Assignment 3: What is Family Sociology & Sociology Theories?

1. An instrumental leader was the head/leader of the group, or the head of a household. An expressive leader is the one who gives emotional support and provides the group with comfort, or giving love, care, and strength in order to form a family.

2. The main demographic change during the 1960s and 1970s which led theorists to be ciritical of the functionalist perspective was the increase in the number of females entering the workforce. This proved that typical "family roles" were now changing.

3. Conflict theory focuses on societal changes, female/male traiditonal roles and empowerment, and the levels of inequality. In contrast to functionalist perspective, conflict theory studies a inidividuals. Conflict theory favors men and portrays them as being more powerful and dominating than women.

4. According to the social exchange theory, if a wife is working and earns more money than her husband, she is now more powerful and the husband automatically has less power. Within the exchange theory, husbands bargain power by having the women stay home does and raising children rather than working. This way husbands will be definite that they are earning the most money, and therefore remain in power.
5. Feminist perspective created the idea of the understanding the inequalities between a man and a woman. It explains how these bias and judgements of men being in power is created through past societal norms and culture origin. The differences in gender roles are socially contrustucted and accepted, they were not biologically created.


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

A) Are "gender roles" still present when dealing with siblings, or does it depend more on age?    For example, who does the chores? Who is charge of what in the house? The brother or sister? Does it depend on culture?

B) I would study the family on a macro level. Age of the siblings and culture of the family would be important during this research.

C) I would use interviews and observation. The interviews will allow me the one on one with the participant and be able to hear their side. The observation will allow me to see everything first hand.

D) 25-30 families

E) Who does the majority of the chores in the house?
     Does it make a difference whether the brother or sister does specific things? (Example: brother does dishes and sister takes out garbage)
     Does age play a role with the different responsibilities given to each sibling?

Assignment 6: Marriage

1. According to the author, one exmaple of ancient marriage that differed from the "one man, one woman idea" is that in Tibet a quarter of marriages consisted of brothers sharing one wife. This concept is in contrary to the "one man, one woman idea" of marriage because there are multiple men sharing one wife, rather then there being just one man and one women in the marriage.

2) The idea of postponing marriage is more common among middle class and poor couples. Couples strive to be financially stable before they get married.
Wedding traditions from the clip:
1. white dress & black tuxedo
2. drinking wine
3. the bouqet of flowers
4. bridesmaids/maid of honor
5. best man/groomsmen
6. the big veil/ lifting of the veil
7. groom not being able to see the dress before she walks down the isle
8. exchanging rings/ kissing the bride
9. Jewish traditions:
         -stomping of the glass
         -men wearing a yamaka

I chose to research the stomping of the glass tradition in the Jewish religion. Since I am Cuban, and have never attended a Jewish wedding, I was curious to know the meaning of this traiditon. In the Jewish religion, the groom is expected to stomp on glass, which is wrapped tightly with cloth. This process symboliozes the destruction of the Holy Temple in Jerusalum and represents the suffering of the Jewish people--and is also a symbol of good luck. Because I am not Jewish, I do not plan on having my husband participate on the stomping of the glass, unless he is Jewish and would like too.

Assignment 5: LGBT & Q Families

1. According to this article, 45% of Americans polled that they support gay marriage. This is news because gay marriage has been looked down upon for a very long time. This percentage is an increase from 1996 when only 25% Americans polled supporting gay marriage.

2. Proposition 8 is a ballot which took place in California in hopes of banning same-sex marriages. It has been a huge controvery, but, the federal court appeals Prop 8 because it was a violation of the 14th Amendment Constitutional Rights.

3. According to the Defense of Marriage Act, the definition of marriage in the U.S is a "legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife." A spouse can only be of opposite sex.

4. On May 6, 2009, Main legalized gay marriage. Some voters attempted to overturn the law, but it was not approved. The state passed the Defense of Marriage Act in 1997; which has a domestic partner law that offers limited rights to same-sex couples. Maryland was the first state to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman. However, in March 2012, Gov. Martin O'Malley signed the law legalizing same-sex marriages. This law will officially be in effect in 2013.

5. The legalization of same-sex marriages in NY is expected to influence the wedding industry in various ways. Two of these ways are: same-sex weddings will intially add hundreds of millions of dollars to the tourism industry & there will be a significant increase in sales for wedding dress and flower industries.

According to the UCLA demographer, the marriage rate for same-sex couples is 65% and 90% for straight couples.

Lesbians are twice more likely to get married than gay men.

Some sex-sex couples are choosing not to get married because their marriage will not be recognized in every state. Financially that could be a negative decision. In addition, some couples may feel as though the will never really have the same rights as heterosexual couples, so in the end they are still being discriminated against and treated unequally.

Assignment 4: Gender and Paid Work

1. Based on the lecture slides, the difference between sex and gender is that sex is the biological difference between a male and a female. It is only based on whether the person is a boy or girl. Gender focuses on the characteristics of male and females that we, as a society, view each sex. For example, the way a male or a female dresses, feels, and how we idtentify ourselves.

2. I was doing gender before I went to the zoo this morning with my nieces and sister in law. I wouldn't leave the house without repainting my nails AND making my nieces do their hair!

3. A) The researchers used interviews, with open ended questions, as their method. Their study was based on a population of 11-14 year olds and the sample size was 44 middle school students.

B) One limitation that the research had was the non-diverse population. The majority of the study was done on white participants. The lack of diversity in ethnicity, race, and religion leans towards a bias towards the study/results.

C)Most females and males believed that there should be gender equality with boys and girls. They showed that if they were to exchange from a male to female, or female to male, they would still expect to be treated the same. However, there were contradictions when discussing jobs for the different sex's which I assume pertains to the concept of "gender roles".

D) Middle-schoolers described "girly-girls" as always worrying about their appearance, such as afraid to get dirty, ruin their hair/nails, and "tomboys" as athletic and not caring about their appearance.

E) I believe that children grow up in a nature/learned environment. For example when children are young-toddlers, infants, etc- they unaware and do not think about the diffence between boy and girls, including toys. For example, my niece is 3 years old and she loves cars, trucks, etc. At such a young age children are engaged by what looks appealing to them. Whether it be the colors, the way they look, or the way they sound, children choose their toys and interests based on what they find fun. I believe in nature/learned because children lean towards certain things from their interests, and parents/society are the ones to either accept their choices or not. For example, in my child development class in high school, one of the pre-schoolers, a boy, loved to play dress up and roll play. He put the heels on for fun and his father freaked out when he saw. He then learned that "boys do not wear heels". Children grow up and learn what is apparently right from wrong from parental and societal influence.

Quiz
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.T__ 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)I believe that women are doing as well as I expected. Many mothers want to stay home with their children, instead of working. However, not everyone is fortunate enough to have the option of being a stay at home mom. Compared to the past many mothers work hard to support their family.

Part I: Assignment 2

I found it particularly interesting that there were so many different types of households. I recognize that there are single parent homes, two parent homes, and households where people live with friends (non-relative homes), but I never realized how detailed the description of a home can be. For example, I never thought that a single father household would be considered a different type of household compared to a single mother household. I just considered both of them to be single parent homes. 

I also found it interesting that the report mentioned there has been an increase in the number of households. I do agree that there is an increase in the number of people that need a home and everywhere I drive there are always homes being built. However, I do think it is interesting that so many people do not have a home, meanwhile homes are constantly being built. 

While analyzing the chart I expected a lot of what the results actually were. For example, the chart showed that there is an overall increase in households with no children and a decrease in households with children. Maybe not compared to 1995, but many years before that people would get married and have children at a much younger age. As the years have passed, many people have begun to change that norm and more people are just spending time either traveling with their significant others/friends, or even just spending more time with their spouse before having children. I find that a lot more people my age rather not be married. According to the chart, compared to 1995, it is more often to have a married couple household with no children now. On the other hand, it is less likely to have a two parent household with children than it was in 1995. 

In five years, if my prince charming does not come along, I will be living in a two parents household, the one I am living in now. In 10 years I plan on being in my own two parent household with my children. In 70 years I will be living in a married couple household with no children.

Part 2: Assignment 2

When comparing women now to women 40 years ago, there is an huge increase in the number of females obtaining a higher level of education and/or enrolling in college. Along with this increase, these females who enroll for college or a higher education typically marry at a later age. I can assume that when receiving their eduction, they are now more independent and are able to find better jobs; which leads to the rise in the number of jobs women have now. Women are not assumed to be the "housewife" anymore, especially in the economy that we are living in now, it is important for both the male and female to be working. Because of the combination of higher education and job opportunities, women are able to support themselves and not be dependent of others. Therefore, today women are getting married and having children at a later age.

Currently I am working as a manager at Chuck E. Cheese. I plan on staying there until I finish school in Fall 2013. Following that I want to pursue my career as a teacher or a social worker in a school district. My passion has always been to work with children in a school setting. My future plans are to get my career started, hopefully within two or two and a half years, and then marry and start my family. 

Part 3: Assignment 3

Previously there had been an increase in the number of divorce rates. However, now there seems to be a decrease in divorce since 1980. I assume this could be because not as many people are getting married. If marriage rates decrease, divorce rates are going to decrease as well. 

In the past, research assumed the likelihood of divorce would reflect on "all groups". For example, it has been previously researched that married couples with a higher level of education had lower divorce rates. Those married couples who were less educated had a slight increase in divorce or stayed the same.

Assignment 1: Introduction

Hello everyone! I am Karenna Fernandez and I am 20 years old. I am a senior at MSU, and a Family and Child Studies major with a concentration on k-5--like most FCST majors. I am currently enrolled in the Teacher's Education Program and I will be going out for my clinical I in the spring. I cannot wait to get out in the field and start working with children in a classroom! In addition, I am in the process of obtaining my certification for child advocacy. As for my future plans, I am uncertain as to where I want to go with my degree. I had originally planned on getting my masters for special education but, I am now uncertain. Taking my child advocacy courses have really sparked my interest in working as a social worker. However, don't get me wrong, I love working with students in a classroom, which is why I think I'm interested in being on the child study team in a school.

I am a manager at Chuck E. Cheese's in Wayne (HAHA laugh it up!). Many people ask me if I love the pizza and eat it all the time--yes I like to the pizza but after 4 1/2 years, it begins to get a little much! I have a love/hate relationship with my job because it is very flexible with school and I work with a great group of poeple, but, I work about 35 hours a week and with school it becomes a bit overwhelming at times. I plan on staying here until I graduate college and find a job in my field! I'd like to marry rich and travel the world, but that does not seem to be in my near future! :(

As for my family, I belong to a big Cuban family! I have three brothers, all which are older. I currently live with my parents and my brother closest to me in age. I have been blessed since the age of 9 with the joy of being an aunt. I have three gorgeous nieces that live in florida, and a nephew who lives closer to me. I am surrounded by many cousins, aunts/uncles, and friends who are considered family. I have a dog named Bella, which I forced my parents to keep in the house and now they are more obsessed with her than I am! I do not get along with my brother that lives in my house. Me and my other two brothers have a strong relationship. However, I am very close to my parents, particularly my mother, and we have a really strong bond. I guess that is one of the perks of being the only girl and the youngest! Being that I typically work weekends, and afternoons during the week, my time with my family is pretty limited. However, I love summertime because every Sunday my entire family comes over to my house and we have BBQ's, music,  and swim in the pool all day.

I am interested in learning about LGBT families. I have previously done projects and research on the LGBT community but I have not done much on families. This topic particularly interests me because two of my best friends came out to me within the past year. In addition, I am interested in learning about different races and ethnicities, particularly bi-racial families.

So, about this wiki webstie, I cannot even lie and say I did not struggle making this webiste because I most definately did! That could have possible been because I had my nieces yelling in the background, destroying their house, when I made my first attempt to making a page. My second try was relatively easier.