Relationship that Differentiates Work from Other Things Analysis

Relationship that Differentiates Work from Other Things Analysis essay assignment

Relationship that Differentiates Work from Other Things Analysis essay assignment

This week we have learned about characteristics of the family including definitions, types of family formations, and family relationships.  One particular area of concern is family-work-life balance.  Many families are struggling to balance employment demands (e.g. paid labor), child care and house work demands (e.g. unpaid labor), with leisure/free time.  Write a 1-2 page paper on the following prompt. Please make sure to properly cite sources using the APA style guide.

Prompt: Analyze your own family and discuss their family-work-life balance. 1) How balanced is your family? Explain- Discuss characteristics that may hinder or help the outcome.  For example, if young children are present in the household, parents are retired, social class, etc.  2) Offer advice for how individuals can strive to achieve a better balance.  You can identify strategies you or other family members currently engage in or discuss things you’d like to do to help move toward a more balanced life. Defining Families

The family has been defined in a number of ways over the last century.  Institutions, such as the government and workplace, often defines families through genetic, marital or adoption relationships, or individuals living in households and sharing resources.  Scholars find that individuals have a much more fluid and diverse definition of the family.

Susan Ferguson says it that if we are going to study the family, we need a working definition of the family that is broad enough to include diverse members and functions, but detailed enough to apply to the study of families across cultures.

She defines the family as a social institution that provides three things:

It gives support to its members (whether it be emotional nurturing, physical caretaking, economic support, or some combination of these).

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It binds the individual to a primary social group.

It socializes the person for participating in society outside of the family

1. The conceptualization of the family as an institution has been challenged by other scholars.  DiMaggio argues the family has become deinstitutionalized.  That is recent shifts in family trends, such as the commonality in cohabitation, the delay in marriage and childbearing, and the large number of divorces, are evidence of changes to family structures and more flexibility in societal “rules”.  This has lead to the popularity of cohabiting households and delays in the timing of marriage in one’s life.
2. Trends of Shaping Family Formations
3. Here are some of the most emerging trends that have shaped family formations in recent decades. Think about how these trends challenge or support these definitions in terms of structure and ideology.

Remaining single longer:  According to Pew Research Center, “in 2012, one-in-five adults ages 25 and older (about 42 million people) had never been married. … In 1960, only about one-in-ten adults (9%) in that age range had never been married”.

More couples are cohabiting:  According to Manning and Stykes (2013), “the percentage of women who have ever cohabited has almost doubled over the past 25 years.  Over two-thirds (69%) of women who first married in the last decade cohabited prior to marriage”.

Boomerang families are increasing:  These are families in which children are returning to the parents household after college.  “Women aged 18-34 are living with their parents or other family at rates not seen since the 1940s.  Over a third (36.4 percent) of women aged 18-34 are living with their parents, aunts or uncles, or other non-spouse family member” (Fry 2015).  Men, too, are also increasingly likely to have this household arrangement, with 42.8 percent of men in this age group living with parents or other family (Fry 2015).

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Blended families are becoming the norm:  These are families created through remarriage, which can include stepchildren living together, or new children created by the couple.  Blended families include children, remarried may or may not since it is calculated based on the parents.  According to the Census Bureau, 16% of children are living in “blended families”.  This has remained stable since the 90s.

Technology is creating new families, including online dating, adopted families and surrogate parents.  59% of Americans feel online dating is a good way to meet people and 5% of Americans who are in a marriage or committed relationship say they met their significant other online (Pew Research 2015). The share of 18- to 24-year-olds who use online dating has roughly tripled from 10% in 2013 to 27% today.  12% of 55- to 64-year-olds report ever using an online dating site or mobile dating app versus only 6% in 2013. IVF has also increased.  Doctors performed about 113,000 cycles back in 2003. That number jumped by nearly 50 percent to about 165,000 in 2012.

Multi-generational households for young adults and old is likely to remain a transitional life stage for an increasing number of people.  Over a fifth (21%) of all U.S. older adult households contained more than one generation of family members (Aging In Place 2015).

1. Single-parent families are common due to divorce, separation, and births taking place outside of marriage.  In 2013, 40.6 percent of all births were to unmarried women. The majority of these women are in their 20s and 30s… The 2016 teen birth rate (births per 1,000 females ages 15-19 in a given year) is down nine percent from 2015, when the birth rate was 22.3, and down 67 percent from 1991 when it was at a record high of 61.8.  Single-father households make up 8 percent of households and make up 24 percent of single-parent households (Livingston 2013). Interestingly, “single fathers are more likely than single mothers to be living with a cohabiting partner (41% versus 16%)” (Livingston 2013).

Most households are dual earner. The Labor force participation today stands at 70% among all mothers of children younger than 18, and 64% of moms with preschool-aged children.  About three-fourths of all employed moms are working full time (Pew Research 2014).  This is slightly below the peak in 2000, where 73% of  mothers were employed. COHABITATION

1. Is cohabitation a prelude to marriage or a substitute for marriage? People have different reasons why they cohabit and thus we must continue to think about them as diverse groups.  Due to the popularity or acceptance of cohabitation, it has had several implications for how we think about unions:

It changes the meaning of being “single”.  Singlehood no longer means unattached living.

1. Due to cohabitation, marriage is a less specific marker of other transitions such as sex, living arrangements, and parenting.

Cohabitation affects the timing of marriage. For some couples, cohabitation is a trial period of marriage and some feel their marriage began when they started living together.  Many couples may plan to marry but have to wait until they are more financially or emotionally secure. Cohabitation means less of a rush to get married until all the pieces fit.

1. “Premarital divorces” help keep the divorce rate from going even higher.  Cohabiting unions have high break up rates. Thus, if these couples were to go straight into marriage, our divorce rate could be higher.

Provides an alternative union formation to marriage. Many couples choose to never marry and cohabit for the rest of their lives.

1. Who are the people that marry?

90% of Americans marry at one point in their lives, many marry several times. In general, people enter into marriage at different points in their lives and for different reasons including love, economic stability, citizenship, pregnancy/children, pressure from family, etc (and these are not necessarily mutually exclusive from each other).The remaining 10% are people who:

1. Choose to reject marriage (may cohabit or remain single instead)

Have physical or mental disabilities that prevent them from finding a suitable mate (although it should be noted that not all people with these characteristics do not marry)

1. Still want to marry but for one reason or another have not found someone whom they would consider a suitable partner.