Families in Canada Unit 3 Review

Sex

• refers to the physical and biological attributes of men and women 

  • includes the chromosomal, hormonal, and anatomical components of males and females

Gender

• refers to the social, psychological and cultural attributes of masculinity and femininity, many of which are based on biological distinctions

  • includes people’s self image and expectations for behavior among other things 

  • describes societal attitudes and behaviors expected of and associated with the two sexes.

Gender Identity

• refers to the degree to which an individual sees herself or himself as feminine or masculine based on society’s definitions of appropriate gender roles.

Gender Characteristics

• sex is considered to be an ascribed status while gender is an achieved status 

  • Example: What physical, emotional, or other characteristics are considered “masculine” or “feminine”?

Gender Roles

• Expectations regarding proper behavior, attitudes, and activities of males and females 

• are evident in work and in how we react to others

Gender role socialization

• is “...a lifelong process  whereby people learn the values, attitudes, motivations, and behavior considered appropriate to each sex by their culture” 

  • takes place from earliest childhood through adolescence and throughout all social interactions in which we participate

  • involves conscious social learning 

  • ‘Proper’ behavior is reinforced through rewards while inappropriate behavior is punished 

    • children modify behavior in order to maximize rewards and minimize sanctions

  • Children learn proper behavior for girls and boys through parents, the media, peer groups, and other sources of socialization

  • At an early age, children develop stereotypical conceptions of both genders, and begin to use these conceptions to organize their knowledge and behavior

Functionalist Theory

• suggest that since women give birth and nurse a child, it is natural that they will take care of it in other ways 

• These duties lead to a natural division of labor, in which women are more involved in domestic activities such as preparing meals and maintaining a home 

• Men, therefore are left to engage in breadwinning activities and other economically dominant roles

• Parsons and Bales refer to the roles of men and women as instrumental roles and expressive roles respectively 

• Parsons' women’s role in the family is an ‘expressive role’. What he meant by this is a woman’s familial role is to provide care, love, affection, security and all the necessary emotional support a family member might need. 

• In contrast, Parsons’ men have an ‘instrumental role’ as the breadwinner. 

• Such a role is very arduous and is such a stressful, anxious challenge that it can cause men to breakdown. 

• Therefore a woman’s function is to relieve this burden or tension from the men’s shoulders by providing love and understanding as well as continuing to be the primary carer irrespective of their own circumstances.

Conflict Theory

• Focuses on why gender inequality persists, even though men and women are not tied to traditional roles as might have been the case in earlier times 

• Suggests that men continue to dominate women because of their greater control over economic, political and social resources 

• Because there is no incentive for those in power to give up this control, these arrangements persist far beyond their functional necessity

• Continued domination by males requires a belief system that  supports gender inequality. 

• Two beliefs 

  • Women are inferior outside the home. 

  • Women are more valuable in the home.

Symbolic Interactionist Theory

• is the process of learning how to behave as a boy or girl. 

• Gender is acquired in large part from interaction with parents, teachers, and peers. 

• Gender concepts are also taught through the mass media. 

• This theory believe that boys and girls learn ways of behaving through interaction with parents, teachers, peers, and mass media.

• theory looks at how we engage in meaning-making when we interact with the world around us. 

• According to this theory, our social interactions are shaped by the assumptions we make about others. 

• According to theory, people are capable of change: when we make a mistaken assumption, our interactions with others can help to correct our misconceptions.

Evolutionary Psychology

• The origins of the human characteristics that people find attractive today can be traced back to our prehistoric ancestors. 

• Women preferred to mate with man who would be good fathers, stay around and be good providers for themselves and their children. 

• Man preferred to mate with women who could bear healthy babies (they are fertile), could feed their children, and can raise them well.

• Women seek to “marry up”, seek financial resources in a man even if they have substantial resources of their own. They also seek man who are healthy, intelligent, well-educated, hard working and ambitious – characteristics that make them good providers. 

Hypergamy

• (colloquially referred to as "marrying up") is a term used in social science for the act or practice of a person marrying a spouse of higher caste or social status than themselves. 

• Man are attracted to physically appealing, young, healthy women because these characteristics tend to represent fertility.

Social Exchange Theory

• According to this theory, people analyse relationships according to the costs and benefits, and remain with partners who have positives that outweigh the negatives

  • Ex. Joe is more likely to stay with his partner who is supportive and caring. He values these attributes even though his partner has a low paying job, something he perceives as a negative or ‘cost”

Complementary Needs Theory

• States that we select mates whose needs are opposite and complementary to our own

Social Homogamy

• Individuals are attracted to people from a similar social background, similar appearances or similar levels of attractiveness. 

• In a diverse society, social homogamy is also at play with couples of different races and ethnic backgrounds; they are similar in that they were raised and socialized in same environment ( social/economic)

Conflict/Feminist Theory

• theory highlights the role of power in family life and contends that the family is often not a haven but rather an arena where power struggles can occur. 

• This exercise of power often entails the performance of family status roles. 

• theorists may study conflicts as simple as the enforcement of rules from parent to child, or they may examine more serious issues such as domestic violence (spousal and child), sexual assault, marital rape, and incest.

• The first study of marital power was performed in 1960. Researchers found that the person with the most access to value resources held the most power. 

• As money is one of the most valuable resources, men who worked in paid labor outside of the home held more power than women who worked inside the home 

• theorists find disputes over the division of household labor to be a common source of marital discord. Household labor offers no wages and, therefore, no power. 

• Studies indicate that when men do more housework, women experience more satisfaction in their marriages, reducing the incidence of conflict 

• In general, theorists tend to study areas of marriage and life that involve inequalities or discrepancies in power and authority, as they are reflective of the larger social structure.

Murstein’s Filter Theory

• There are three main categories of filters: 

  • Biological 

  • Social 

  • Psychological

BIOLOGICAL/ATTRACTION FILTERS: 

• Sex 

• Age

• Physical Attractiveness

Social FIlters

• SOCIAL CLASS:  There is an increased chance of marriage success when you marry within your own social class:

• RACE: 97% marry within their own race.

  • However, mixed marriages have a much higher chance of success if they live in a community that is accepting of the marriage. 

• RELIGION:  Most people marry within their own religion. 

  • First, it reduces the amount of marital conflict and 

  • Second, it lessens the complications of child-bearing.

  • Another point to consider is the degree of religiosity of each partner. 

• EDUCATION AND INTELLIGENCE: 

  • The more educated the couple, the better the chances of a successful marriage.

ENDOGAMY

• Marriage within a particular group. 

EXOGAMY

• Marriage outside a particular group.

Psychological Filters

• COMPATIBILITY  FILTER: 

• Based upon conscious and unconscious needs of the couple. 

• Based on childhood experiences. 

• People often marry a person similar to the opposite sex parent. 

• However, they may marry someone opposite of the parent because of their negative reaction to the parent. 

• This is their chance to break the abuse cycle.

•  Personalities go well together? Some considerations: 

  • seriousness or lightness of personality 

  • role compatibility 

  • interests and hobbies (be sure it is the person you are in love with, not just the activity. 

  • achievement orientation 

  • picky, meticulous, detailed, personality type

Stimulus Stage

•  Attraction is physical, mental or social. Keep focus away from physical. 

Value Stage

• Weigh each other’s values to see if compatible.  Usually determined between 2-7 dates (best to breakup here). 

Role Stage

• Analyze behaviors to determine filling roles as lover, companion, friend, worker, spouse and parent.

Sternberg’s Triangular Theory

• developed in the late 1980s by psychologist Robert Sternberg. This theory suggests that people can have varying degrees of intimacy, passion, and commitment at any one moment in time.

• In Dr. Sternberg's theory, the concept of love is a triangle that is made up of three components: 

  • Intimacy, which involves feelings of closeness, connectedness, and bondedness 

  • Passion, which involves feelings and desires that lead to physical attraction, romance, and sexual consummation 

  • Decision/commitment, which involves feelings that lead a person to remain with someone and move toward shared goals

Friendship

• Type of love

• This type of love is when the intimacy or liking component is present, but feelings of passion or commitment in the romantic sense are missing. Friendship love can be the root of other forms of love

Infatuation

• is characterized by feelings of lust and physical passion without liking and commitment. There has not been enough time for a deeper sense of intimacy, romantic love, or consummate love to develop. These may eventually arise after the infatuation phase. The initial infatuation is often very powerful.

Empty Love 

• is characterized by commitment without passion or intimacy. At times, a strong love deteriorates into empty love. The reverse may occur as well. For instance, an arranged marriage may start out empty but flourish into another form of love over time. 

Romantic Love 

• bonds people emotionally through intimacy and physical passion. Partners in this type of relationship have deep conversations that help them know intimate details about each other. They enjoy sexual passion and affection. These couples may be at the point where long-term commitment or future plans are still undecided.

Companionate Love 

• is an intimate, but non-passionate sort of love. It includes the intimacy or liking component and the commitment component of the triangle. It is stronger than friendship, because there is a long-term commitment, but there is minimal or no sexual desire. 

Fatuous Love 

• In this type of love, commitment and passion are present while intimacy or liking is absent. Fatuous love is typified by a whirlwind courtship in which passion motivates a commitment without the stabilizing influence of intimacy. Often, witnessing this leaves others confused about how the couple could be so impulsive. Unfortunately, such marriages often don't work out. When they do, many chalk the success up to luck.

Consummate Love 

• is made up of all three components and is the total form of love. It represents an ideal relationship. Couples who experience this kind of love have great sex several years into their relationship. They cannot imagine themselves with anyone else. They also cannot see themselves truly happy without their partners. They manage to overcome differences and face stressors together.

History of Marriage

• The social institution of marriage is constantly evolving.

• It is a challenge to define a traditional marriage, as they are incredibly varied. 

• What is traditional is really dependent on time and place.

  • Example: For some people, a traditional marriage might be considered a man and a woman raising children. In other cultures, polygamy is considered the norm.

• In the past (and still in some places today), marriage was and is a way to regulate sexual activity and ensure the young will be nurtured and protected.

• The concept of love really did not have a place in marriages.

• From the 18th through to the 20th century in Canada, the concept of happiness became more prevalent, and people started to have more say in their marriage partner. 

• As women gained rights, they started to be viewed more as partners rather than property - and the institution of marriage changed accordingly.

Marriage

•  is a socially legitimate sexual union that begins with a public announcement of some idea of permanence, and is assumed with more or less explicit contract

  • The point is to differentiate it from other couple situations that might be less permanent or more casual

  • The term is in reference to the idea that marriage implies a socio cultural understanding about the rights and responsibilities of individuals within that relationship

Conjugal Union

• Living together in a sexual relationship

Common law couple

• Living together as a couple who are not legally married but have the same rights and responsibilities afforded married couples (with the exception of marriage for some same sec couples who do not have that right or privilege)

Same Sex couple

• A couple in a conjugal relationship that is either married or common law with two members of the same sex

Intermarriage

• or heterogamy means marriage between partners who are from different social, racial, religious, ethnic or cultural backgrounds

• Opposite of homogamy (marriage and mating with a person of a similar socioeconomic status, ethnicity, race, age, education level, and/or religion. It is often a subconscious and natural manner of choosing marriage and sexual mates) 

• is more common in Canada’s urban communities 

• There are no restrictions on intermarriage in Canada

Interracial Couples 

• are the most visible form of intermarriage 

• Canadian couples in interracial unions are more likely to be cohabiting rather than married 

• The major challenge of this is raising a biracial child, because it requires that the couple must first reflect on the role that race plays in determining their own identities

Interfaith Couples 

• Couples who respect each other and are willing to compromise can find ways to share their lives 

• However, individuals from different faith backgrounds have to choose whether to compromise some of their beliefs and customs or to accept their spouse’s beliefs and customs as well as their own

Interethnic Couples 

• Marriage between individuals of different ethnic backgrounds is perhaps the most complex form of heterogamy 

• Ethnicity can be a complex mixture of national and racial heritage, religion and culture 

• In Canada, where many people are “hyphenated Canadians” or have 2 cultures, self-identification as a member of an ethnic group suggests that an individual adheres to the specific value system, family structure and role expectations that are associated with that ethnic group

9 Psychological Tasks Needed for a Good Marriage

1. Separate emotionally from the family you grew up in; not to the point of estrangement, but enough so that your identity is separate from that of your parents and siblings. 

2. Build togetherness based on a shared intimacy and identity, while at the same time set boundaries to protect each partner's autonomy. 

3. Establish a rich and pleasurable sexual relationship and protect it from the intrusions of the workplace and family obligations. 

4. For couples with children, embrace the challenging roles of parenthood and absorb the impact of a baby's entrance into the marriage. Learn to continue the work of protecting the privacy of you and your spouse as a couple 

5. Confront and master the inevitable crises of life.

6. Maintain the strength of the marital bond in the face of adversity. The marriage should be a safe haven in which partners are able to express their differences, anger and conflict. 

7. Use humor and laughter to keep things in perspective and to avoid boredom and isolation. 

8. Nurture and comfort each other, satisfying each partner's needs for dependency and offering continuing encouragement and support. 

9. Keep alive the early romantic, idealized images of falling in love, while facing the sober realities of the changes wrought by time.

10 Factors Affecting Marital Satisfaction 

1. Income… One study found that couples with higher income reported higher levels of marital satisfaction 

2. Age… People who marry slightly above the average age report more satisfaction 

3. Children…Having a few childfree years is helpful

4. Homogamy… Similar backgrounds (family income, educational level of parents and of couple, religion, race, ethnicity) also helps 

5. Lifestyle… Similar values and ideas about lifestyle is a factor 

6. Stage of Marriage… The first few years sited as more satisfactory 

7. Reality Based… Partner is seen more realistically rather than idealized or romanticized 

8. Communication… Good communication skills improve satisfaction 

9. Conflict Resolution Style… Couples who are more successful often resolve conflicts through compromise or collaboration rather than enforcement, acquiescence or withdrawal 

10. Marital Scripts…. these are preformed ideas of how people should interact in marriage that are often based on modeling by parents and therefore are possibly different for two people in the same relationship. Understanding how marital scripts work is important.

Rules about Divorce in Canada

• If you’re pressured into marriage, you should contact the police. 

  • They will protect you. 

• In Canada, only a court can give you a civil divorce. 

• Either spouse may apply for a divorce, but you must prove to the court that your marriage has broken down and that you’ve arranged for the support of any children. 

• It is a crime to marry a Canadian citizen or permanent resident only to gain entry into Canada.

• It’s against the law to be married to more than one person at a time. You can’t come to Canada with more than one spouse, even if you were married to more than one person in the past. 

• It’s also against the law to marry someone in Canada if one of you is already married (it doesn’t matter where or when that marriage took place). 

• You can only remarry if you’re legally divorced or your spouse has died.

• It’s a crime in Canada to: 

  • celebrate, aid or take part in the marriage of a child under 16 years old, even if the child agrees to be married 

  • force anyone into marriage against their will 

  • take part in or preside over a marriage ceremony knowing that one of the parties doesn’t consent to marry 

  • take a person under 18, who normally lives in Canada, to another country to force them to marry

Myth

• If both people are employed outside of the home, then there is no spousal support

True

• Even if the other person does not agree, you can still get a divorce

Myth

Paying child support means getting access to the child

Myth

• Your partner cheated on you so the court will automatically rule in your favour

Myth

• You have to live in the house continuously, so you don’t lose your stake in it

True

• Even if you bought the house before marriage, it can still be divided up during a divorce settlement

Myth

Once you have stayed separate for one year, the marriage is now over