Unit 3- How have families changed over time?

What was the primary purpose of marriage in Colonial America?

Marriage was primarily a political and economic arrangement rather than a matter of personal love or individual choice. It was focused on property, survival, and social status

Define Coverture.

A legal doctrine under which a married woman's legal rights and citizenship were completely incorporated into her husband's. Wives could not legally own property, keep earned wages, or sign contracts independently.

What is the difference between Matrilineal and Patrilineal descent?

Matrilineal descent transmits family lineage and property through mothers (practiced by many Native American tribes). Patrilineal descent transmits lineage and property through fathers (practiced in European colonial tradition).

What was the Doctrine of Separate Spheres?

A cultural ideal emerging with 19th-century industrialization asserting that men belonged in the public sphere of paid work, while women belonged in the domestic private sphere of the home as a sanctuary.

Define Courtship.

A formal mate-selection process where couples met under strict parental supervision in public, proceeded to dates at the woman's home, and required parental approval before marriage.

How did family size and childrearing shift during the 19th century?

The average number of children per woman was cut in half (from ~7 to ~3.5). As infant mortality began to drop, childrearing shifted from strict physical labor discipline to a gentler, more emotional nurturing focus.

Define Companionate Marriage

A view of marriage focused on affection, emotional satisfaction, comradeship, and romantic partnership rather than pure economic survival. It flourished in the 1950s within male breadwinner–female homemaker households

What was the Family Wage?

An income level paid by industrial employers to a male worker that was sufficient to support his wife and children without requiring them to work for pay outside the home.

How did Dating differ from traditional Courtship?

Dating shifted authority away from parents and toward young adults (specifically young men who initiated and paid for dates). It allowed individuals to spend time with various partners before committing.

What was the Baby Boom?

A period of sharply elevated birth rates in the United States between 1946 and 1964 following World War II, coinciding with a historic drop in median age at first marriage

Define Deinstitutionalization of Marriage

The weakening of social norms and formal rules that traditionally regulated partners' behavior in the institution of marriage (e.g., rise of cohabitation, nonmarital childbearing, same-sex marriage, and divorce)

What are Cherlin’s Three Historical Transitions of Marriage?

1. Institutional Marriage: Focused on practical obligation, tradition, and duty.

2. Companionate Marriage: Focused on emotional romance within breadwinner/homemaker roles.

3. Individualized Marriage: Focused on self-development, personal fulfillment, and open role negotiations

What does it mean that marriage has shifted from a Foundation to a Capstone Achievement?

Historically, marriage was the starting entry point into adulthood (foundation). Today, marriage is an individual symbol of prestige achieved after completing education, establishing a career, and achieving financial stability (capstone)

T/F Most Families across history have been nuclear families with breadwinner homemaker couples

False

How have birth rates changed since the 1800s?

Gone down. Access to contraception, education(more jobs for women), children are less of a need for family jobs and retirement plans, Less child mortality

How was patriarchal marriage different from companionate marriage?

In patriarchal marriage in was more a business agreement, for economics. Women were property, men’s authority.   whereas companionate marriage was focused on love and partnership. Companionate more equalitarian, have a say in the relationship?

Give an example of how women’s entry into the workforce changed family life?

  changing of women’s roles in the home, increase of dual income households, single women households, more independence for women, fewer children and children being born later, more divorce (independent and women can support themselves