Marriage
islander_girl
chapter_8.pptxA Brief History of Marriage
Historically, love and marriage were separate
Marriage was more about political power and likely to lead to war
Ex: Cleopatra and Marc Antony
Often women were ill-treated and seen as representing the interests of their fathers
Also gave women power
The primary way to forge alliances was through marriage or children
Marriage was the historical equivalent of the “peace treaty, non-aggression pact, or trade agreement” with the exchange of women
Marriage gradient: pattern in which women tend to “marry up” while men “marry down”
Men were often motivated to marry up to gain status
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Marriage Theories
Two competing theories for why marriage has evolved
Protection theory of marriage: Marriage as an institution that allows for the protection of women
Reflects the ideas of separate spheres
Exploitation theory of marriage: marriage as an institution that primarily involves exploitation of women in a system of exchange
Marriage as the cornerstone of patriarchal power and the way men benefit from the labor of women
Third theory, Cooperation theory of marriage: cooperation helps for survival
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Marriage as Social Institution
A social institution is something that gives us a set of clear-cut rules about how to go about accomplishing something in society
Love marriage is a fairly new concept
No easy definition for marriage across all cultures
Not all couples live together, have children, or pool economic resources
Polygamy: marriage between one man and several women
Polyandry: marriage between one women and multiple men
The current debate about gay marriage illustrates the difficulty in defining marriage
Marriage is often used to define adulthood, and for shaping the way people think about gender
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The Demographics of Marriage
Demographics are a way to describe the basic population characteristics of a group
Sex ratio is usually expressed as the number of males to females in a given society
Marriage squeeze: a shortage of one sex or the other in the age group in which marriage generally occurs, often due to uneven sex ratios
The marriage gradient and marriage squeeze can have significant impacts on a society, i.e. Migration
Ex: African American women in the U.S.
Endogamy: the tendency (sometimes enforced by norms or rules) to marry only others within the same social group
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Demographic of Marriage, continued
Diaspora refers to the worldwide scattering of a nationality or ethnic group
Hung Cam Thai’s research of Vietnamese emigrants
Double marriage squeeze: within Vietnam, there are more women due to high male mortality and war; and because of this, there are more men relative to women outside Vietnam
The marriage gradient was still very important to both the women in Vietnam and the men in the U.S.
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Sexual Division of Labor
Medieval serfs saw some tasks as overlapping between the genders, while some were more appropriate for one gender over another
Sexual division of labor: a sense that certain tasks are more appropriate to one gender or the other
Becomes an important part of gender and marriage
Every society has its own sexual division of labor, but most societies assign women as the primary caregivers for children
However, the particular women in each culture may differ and may not be the biological mother or related at all
Mbuti men become a “kind of mother” by introducing the child to solid food and playing a part in their care
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Modern Marriage
For the majority of history, the farm was “the factory” and all family members participated in labor
Marriage’s main point was to form a productive, self-sustaining, and successful unit
Modern marriage: an institution freely chosen on the basis of love and compatibility and composed of a sole male breadwinner plus economically dependent wife and children
Evolved as a result of wage labor and the emergence of Enlightenment ideals about political and philosophical rights (freely chosen based on reason)
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Separate Spheres
Doctrine of separate spheres: it is a man’s duty to take care of his family by being a breadwinner and protector, while a woman’s duty is to be a good wife and mother
The number of families actually able to achieve this ideal was fairly limited
Separate spheres marks two realms of our social lives as distinctly gendered
Public sphere: world of market relations and productive behavior, labeled as distinctly masculine
Private sphere: anything that’s not public, primarily home and family life; defined as the place where women belong
The big shift is that women and men are seen as fundamentally different from each other
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Separate Spheres, continued
Historically fathers were seen as responsible for children, as witnessed through divorces where often children went with the father
Separate spheres made everything associated with home become the exclusive realm of femininity
Women became the nurturer while men’s role was to provide
Working class and Immigrant families often had all able bodied workers in the workforce
Proscriptive ideal rather than a description of the way people lived
Othermothers and transnational motherhood illustrate the ways in which caretaking and economic necessity intersect
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Men as Providers
Separate spheres made it hard for men to do anything but work for money outside the home
The good provider role dictates that a man’s primary obligation to his family is to work so as to meet his family’s material needs
Great deal of stress when not able to provide
“Be a Big Wheel” emphasizes the way in which masculinity is measured by power, success, wealth, and status
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Ideals of Manhood
Genteel Patriarch: the ideal of a man who doted on his family and spent much of his time in their company and supervising his estate
Heroic Artisan: men who embodied physical strength, but also dedication to their country and the budding ideals of democracy; family man in teaching his son his trade or craft
Marketplace Manhood: men derived their identity from their success in the capitalist economy in accumulating wealth, power and status
We no longer question females working outside the home, but women as caretakers is still with us
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Household Labor
Household Division of Labor is the way in which the tasks necessary to the care and running of a household are distributed
Women do a larger share of household labor of all time than do men
Second shift is the extra burden of childcare and housework added on for women who also do paid work outside of the home
Women and men perform distinctly different types of tasks within the household
Even in dual-earner couples, where both are working and committed to egalitarian division of household labor
Household labor is an important performance of gender within family systems
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Household Labor, cont.
Some evidence suggests a more egalitarian division in gay and lesbian households, but other research indicates differences
Children also affect the divvying up of housework
Characteristics of either parent’s job may also have an influence
Quarter shifts: smaller portions to be distributed more equally among household member
More balanced division through the reduction of needs, or being “unwilling or unable to maintain the home according to certain standards”
Our culture places more value on paid work, so often child caretaking and taking care of the home is devalued
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“Demise” of the Nuclear Family
According to the census, a family is a group of individuals who cohabit and are related by blood in the first degree, marriage, or adoption
Families of choice: Those who are not related by these characteristics but who think of themselves as family
Originated within the gay and lesbian community
Postmodern family: a changing, unsettled, re-combination of different family forms
Acknowledges the difficulty in determining what exactly makes a family
The 2005 census showed that married families where in the minority for the first time
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