SOCIOL 2QQ3 Test 1

Midterm

Sociological Imagination

Connection btwn person trouble + public issues.

• Sometimes close relations in private life intersect with public life.

• Can’t study close relations without looking at parts of society, legal + socio-con changes, sci advancement, etc.

– C. Wright Mills

There is now less alignment between…

Relationship status, living arrangements, + sexual relationships.

Family vs Families

• Families = more inclusive and process based definitions.

  • Contemporary definitions include families not living together.

• Definitions based on family structure ≠ inclusive.

  • increased support + state recognition in definitions moved away from this.

• Families are diverse and socially constructed.

Statistics Canada Family Definition

Married or common-law couple with/out kids, or a lone parent living with at least one kid in same home.

• Homo + hetero.

• Still excludes some.

All Families Are Equal Act (2016)

• Gov decides who gets aid based on their definitions of families (can be exclusive).

  • Before was Compassionate Care Program (only married + immediate blood fam got aid to help care for ill fam).

• Anyone you fam = your fam.

• Causes legal probs w parental rights.

  • Non-bio parent in surrogacy may have to go through legal adoption process to be legal parent.

Decrease in Fertility

• + have less kids (same rsn for more small fams trend).

• Universal trend.

• Women working, it’s expensive, more step kids + more contraception.

• Longer lifespan.

• Marriage + fertility becoming uncoupled idea.

Uncoupling between marriage + fertility.

• Social media makes look like kids increase marriage satisfaction.

  • Not true, found marriage satisfaction decreases with kids.

• More marriages without kids (not goal).

• More parents = unmarried > married.

  • Ex. Co-parent, unplanned pregnancy, some LGBTQIA couples, etc.

Social media, reproductive technology, + strategies intersectionality

Created more diverse family structures and relationships by helping platonic parenting, create new family / kin ties, find donors, etc.

• Has caused an increase in adoption and biological parent involvement.

Open Adoption

Allowing ongoing contact between the biological and the adoptive family.

• Supports kids’ psych well-being + identity development.

• Reduces behavioural problems

• Improves communication + trust.

• Issue of bio parents sometimes trying to become overly involved as a parent too.

Donor embryo problems

Ethical + legal issues

• Don’t know how long they should store them.

  • Canada doesn’t have a cap.

• Companies exploiting / profiting (no gov. regulation).

• Many legal battles over usage after relationship dissolution.

• Genetic siblings could accidentally date without ever knowing.

• Cultural + religious debates.

• Part of social experiment (?).

Platonic Parenting (Co-Parenting)

2 or more individuals (not romantic) legally agreeing to raise a child together.

• Challenges traditional ideas of reproduction.

• Usually across 2 households which doesn't offer stable childhood.

What is becoming the norm for individuals to experience?

More intimate relationships, living arrangements, breakups, family reconfiguration.

Effects of increase in divorce in Canada.

• More living alone.

• More ppl with kids from multiple relationships.

  • More blended families with kids raised by more than 2 parents.

Are divorce rates higher for 1st or 2nd marriages?

2nd

What is marital stability linked to?

Older age at time of marriage.

Rates of remarriage with age

Likelihood for divorced / widowed individuals to remarry decreases with age.

• Remarriage more common after a divorce than widowhood because it often happens earlier in life.

Big contemporary shift

More women living alone.

Younger generations discontinuous life course trajectory.

• Likely delay marriage.

  • + live tg before marriage.

• More relationship dissolution.

• Stay single.

• More likely live with parents than partner.

• More likely live + have kids together than marriage.

  • More kids from unmarried (but overall people having fewer kids).

    • Don’t need partner to reproduce.

• More skip generation + poly fams.

  • Likely have kids w diff partners, step-kids, multiple parental caregivers.

  • More grandparents raising kids.

• More casual sex?

Why younger generations stay single?

• Different priorities.

• Can get emotional intimacy outside of primary close relationship.

Older people contemporary trends

• More Grey Divorce.

• More entering queer + new relationships.

• Most affected by romance scams.

  • $ + emo loss.

Are there more male or female same-sex couples?

Male

How same-sex relationships differ from heterosexual couples?

• Same-sex have greater sharing of unpaid labour, more planned pregnancies, often younger, more educated, + face more barriers.

• Both’s children have similar outcomes in various aspects to each other.

Casual Sex

• Not new.

• Increase in casual dating, polygamy, swinging, + cheating.

• More edu ppl have less casual partners.

• Social media makes easier + priv for women too.

Polygamy vs Polyamory

• Polygamy: Being married to more than one person at once.

  • Illegal in Canada.

• Polyamory: Agreed upon, consensual intimate relationships between multiple partners

  • Often more educated + higher income people.

Limit of Census Canada

Doesn’t include data on all types of relationships + demographics.

• No mixed race or polyamorous.

Most common household in Canada

• One-person households.

  • Most in Quebec.

  • Higher risk of poverty (many stuck in relationships, can’t live alone – many seniors, etc. bc can’t afford / fear of poverty).

• Not a recent increase (Can, US, Euro).

Countries with the most one-person households

Norway + Germany

Reason for Increase in One-person Households

Mainly because more gender equality and declining fertility.

• Attitude changes, women working, + ppl choose to stay single / live alone after breakup.

  • More support for single + independent women.

    • Celeb women and social media promoting / normalizing.

• Kids = expensive, more contraception, couples voluntarily child-free.

Living Apart Together (LAT)

In a relationship but don’t live together.

• Temporary or alternative to marriage + its limits to stay independent.

• Some stay living with parents.

• Older adults live apart bc finances.

Cohabitation

• More kids being born into cohabit. relationships + more step-kids.

  • Increase stability of relationship.

• Couples often less religious.

• Often seen as step before marriage, but for some seen as alternative to it.

  • More seen as alternative in Quebec.

• Women do more unpaid labour.

• Less stable than legally married.

  • Often more stable with time.

Online dating’s new narrative

There is a soulmate made for you but you must proactively find them.

• Changing how think, depict, + imagine love.

• Normalized separating private sex life from social.

What does online dating help women with?

Avoid judgement by separating their priv sex life from their public social life.

Why relationships formed online tend to get sexual faster?

It’s easier to engage and disengage.

Privatization of Dating

In the future online dating could confine sex to point where it would be inappropriate to flirt with someone at a party (separation of social life with people you know and private sex life).

Online Dating + Race

Reproduce barriers + social insularity.

• Ppl look for similar (race hierarchy).

• Black ppl discrim. against mos

• Black ppl most inclusive + progress.

• Black women felt more objectified + lost their individualism.

  • Felt overly sexualized + fetishized by white men.

• Aus. Indigenous delete bc fear of racism + threats of danger.

The Gamification of Dating

Most dating apps are made to increase behaviour frequency + reduce friction of decision making.

• Promote hookup culture.

• Not using for right reasons.

• Used as distraction.

  • Often manipulate others (“play games with their feelings”).

• Objectifies others.

  • Dopamine hit w validation.

  • Stack of cards (innate desire to scroll until get to the bottom).

Rewards approach in dating apps

Colourful animations appearing when match help create illusion of power in a normally vulnerable process.

Suggested solution to dating’s gamification

Set limit for how much you interact or use the app in a day + try to meet people in person.

Why do we keep using dating apps?

• Gen Zs dont know any other way to meet / date.

• The promise to find love easily without having to put yourself out there in person.

• Normalized bad / harmful behaviour on the apps so keep using because think normal.

• Pandemic caused increase.

• Gamble (odds against but want to win).

Effects of online breakups on the individual

Feel uncertain about ability to read others.

• Ghosting reflects a decline in respect and view that relationships are disposable.

Zombieing

Partner suddenly resurfacing after ghosting (often no explanation).

Online Infidelity + Online Dating

• Media often blamed bc easy access.

  • Ashley Madison website.

• Seen as equally as serious as emotional and physical.

  • Women more likely to think of emotional as cause for breakup.

Romance Games

Target lonely women by offering companionship via fictional characters.

• Popular in Japan

• Addictive

• Unrealistic / unattainable in real life.

Sharenting

Families sharing pics of their kids online.

• Reinforce gender stereotypes.

• Privacy + informed consent probs.

Selfies as key in socialization

They’re a presentation of the self, social pressure, + are involved in explorations of one’s identity.

Effects of social media on grieving

Way to maintain connection w dead w virtual afterlife.

• Virtual memorials.

• Bereavement vlogs.

• Hashtags on Instagram.

• Problem of companies profiting.

Effects of AI simulations on grieving

Used to reconnect loved ones.

• Keep their presence, support, knowledge.

• Helps build relationship with dead when older if you were young when they passed.

• Not real + can further isolate grievers.

Cyber-Bullying

• Over a quarter of paediatric psych patients are victims of bullying.

• More likely to affect females.

• More likely to affect male behaviour.

Who does revenge porn / cyber-exploitation affect the most?

LGBTQIA+

• Criminal persecution for committing in Canada.

Most popular type of fraud in Canada

Romance scams

• Love bombing and lying to steal money.

Sex Work + Social Media Debate

Consensual economic exchange or taking advantage of people.

• Blurred line between relationship and sex work.

Loss of privacy with phones in relationships is causing what issue?

Question of what access partners should get to each other’s technology and accounts.

• Now must negotiate privacy to protect boundaries in private life.

Result of companies making digital products addictive

Gaming Disorder (under WHO disease list).

• Debate over broadness + whether it’s actually harmful.

  • Games offer community to many.

What’s the use of tech like AI companions connected to?

• COVID

• Loneliness epidemic

  • Highest its ever been in US.

• More secularism.

  • Harder to meet people.

• Remote work.

• Decline of 3rd place.

  • Expensive to meet in public.

• Housing crisis

  • Expensive to own private space to be with partner.

Impact of porn on a relationship

• Mainly women feel threatened by it.

• Higher usage frequency linked to decreased relationship quality.

• Most satisfaction when neither partner uses.

Sandwich Generation

People caring for both younger and older family members.

Divorce + Remarrying

• Hetero women = more likely to remarry if need financial support.

• Hetero men = more likely to remarry if have high income.

• Rates of re-partnership for divorce / widow decrease with age.

• Take longer to remarry / cohabit than widowed.

  • Even longer when have kids.

What is critical to adapt to transitions?

Social support, resources, + individualism.

Postpartum Depression + Transitions

Increase in postpartum depression because many new moms feel not ready + don’t have enough support.

• Social support = key + need personal resources.

Is sex out of relationships becoming more common for singles with our without kids?

Both

Younger generations transition to adulthood

Prolonged + discontinuous transition.

• Attitude + norm changes.

• Need more credentials for competitive job market.

  • More edu + experience.

Why is delayed home leaving very common now?

Education, economic support, and unstable employment.

Boomerang Generation

Moving back to parental home in adulthood after leaving.

• Sometimes several times.

Why transition to parenthood + marriage not as common now?

Changes in economic factors and gender ideologies.

• Women wait to marry now.

• New norm = serial monogamy, more living arrangements, family reconfigurations, and sex out of marriage.

Family Reconfigurations

• Becoming increasingly normal for kids.

• Changes in care arrangements.

  • Reflect attitude changes for gender roles.

  • More dads take paternity leave.

  • More joint custody in divorce now.

    • Improves dad + kid relationship.

Experience of Newcomers (Immigrants)

Varied + depends on support, downward social mobility, fam relationships transforming.

Why are newcomers family relationships transformed?

Wives tend to find jobs easier than their husbands.

• Husbands no longer breadwinners like before because they were more educated + qualified until they moved.

Cause + effect of downward social mobility

• Cause: Job / educational credits aren’t recognized in new country + discrimination.

• Effect: Childhood poverty for their kids.

What did immigrants after WWII have that recent immigrants do not?

More upward social mobility.

Transnational Families

Family that is geographically separated (commonly extended fam).

• Challenge idea that can use cohabitating as a way to define a fam.

Technology + Transnational Families

Planes + increased access to phones / internet allows long distance fans stay in touch better.

Astronaut Families

Family member working in a different country to support rest of family back home.

Satellite vs Parachute Kids

• Satellite: Older kids staying in the country while the rest of the family returns to their home country.

  • Often for work, new relationships, etc.

• Parachute: Older kids sent unaccompanied by parents often to go to school.

IVF cost + Health Coverage

• Very expensive

• Not affordable for low income.

• Quebec once covered but not anymore.

• Ontario + Manitoba have specific benefits + government support.

What country has the highest number of lone-parent families?

US

What is the trend with young lone-parent families?

High number having kids at younger ages + becoming lone-parent family earlier which is leading to more poverty.

• Lack education because had kids so young (contributes to further poverty).

• Putting all of their energy + limited resources into partner who left + their kids.

Why is there an increase in older single (lone-parent) moms?

There’s an overall increase in people never married.

Are teen pregnancy rates increasing or decreasing?

Decreasing

• More contraception + abortion access.

Who is overrepresented in the welfare system?

Black and Indigenous kids.

• Indigenous overrep. is because of the consequences of colonization (gen. trauma, inadequate resources, etc).

• Black overrep. thought to be because their parenting style is targeted and not looked at contextually.

2 ways new reproductive technology challenges the idea that parenthood is defined by biology

1. Possible to use a 3 biological parent’s DNA to remove hereditary diseases.

2. Surrogacy shows that family is more socially constructed.

New Reproductive Technology + Exploitation

Not proper regulations yet which may cause many to not be compensated well, overcharged, mistreated.

• Many choose surrogates from less developed countries where the women sometimes never get compensated at all.

• Fertility is becoming commodified.

Why post-divorce lone parents raise their kids better than when married?

They left the problematic space.

• A new discourse bc economic vulnerability is no longer a salient issue.

Why senior women often have lower income?

They were caregivers in their youth (cumulative lifetime impact).

Widowers + Remarrying

More likely to remarry within 10yrs than cohabit (not in Quebec).

• Women without husbands are more financially vulnerable than men without wives.

• Older couples prefer living apart even when married to maintain financial autonomy.

Why longer life expectancy contributes to lower fertility rates?

• spend more time caring for aging parents than raising more kids.

  • Canadians will have more parents than kids soon.

  • More diversity among Canadians in mid-life / seniors.