclear family on television with shows such as <OpenstaxEm>The Donna Reed Show</OpenstaxEm> and <OpenstaxEm>Father Knows Best</OpenstaxEm>. While some shows of this era portrayed single parents (<OpenstaxEm>My Three Sons</OpenstaxEm> and <OpenstaxEm>Bonanza</OpenstaxEm>, for instance), the single status almost always resulted from being widowed—not divorced or unwed.
	</OpenstaxParagraph>
	<OpenstaxParagraph>
		Although family dynamics in real U.S. homes were changing, the expectations for families portrayed on television were not. The United States’ first reality show, <OpenstaxEm>An American Family</OpenstaxEm> aired on PBS in 1973. The show chronicled Bill and Pat Loud and their children. During the series, the oldest son, Lance, announced to the family that he was gay, and at the series’ conclusion, Bill and Pat decided to divorce. Although the Loud’s union was among the 30 percent of marriages that ended in divorce in 1973, the family was featured on the cover of the March 12 issue of <OpenstaxEm>Newsweek</OpenstaxEm> with the title “The Broken Family” (Ruoff 2002).
	</OpenstaxParagraph>
	<OpenstaxParagraph>
		Less traditional family structures in sitcoms gained popularity in the 1980s with shows such as <OpenstaxEm>Diff’rent Strokes</OpenstaxEm> (a widowed man with two adopted African American sons) and <OpenstaxEm>One Day at a Time</OpenstaxEm> (a divorced woman with two teenage daughters). Still, traditional families such as those in <OpenstaxEm>Family Ties</OpenstaxEm> and <OpenstaxEm>The Cosby Show</OpenstaxEm> dominated the ratings. The late 1980s and the 1990s saw the introduction of the dysfunctional family. Shows such as <OpenstaxEm>Roseanne</OpenstaxEm>, <OpenstaxEm>Married with Children</OpenstaxEm>, and <OpenstaxEm>The Simpsons</OpenstaxEm> portrayed traditional nuclear families, but in a much less flattering light than those from the 1960s did (Museum of Broadcast Communications 2011).
	</OpenstaxParagraph>
	<OpenstaxParagraph>
		In the early 2000s, the nontraditional family has become somewhat of a tradition in television. While many situation comedies focus on single men and women without children, those that do portray families often stray from the classic structure: they include unmarried and divorced parents, adopted children, gay or lesbian couples, and multigenerational households.
	</OpenstaxParagraph>
	<OpenstaxParagraph>
		In 2009, ABC emphasized the changes in family dynamics with their choice of title for <OpenstaxEm>Modern Family</OpenstaxEm>. The show follows an extended family—which is a household that includes at least one parent and child as well as other relatives like grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins—that consists of a divorced and remarried father with one stepchild and his biological adult children, one of whom is in a traditional two-parent household and the other who is a gay man in a committed relationship raising an adopted daughter. <OpenstaxEm>Black-ish</OpenstaxEm>, which portrays an extended family of African Americans, has at many times dealt with the issue implied by its name: That sometimes what it means to be Black can bring issues of interpretation conflict, especially across generations. For example, the children of the central family have shown interest in “blending in” with their White friends, which brings negative reactions from their grandparents.
	</OpenstaxParagraph>
	<OpenstaxParagraph>
		Other shows, such as <OpenstaxEm>Shameless</OpenstaxEm>, interweave family diversity with complex and painful issues such as addiction. The series has a large cast of characters representing different groups, and central to the series are the roles of children, rather than parents, as family leaders. “The families on shows like this one aren’t as idealistic, but they remain relatable,” states television critic Maureen Ryan. “The most successful shows, comedies especially, have families that you can look at and see parts of your family in them” (Respers France 2010).
	</OpenstaxParagraph>
</OpenstaxNote>

14.1.4 Stages of Family Life

1 An Introduction to Sociology

1.1 What Is Sociology?

1.1.1 What Are Society and Culture?

1.1.2 Studying Patterns: How Sociologists View Society

1.1.3 Studying Part and Whole: How Sociologists View Social Structures

1.2 The History of Sociology

1.2.1 Creating a Discipline: European Theorists

1.2.2 Applying the Discipline: American Theorists and Practitioners

1.3 Theoretical Perspectives in Sociology

1.3.1 Functionalism

1.3.2 Conflict Theory

1.3.3 Symbolic Interactionist Theory

1.3.4 Sociological Theory Today

1.4 Why Study Sociology?

1.4.1 Sociology and a Better Society

1.4.2 Sociology in the Workplace

2 Sociological Research

2.1 Approaches to Sociological Research

2.1.1 The Scientific Method

2.1.2 Interpretive Framework

2.1.3 Critical Sociology

2.2 Research Methods

2.2.1 Surveys

2.2.2 Field Research

2.2.3 Experiments

2.2.4 Secondary Data Analysis

2.3 Ethical Concerns

3 Culture

3.1 What Is Culture?

3.1.1 Cultural Universals

3.1.2 Ethnocentrism and Cultural Relativism

3.2 Elements of Culture

3.2.1 Values and Beliefs

3.2.2 Norms

3.2.3 Symbols and Culture

3.2.4 Language and Symbols

3.2.5 Language and Culture

3.3 High, Low, Pop, Sub, Counter-culture and Cultural Change

3.3.1 High, Low, and Popular Culture

3.3.2 Subculture and Counterculture

3.3.3 Cultural Change

3.4 Theoretical Perspectives on Culture

4 Society and Social Interaction

4.1 Types of Societies

4.1.1 Preindustrial Societies

4.1.2 Industrial Society

4.1.3 Postindustrial Society

4.2 Theoretical Perspectives on Society

4.2.1 Émile Durkheim and Functionalism

4.2.2 Karl Marx and Conflict Theory

4.2.3 Max Weber and Symbolic Interactionism

4.3 Social Constructions of Reality

4.3.1 Roles and Status

4.3.2 Presentation of Self

5 Socialization

5.1 Theories of Self-Development

5.1.1 Psychological Perspectives on Self-Development

5.1.2 Sociological Theories of Self-Development

5.2 Why Socialization Matters

5.2.1 Nature versus Nurture

5.3 Agents of Socialization

5.3.1 Social Group Agents

5.3.2 Institutional Agents

5.4 Socialization Across the Life Course

5.4.1 Resocialization

6 Groups and Organization

6.1 Types of Groups

6.1.1 Defining a Group

6.1.2 Types of Groups

6.1.3 In-Groups and Out-Groups

6.1.4 Reference Groups

6.2 Group Size and Structure

6.2.1 Dyads, Triads, and Large Groups

6.2.2 Group Leadership

6.2.3 Conformity

6.2.4 The Bystander Effect and Diffusion of Responsibility

6.3 Formal Organizations

6.3.1 Types of Formal Organizations

6.3.2 The McDonaldization of Society

7 Deviance, Crime, and Social Control

7.1 Deviance and Control

7.1.1 Deviance, Crime, and Society

7.1.2 Social Control

7.2 Theoretical Perspectives on Deviance and Crime

7.2.1 Functionalism

7.2.2 Conflict Theory

7.2.3 Symbolic Interactionism

7.3 Crime and the Law

7.3.1 Types of Crimes

7.3.2 Crime Statistics

7.3.3 Public Perception of Crime

7.3.4 The U.S. Criminal Justice System

8 Media and Technology

8.1 Technology Today

8.1.1 What Is Technology?

8.2 Media and Technology in Society

8.2.1 Categorizing Technology

8.2.2 Types of Media and Technology

8.2.3 Product Advertising and the Attention Economy

Question	Answer
a sociological model of family that sees the progression of events as fluid rather than as occurring in strict stages	family life course
a set of predictable steps and patterns families experience over time	family life cycle