sociology discussion

Week 4

SOSHTalk Assignment

Formatting Reminders

(for full instructions and grading rubric, please review the  SOSHTalk   Discussion Board folder under "Week 3")

each post must be 200+ words

APA citations and references are required for your initial post (and in response posts if material from the textbook or assigned web links is used)

initial post (your response to the weekly Assignment) is due by Friday, your responses to classmate's initial posts are due by Sunday; all posts are due on separate days - late posts will lose 5 points a day

proof read and edit before uploading your posts

include a Word Count (WC) for each post before your Reference(s) 

Preparation

Read Chapter 12, The Family and Household Diversity, in your text.  Your assignment must be informed by information from the chapter. No outside/web sources, please.

Attend the Week 4 Keiser Live! session or view the recording.

Review the  Purdue OWL  for instructions and examples of formatting in text citations and references.  In-text citations go in the paragraph and the reference list is located after the Word Count at the end of your paper.

https://owl.purdue.edu/

Assignment

Based on information you learned in the chapter (not personal opinion or experience), answer the following questions:

If a matchmaker was going to arrange a marriage for you based on the the social norms associated with partnering in the US (including rules of endogamy/exogamy), who would likely be selected for you (gender, sexual orientation, race, socioeconomic status, etc)? (remember this question is NOT asking you what the characteristics are of a person you would select for yourself, but speaks to the social norms that we tend to follow by being socialized in the US).

How would this person be similar to and different from who you think you would choose for yourself?

Make sure to take into account social norms for partnering in terms of gender, race, socioeconomic status, rules of endogamy/exogamy,etc.

Click on "Week 4 SOSHTalk" then on "Create Thread" to post your Initial Post.  Use the "Reply" option at the bottom of your classmate's posts to respond to their comments.

responses to two other student initial posts

1.

According to Schaefer (2019), “Endogamy specifies that people are expected to marry within their own racial, ethnic, or religious group.” Conversely, “exogamy requires mate selection outside certain groups, usually outside one’s own family or certain kinfolk,” (Schaefer, 2019).  If Schaefer were the matchmaker that is going to arrange a marriage for me on the social norms associated with partnering in the United States, he would choose exogamy. As stated by Schaefer (2019), “In the United States, love is important in the courtship process and is considered a rationale for marriage.” In other parts of the world, financial considerations often take precedence over romantic relationships, and parents or religious authorities can plan arranged marriages. Marriage in the United States of America is monogamous and is normally with the opposite sex.

I think the matchmaker would choose exogamy for me. The matchmaker would choose the opposite sex with similar norms as it relates to culture, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, class, and a strong sense of family. Also, it would not matter if she were religious or not. Even though I am an African American male and I am married to an African American woman, I did not get married to her because of race. I got married to her because I love her which is a norm that was earlier stated by Schaefer (2019).

Word count: 225

References

Schaefer, R. T. (2019).  Sociology: A brief introduction (13th ed). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

2.

 For a matchmaker to arrange a marriage for me today based upon the social norms of partnering in America, they would choose exogamy; according to Schaefer (2019), exogamy "requires mate selection outside certain groups, usually one's family or certain kinfolk" (p.269). The matchmaker, I hope, would take into account homogamy, "the conscious or unconscious tendency to select a mate with personal characteristics similar to one's own" (Schaefer, 2019). The selected individual would have to be open to monogamy, one partner, and heterosexual someone who is being of the opposite gender for marriage. As for the social norms that we follow today, a selected partner would be female, heterosexual, white, and middle-class. As stated in Schaefer 2019, "most couples met their partners through family or friends in their neighborhood or workplace. Today,  however, many couples meet on the  Internet, through online dating service" (p.268). You tend to search out those with similar social norms within online dating you are most accustomed to finding a match.

                From the standpoint of the matchmaker's choice of a partner, the similarities I see are monogamy, heterosexual, and some of the social norms based on the environment you live in at that moment of time. Still, just like time, things change as your social environment changes as you grow as a person, both physically and mentally.  According to Schaefer (2019)," many people are expected to marry within their racial, ethnic, or religious group, and are strongly discouraged or even prohibited from marrying outside the group (p.268). "I, for one, do not take this into account when looking for a partner as I look more for the qualities and interests similar to my own and not be a partner of "socially acceptable" ( p.268) or by status but rather mutual feelings, principles, and interest.

WC: 297

References

Schaefer, R. T. (2019).  Sociology: A brief introduction (13th ed). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.