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How Do Societies Perpetuate Themselves?

WHAT IS A FAMILY?

  • two or more people who are related by blood, marriage, or adoption

IS THE FAMILY IN DECLINE?

  • functionalism: according to Popenoe, the family is declining because the family is not cohesive, can’t perform familial functions, and has lost power
  • feminist theory: Hochschild says that working women still end up doing most of the housework
  • conflict theory: families are struggling to adapt to work–family conflicts
  • symbolic interactionism: according to Conway, the role of the family is changing to fit the times

HOW ARE FAMILIES CHANGING?

  • more interracial marriages and same-sex couples who adopt children
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