Family Structures

What Sociologists Study

According to OpenStax (2018), sociologists study group interactions, groups, social interactions, and societies, from personal to small groups to big groups. OpenStax writes that sociologists study all the levels and aspects of a society, a group of people living in a defined geographic place. Sociologists who work at the micro-level study individual interactions and small groups, whereas those at the micro-level analysis study trends between and among societies and large groups (OpenStax, 2018). Notably, a micro-level sociological study may study accepted conversational rules in different groups like adolescents, while a macro-level study may examine how family structures have changed in the United States.

How Family Structures Have Changed Over the Years to the Present Day

Family structures have changed over the years. According to Hammond, Cheney & Pearsey (2021), in the U.S. during the 1900s, many families had three generations living together, including grandparents, parents, and children. By 2012, only 4.6% of families had this type of structure in their household (Hammond, Cheney & Pearsey, 2021). Today, the nuclear family is the preferred family, having a father, mother, and children. The nuclear family has also evolved to include single-parent families, which may have been created by the death of a spouse, divorce, or unwed motherhood (Hammond, Cheney & Pearsey, 2021).

The current family structure also has a blended family, often created through remarriage, and includes step-siblings, step-parents, or both. According to Hammond, Cheney & Pearsey (2021), a family is considered an extended family if it exceeds the two-generation blended or nuclear family.

Another trend in the contemporary family structure is cohabitation. Cohabitation is a marriage pattern where a woman and a man share a residence and have a sexual relationship but are not married (OpenStax, 2018). In a traditional blended or nuclear family, couples had to be married to live together and have children. Now, 39% of the Pew Research Center’s research of 2010 stated that marriage is becoming obsolete and cohabitation more acceptable. In 2011, the cohabitation rate had increased by 13% since 2009 (OpenStax, 2018).

Furthermore, family structure in the 21^st century has extended to include same-sex couples. In 2000, the U.S. Census Bureau reported 594,000 same-sex couples (OpenStax, 2018). Homosexuality has been embraced in households, breaking the simplicity of family structures that existed in the 1900s.

References

Hammond, R., Cheney, P., & Pearsey, R. (2021). Sociology of the Family.

OpenStax (2018). Introduction to Sociology 2e. Texas: Rice University.

ORDER A PLAGIARISM-FREE PAPER HERE

We’ll write everything from scratch

http://freesociologybooks.com/Sociology_Of_The_Family/01_Changes_and_Definitions.php

*What do sociologists’ study?

Family Structures

* How have family structures changed over the years to the present day?

Please note reading is chapter one of the textbook. Thanks