Assignment 8

1.     1. According to Hochshild, what is the “Second Shift?”

According to Hochschild the second shift is the role of being a wife and mother. Being a wife and mother is another job. Once you leave work doesn’t mean that when you get home you don’t have work especially when you have children. You have to cater to your children’s need and to household duties. My mother always says that you work harder at home sometimes.

2. Briefly describe the story of Evan and Nancy Holt.
 

Evan and Nancy have been married for several years however; they barely have time for themselves. They both have a job that requires a lot of their time. They have a four year son name Joey. Nancy does majority of the house work as well at attending the needs of her son. In addition, since Evan is so busy with work he barely has time for his son and household duties. Nonetheless, he barely makes time or an effort to spend time with his son. They have poor communication which creates a lot of tension in their relationship.

3. Hochschild argues that families create “myths” about their division of household labor. Describe the family myth created by Nancy and Evan Holt.

A myth that Nancy and Evan created was the “upstairs, downstairs; inside, outside” myth which is that Nancy would be responsible for the inside duties of the house and Evan would be responsible of outside duties of the house. TO Evan and Nancy this myth seem to “work” for them. However, in reality nothing has change because Nancy is still doing majority of the duties and Evan is just doing the “man” duties. I think that they seem to think that these myth works because Nancy feels that now Evan is “doing” something when in reality he is still not doing more or less than what he was doing. They are just sugar coating the situation.

4. According to Hochschild, what is the purpose of family myths?

The purpose of Myths according to Hochschild is to represent something in one way or manner to represent something different that in reality isn’t different.

5. Was this reading surprising to you and why? How do you imagine you will divide family work (including child care) in your own marriage or cohabitation
 

I wasn’t surprised reading this due to the fact that this has happened a lot in my family. Now a day’s women are so independent and know that they don’t need to depend off of no man and they can do everything on their own. But lets face it yes us women are very independent however, there are certain thing that we need a man for we can’t have a child without a man’s help and just as much as they help create the child they should be held responsible for their actions and duties. I hope that we I get married or find my husband that he is understanding and gives me my place of being independent and works with me to continue the romance and shared duties. 

Assignment 6

  Identify one of the examples of ancient marriage described by the author and discuss how it differed from the "one man, one woman idea" of marriage 

One of the examples of ancient marriage described by the author is the tradition in Tibet. In which one woman is shared among brothers, she is to have children with these bothers and raise the children as siblings. This differs from the “one man, one woman idea” because this type of tradition isn’t allowed in the United States. In addition, brothers are not to share a wife as well as a man isn’t allowed to have multiple wives. The “one man, one woman” is the idea of marriage and a commitment together as husband and wife not for your wife to be share with other men.

2) Among which two groups has postponing marriage become the most likely? Why?

Couples in Low and Middle class are most likely to postpone marriage. The reason for this being is because the Middle class is focused on getting an education and having their career settled before marrying. In addition, it’s known that now a day’s one person’s salary isn’t enough to maintain a family. The Low Class are postponing marriage because majority of the time they don’t have a job and they are out look for a job. Nevertheless, majority of them have little to no education that they are limited when looking for a job. Also, majority of the job they can get are low paying job requiring long hours. 

Choose one tradition and do a little research on-line - what is the history behind that tradition. Write about a paragraph about the origin of the tradition and whether you will include this in your own wedding - if you plan on having one.

There were several different traditions in the video such as..

1.       The smashing of glass

2.       Revealing the wedding dress to the husband the day of the wedding.

The smashing of glass at a Jewish wedding symbolizes the destruction of their holy temple. This custom is unknown, although it has been given reasons. The primary being based on tow accounts in the Talmud of rabbis, who upon seeing that their son’s wedding celebration was getting out of hand, broke a vessel in the second case glass to calm thing down. Another explanation is that it is a reminder that despite the joy, Jews still mourn the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem.  I will not be doing the smashing of glass at my wedding; it isn't a tradition in my family. The only way that I see this happening is if I do marry a Jewish man, in honor and for respect to his family will I do the smashing of glass. However, I will not reveal my wedding dress to my husband until the wedding day because it is said in my family that it is bad luck to have the groom see you in your wedding dress before the big day. 

Assignment 4

1. Sex is an individuals biological and genetics. While gender is what an individuals believes he or she is depending on the roles and behaviors. 

2.  I was doing gender when I went shopping with the girls and got a manicure and pedicure, and then got ready to enjoy the night. 

3a)  Risman and Seale used interviews as their method of research. Their study population consisted of forty-four middle school students, 17 boys and 27 girls. During Fall 2003 and Summer 2004 for about 1-2 hours, in Southeast City, US. 

3b)  One limitation that the authors mentioned was that there was no physical observation so they had to rely on what the students said.

3c)  The tweens stated at the beginning of the interview  that males and females are equal. But after they answered some questions based on gender and jobs they started to stereotype and noticed that gender norms do exist. 

3d)   The “girly-girl” is someone who is completely focused on physical appearance, prissy, wears high heels and a lot of make-up, boy-obsessed, and gossips a lot. The “tomboy” is someone who is athletic and roughed no where near the “girly-girl.”

3e)  I think that children act like girls or boys because it's learned  from parents and society. That's why I pick "nurture/learned" these children see their parents buying them specific colors, items, and toys and that's when they learn what colors, items, and toys are appropriate for them.  I definitely think that we create these gender roles by rewarding children for gender appropriate behaviors because before they go to school they are brought certain toys to play with at home that when they go to school they play with the toy they are familiar with already. Working in a day care center I have noticed boys playing in the kitchen and teachers have never told the boys that they are not allowed to play there. In fact teachers emphasize for all children to try all different playing activities. I feel that girls like pink and boys like blue because usually those are the colors of items and toys that surround them which reflect on the fact that we learn to like these colors. However, I feel that children should be free to like whatever color they like and be able to play with whatever toys they want to. 

4. Print this copy in word so you can add T for true and F for False

1.           F   In the year 2000, 64.6 percent of mothers with children younger than age 6 were part of the labor force.

2.       __F__ The number of working mothers with children ages 6 to 17 increased by 15 percent between 1975 and 1980.

3.       __F__ During the period 1995 to 2001, the number of working mothers with children younger than age 6 increased by more than 5 percent.

4.       __T__ In the last five years on the chart, the percentage of working mothers with children younger than age 18 decreased.

5.       __T__ The number of working mothers with children younger than age 6 went above the 50 percent mark for the first time between the years 1980 and 1985.

6.       __F__ The number of working mothers with children ages 6 to 17 has not been below 70 percent since 1980.

7.       __T__ The number of working mothers with children younger than age 6 decreased between 1997 and 2001.

8.       __F__ In 1955, fewer than one-fourth of all mothers with children under age 18 were part of the U.S. workforce.

9.       __T__ Working mothers with children younger than age 6 have always made up a smaller percentage of the workforce than those who have children ages 6 to 17.

10.   __T__ In the year 2001, more than three-fourths of all mothers of children ages 6 to 17 were part of the labor force.

6.   Yes, I do think that women are doing as  I expected. By looking at the increase of mothers with children under 18 years old, there is a significant gap from 1955 to 2004. It shows that there is a 43.7% increase in the amount of mothers working.  The disappointing factor is that women still get paid less then men. This still shouldn't be happening. 

Assignment 5

1) According to the article, what percent of Americans polled support gay marriage and why is this news?


According to the Article 45% of Americans support gay marriage. This is news because it been a big increase since 1996 when 25% of Americans supported Gay marriage. In addition, the percentage of Americans supporting gay marriages will increase with the new generations because it's mostly the old generations that don't agree with gay marriages.

2) Click on the link to Proposition 8 in the NY Times article. What is Proposition 8? Also, briefly describe the history of Prop 8 over the past few years.


Proposition 8 was a ballot measure made in California that banned same sex marriage. However, Proposition 8 didn't end there people still protested and tired to change the outlaw. There was a Judge from San Francisco who stated that this outlaw was unfair to gay women and men which created for the ban to get dropped. Instead the date for dropping the ban got extended and the court concluded that Proposition 8 was illegally discriminating due the the term used "Domestic partnership." Giving the option for different wording that would categorize everyone despite the gender. However, the voters felt strong about their votes and Proposition 8 was left banned but already married couples were allowed to stay married and for now the same sex marriages are discontinued. Nevertheless, advocates for same sex-marriages are going to continue to fight and start a new ballot measure.  



3) According to the this amendment, what is the definition of marriage in the U.S.?


According to the amendment the definition of marriage in the U.S is a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife, and the word "spouse"refers only to a person of the opposite sex who is a husband or a wife. It's sad to see that the Amendment doesn't even recognize homosexuals with new laws being implemented i feel as thought the documents of the U.S should change as well. 


4) You can click on a state to see their stand on gay marriage, adoption of Defense of Marriage Act etc. Choose two states and compare their positions on gay marriage. Please don't all choose NJ and now NY has same-sex marriage!

 Pennsylvania has already adopted a Defense of Marriage Act, but in recent years, there has been a push to pass a constitutional marriage amendment as well. That  measure has passed in the state House but not in the Senate in its present form. Florida voters approved a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage on November 2008. The measure also can ban civil unions and domestic partnerships. The state already had a Defense of Marriage Act.

5)How is the legalization of same-sex marriage in NY expected to influence the wedding industry. List two of the expected changes reported in the story. 


The legalization of same sex-marriages in NY expected to influence the wedding industry by expecting sixty-six thousand couples to marry within the next three years. Which will hence the New York tourism and create more jobs for wedding planners and designers. 

According to UCLA demographer, Gary Gates, how do the marriage rates of straight couples differ from the marriage rate of same-sex couples? Who is more likely to marry, gay men or lesbians? Why are some same-sex couples NOT marrying?


According to the UCLA demographer gay marriage is something that slowly but shorty is starting to be accepted in different states which is creating for same sex marriages rates to grow. However, opposite sex marriages still continue to have a higher rate than same sex marriages. Lesbians are more likely to marry but they are also more likely to separate faster.Same sex marriages are not marrying because they feel that it might hurt them instead of helping them because in a lot states still same sex marriages aren't recognized. In addition, they won't receive benefits and they won't get respected. 

 

Assignment 3

1. According to functionalist theory, what was the definition of the "instrumental leader" and what was the definition of an "expressive leader." What family roles were connected to each of these leader definitions?
According to functionalist theory the definition of  the instrumental leader is the one who holds the group discussion to accomplish the goal or task at hand. While the expressive leader is the one to lighten up the mood and is there for emotional support. These family roles where implemented in 1950s because the husband played the role of the instrumental leader by being the money provider of the household while the wife was the emotional supporter for her children. 

2. What main demographic change during the 1960s and 1970s led theorists to be critical of the functionalist perspective? 
The main demographic change during the 1960s and the 1970s was the fact the females were starting to have a say and were going out into the labor force and being predominant. 

3. In contrast to functionalist theorists, in your own words, what is the main theme of conflict theory?
The main theme of the conflict theory is to create social changes that would give power and benefit everyone.  

4. Social exchange theory is based on ideas from what discipline (not sociology). What do exchange theorists say about husbands bargaining power versus that of wives?
Husbands had stronger bargaining power since they were the money makers of the household. While on the other the wives have fewer resources due to the fact of the low income they provide for the family household. 


5. Feminist theory is based on what main idea?
The feminist theory was based on the conflict theory, because it was started the transformation of inequalities between men and women.  


6. After reading about the various methods or ways that we collect data to study the family, tell us:

A) A research question about family/relationship satisfaction.
How new couples cope with a new born in the family?

B) Do you want to study the family at the micro or macro level?
I would conduct this study in a micro level

C. What method will you use to collect data? Refer to the methods listed in the lecture slides.
Demographic study

D). How many people will be in your study? 
My research would study about 50 newly wed couples of different race, ethnicity, and sex with new borns.

E) Devise 3 questions you will ask them to answer your research question.
How is your marriage now that you have a child?
How do you make time for you and your spouse?
Do you plan on having more children?

Assignment 2.

Part 1 Assignment 2

1) Describe 1 or 2 highlights that struck you from the report. Do not cut and paste from the report, use your own words. Were you surprised by the data/findings on the chart or are they in line with what you would have expected?
One of the highlights that struck me from the report was the fact that married couples with no children within the age group frame of 45 and older would increase by 7million. It's shocking to know that people are waiting so long to get married, then enjoying their marriage and noticing that they have reached an age in which they rather not have children and that its growing so rapidly. 


2) Were you surprised by the data/findings on the chart or are they in line with what you would have expected?
I was surprised with the data especially because I don't really keep up with data. But after reading the reports I wasn't surprised by what the chart stated, it was pretty much what I was expecting. 


3.)What do you notice on the chart?
What I did notice in the chart was that female and males living alone are about at the same level without much difference in numbers. However, female house-holders have a bigger number than to male house-holders.


 3a.) What types of families are more typical (higher percentage) compared to 1995.
The families with a high percentage compared to 1995 would be female house-holders and females & males living alone.  


3b.) What types of families are becoming less the norm (percentage decreases from 1995 to 2010.
 The married couples with children are the ones becoming less in the norm compared to 1995. 

4) What type of family do you expect to be living in, in 5 years? In 10 years? When you are 70 years old?
Five years from now I hope to be engaged, ten years from now I hope to be married and with at least one child & when I'm 70 i hope to still be with my husband watching our grandchildren grow up.


Part 2, Assignment 2:


1) What is different about women today versus 40 years ago?
Women today are out getting an education and looking for a career first. Then getting married and having kids considerably later than ever before. Versus 40 years ago women we dropping out of school to get married and have children and cater to their husband.

2) What is the norm in terms of what women are doing and when they are marrying?
Today women are delaying marriage, expanded higher education and labor-force participation, living in urbanization setting then thinking about marriage and considering children. 

3) Do women work more or less than in the past etc?
I feel that women whether it had been in the past or present women still work just as much. Just because back then they weren't going out and getting an education didn't mean that they weren't hard in the household. However, today women are working hard to get an education and not depend off of anyone. Yes, they were different structures of work however i feel that they amount to the same.

4) Next, please write about what you plan to do as you finish school and reach adulthood. Will you work and get your career started and then marry or the other way around?
When I finish school I plan to have my Day Care Center with my mom because she is an educator as well. I plan to get my career started in getting my license as a principal and then after I'm all settled down is when I'll marry and have children. 


 Part 3 Assignment 2

1) tell us about one change in age at marriage, how many people marry, childbearing, cohabitation, divorce, or aging.
One change in age at marriage is that women are now considering marriage after their careers, marrying later. 


2)How does the latest research differ from the past research noted in the article?
The latest research differ from the past research because theirs so many different life stage and cycles that there isn't expected family traditions to still follow and carry on with cohabitation and divorces rate increasing. 

3)Who did the article author cite in describing the newest research?
In Cherlin's article, Teachman, Tedrow, and Crowder were cited.

Assignment 1 introduction.

Hi my name is Nastassja. However you can call me Nati, it's short, simple, & cute. My major is Family and Child studies with concentration in Early Childhood Education and my child advocacy certificate. My big plans are to own a Day Care Center and after become a principle at a elementary school. Something interesting about me is that I'm a year ahead in school. In addition, that I love to Travel been to various places however, I still have a lot more to explore. 


Growing up I lived with both of my parents however, three years ago my parents got divorced but were separated for five years before the divorce was actually processed. I currently live with my mother and my two sisters. I am the middle child, my older sister is 22 and my younger sister is 15. Since we are kinda grown and out in the world doing "our thing" we've all become super independence. So the only type of activity that i share with my family besides holidays is traveling. My mom and sisters love to travel and since we don't have any family members in the US we travel every year at at least twice a year. 


Since I come from a divorced family i would like to learn more about marriages and tips about healthy happy marriages.

Since I picked up this class the last day of add and drop I missed out on the video. In addition, wikis ISN'T HARD it just takes time to get use to. hahaha



-Nati