Your choice: music during the next exam?

Someone asked if we could have music during Exam 4.  I would be happy to provide instrumental music (probably guitar or piano) if most people would like to have it.  So I’ve posted an anonymous poll for your votes.

If there is anyone for whom guitar or piano music would be a big problem, we won’t have music: all you need to do is say so in the Comments section.

Learning Objectives – Chapter 12, Aging Families

After reading this chapter, you should understand the following:

1. How is the demographic of the United States and of the world changing?
2. What are the reasons for the growth in the proportion of older persons?
3. What is meant by the demographic transition?
4. What is the baby boom generation and how will it affect the population and economy of the United States?
5. What are the prevailing theories of aging?
6. What are the economic considerations associated with an aging population?
7. How does aging affect marriage, sexuality, and other aspects of family life?
8. What factors influence satisfaction with and timing of retirement?

Learning Objectives: Chapter 11 – Work

These are the Learning Objectives defined by Karen Seccombe, your textbooks author.  Note that they are quite similar to the areas you studied in groups – the summaries of which are posted on the blog.

After reading this chapter, you should understand the following:
1. How has the nature and location of “work” changed?
2. What is the history of child labor?
3. What are the trends in women’s labor force participation?
4. What are recent trends in employment, unemployment, and underemployment?
5. What is meant by the “work-family interface?”
6. How is household labor defined and measured?
7. What are the primary sources of child care in the United States today?

Mon Nov 16 – Office Hours

Image by Stewf via Flickr

A 1:00 p.m. meeting may cause me to miss my 2:00 p.m. Office Hours on Monday, November 16.

I will certainly be there at 3:00 p.m.   If you know that you need to see me on Monday, we can also arrange to meet at 7:30 a.m. (before class).

 

 

Essay Questions: Your Vote

Exam 3 was the first time I tried the method of handing out the Essay Questions ahead of time.   I don’t know yet how the results pan out from a grading point of view.  From the perspective of studying for the exam, what did you think? Poll results are anonymous.

Learning Objectives – Chapter 10 – Raising Children

Image via Wikipedia

1. What is meant by the “transnational family”?
2. What are current trends in childrearing found in both industrial and nonindustrial societies?
   What similarities and differences do you see between industrial and nonindustrial socieities?
3. What is meant by socialization and what are the primary agents of socialization?
4. What are the most prominent theories in child development and socialization?
   Be able to compare and contrast the theories with each other?
5. What are the most common parenting styles?
   Be able to identify the characteristics of children raised by particular parenting styles.
   Be able to name and explain the two dimensions that define the parenting styles.
6. What are the similarities and differences between mothering and fathering?
   What are the similarities and differences between mothering as an identity and as  an activity?  Fathering as activity and identity?

Chapter 9 – Learning Objectives

Following are the Learning Objectives for Chapter 9 in the textbook:

1.      What is meant by “pronatalism”?

2.      What are current population trends in the United States and worldwide?

3.      How have fertility rates fluctuated historically in the United States?

4.      What are the rewards and costs associated with having children?

5.      What are the most common motivations and results of choosing to remain childfree?  Of choosing to adopt a child?

6.      What is meant by the social construction of childbirth?

7.      What are the most significant benefits and challenges in the transition to parenthood?

Learning Objectives – Chapter 8

Marriage License from 1883
Image via Wikipedia

The Learning Objectives for Chapter 8 of the textbook

1. Define a social institution and give several examples.
2. Explain why the family is a social institution and what purposes it serves for society.
3. Define the term “cultural universal” and explain why marriage is one.
4. Describe the current practice of marriage, and how it has changed over time.  Relate the practice of marriage in earlier times to other aspects of that time period.
5. Describe how marriage is lived and experienced in cultures other than the U.S.
6. List and explain the benefits of marriage.  For each benefit, how is it affected by gender? by race/ethnicity? by social class?
7. Explain the difference between marital stability and marital quality.
8. Describe the factors that contribute to marital stability. How are they affected by social class, by race/ethnicity, by gender.
9. Describe the factors that contribute to marital quality. How are they affected by social class, by race/ethnicity, by gender.
10. What is the “marriage movement?”

Runner-Up Essay

7. Compare and contrast the rewards and costs of children.

     The costs of children may fall under 2 categories: direct financial costs and opportunity costs.  Direct financial costs include out-of-pocket expenses, such as food or clothing.  Opportunity costs are lost opportunities for income by working less or not at all because of children.  Children have many needs, and therefore are very expensive.  Some expenses include housing, food, transportation, clothing, healthcare, and schooling.  The rewards of children are more difficult to measure, and mostly fall under emotional feelings such as love, joy, and purpose.  Another benefit to having a child is having someone to take care of you as you age, whether it be taking care of you by themselves, or placing you in a nursing home.  Children also help parents expand their horizons socially.  

Runner-Up Essay

6. Compare and contrast population growth in developed and developing countries.  What is China doing to curb population growth?  What have been the consequences of their program?

     In developed countries around the world, fewer babies are being born.  Developed countries replacement rate is not being fulfilled.  On average people are having 1.2-1.7 kids when the number needed to replace the population is 2.1.

    In developing countries, populations are continuing to grow.  Enough children are being born to replace their parents.

    China has adopted a “one-child” policy in order to reduce their population.  While this policy has been successful, the number of girls in the country has dropped significantly.  Many girls have been abandoned or even killed.  This happens because boys are more valued than girls.  In order to reduce the problem the value of girls needs to be restored.

Runner-Up Essay

6. Compare and contrast population growth in developed and developing countries.  What is China doing to curb population growth?  What have been the consequences of their program?

     In general, developed countries tend to have a much lower fertility rate than developing countries.  This is because family planning is less common in developing countries and children can offer their parents some security.

     In China, in order to slow the population’s growth, the government has a policy of one child per family, with a few exceptions.  One major consequence of this policy is female children are often unwanted and abandoned or even killed in China.  Also, if a family has more than one child, the other children aren’t eligible for lots of social benefits.  Finally, there is the consequence of a very unbalanced male to female ratio in China.

Runner-Up Essay

2. How has/is the institution of marriage changing?

    Marriage has changed greatly over the past centuries from colonial times up until now.  In colonial times marriage was mainly for economic purposes and personal survival.  The husband and wife were seen as “one” though the husband made all the decisions of the household.  Wives did not have much say in anything.  Nowadays marriage is more a sign of prestige rather than conformity.  Oftentimes it now comes after a job, career, savings, children.  This means that people are now marrying later in life at ages of 25 for women compared to 21 in 1970 and 27 for men compared to 23 in 1970.

     Many households are now dual career households and the growth of suburbs have disconnected couples from community.

     There is also more racial and ethnic marriages and now marriage is debated for gay and lesbian couples.  This shows that marriage is always changing.

Winning Essay

1. Compare and contrast two different patterns of courtship and mate selection from among those presented in Seccombe’s textbook.  Be specific about the similarities and differences in the two patterns.

     Two patterns of courtship and mate selection that were presented in our textbook are arranged marriages and relatively free mate selection.  Both processes have good and bad points, but they also have many similarities and differences.

     Arranged marriage is the prominent form of mate selection in India.  Families focus on finding a mate that can financially support their spouse, who has close family ties, and who have compatible zodiac signs.  Many Indian girls know at a very young age the person their parents have picked for them to marry.  Indian mate selection is not focused on love, it focuses on the ties the families can make.

     Free mate selection occurs in many countries but none more than in the US.  Courtship is focused on having fun, and connecting with someone with the same likes and dislikes or with someone you have a “spark” with.  Family may have some influence on who you choose, like suggesting to marry inside your religion.  Marriages in the US are mostly based on love.

P3 (All topics)

The goals of Assignment P3:

• To study the process of family formation: how people meet and come together
• To consider differences across culture or subculture, including across time
• To apply the criteria of scientific observation
• To link the concepts (theories) and findings (facts) from the textbook with observed data

Assignment P3 has two components: observation and analysis

1. Observation phase gathers data about couples coming together to form a family from one of several sources
   • Watching the movie “Arranged” about two women in modern America whose tradition involves arranged marriage
   • Interviewing one or both members of each of two couples who either got married or started a family at least 25 years apart, or
     are two generations in the same family. This could be you or a sibling (if you have started a family) + your parents, or your parents
     and grandparents, or a couple you know in their 20s and another couple you know (unrelated) in their 50s or older.  The greater the difference in ages, the more likely you are to see differences. The couples should be of the same race/ethnic background.
   • Interviewing one or both members of each of two couples of similar age but different ethnic or racial backgrounds. Here it is important that the couples be very similar in age so that you only see the effect of race/ethnicity not time.
   • Interviewing one or both members of each of two couples with children about the impact of having children on their relationship to each other, on their work patterns and aspirations, and about the process of raising children
   • Interviewing one or both members of a gay/lesbian couple in a committed relationship or who are raising children together and of a heterosexual couple who are in a committed relationship or who are raising together.
   • Take notes during your interview or the movie, which are the data that you analyze for your paper. The notes are not your paper.
2. Analysis phase:  Making comparisons, observing patterns or theme
   • The things that people said are their perspectives – but they are not the sociological perspective.  For instance, if a couple from a culture different from yours says, “Culture makes no difference” but your data show that, as the book described, they had married at a later age and placed more emphasis on individualism than the other couple you interviewed, your analysis would show that differences exist, but members of various cultures may be unaware of those differences.
   • Look for information in the Seccombe text about the features that distinguish the couples from each other: the time frame when the marriage/family was started, race/ethnicity, social class, gender orientation of couple – and see whether the stated fact is observed in your data.
3. Writing phase:  Present the results of your study in a 2 page paper
   • Briefly (2-3 sentences, 1/2 page or less) describe the structure of the families whose members you interviewed, and the trait that distinguishes them (e.g., which social class, which ethnicity).  (15 points)
   • Describe two patterns or comparisons between the couples that are linked to information from the Seccombe text. Each comparison should take at least one paragraphs, and should have at least two citations to the Seccombe text book.  (30 points each)
   • Conclude with a paragraph in which you describe how you used the methods of social science in your interviewing and in your analysis.  Your paragraph should include at least two citations of the earlier portion of the Seccombe text on methods and theory.  (15 points)
   • Your paper should be well-written, without spelling or grammatical errors, double-spaced, with a title page, and stapled.  Papers that are not stapled will not be accepted.  (10 points)

Due Date:  Friday, November 13

U.S. 30th in Global Infant Mortality

Image via Wikipedia

I thought you might be interested in this news report, out today:

U.S. 30th in Global Infant Mortality – ABC News.

Using 2005 data:

“Too many U.S. babies are born too soon each year and don’t live to celebrate their first birthday. This finding underscores the importance of supporting research to help us learn what causes preterm birth and how we can help give all babies a healthy start in life,” said Dr. Alan Fleischman, medical director for the March of Dimes.

“One in 8 births in the United States were born preterm, compared with 1 in 18 births in Ireland and Finland,” added the report, available at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db23.htm.

“If the United States had Sweden’s distribution of births by gestational age, nearly 8,000 infant deaths would be averted each year and the U.S. infant mortality rate would be one-third lower.”