Parker Ellis 9/30/13 6th

FHS 2400 Marriage and Family Essays

What is a family? 45-year-old married male- group of individuals tied together through blood and marriage. Live in the same household.

11-year-old female- a group of people that live together and love each other and they all bond with each other.

8-year-old female- people who you are related to, you also love them. There is a mom and dad and kids.

My definition of a family is a group of people, related through blood ties, marriage, adoption, etc. that live and associate with each other. It consists of a mom and dad where the dad works and mom stays at home watching the kids.

Parker Ellis 9/30/13 6th Polygamy and Civil Unions If I had to vote on a bill on whether to legalize civil unions or not I would vote against it. Civil unions are not right. If you are in a serious relationship and love each other it is much better to just get married because then you have more motivation to make it work out. If you decide to live with each other and see if it works out the chances of divorce are much higher. People with these ideas do not deserve the rights and advantages of marriage.

If I were then asked to vote on a bill legalizing polygamy I would also vote against it. Polygamy is a thing of the past and I personally think it is disgusting. From the perspective of a wife having to share your husband with multiple other woman sounds awful. I also think it is hard for a child that way as well. I prefer the much more standard marriage with only one mother and father.

Parker Ellis 9/30/13 6th Personal Theory The family ecology theory is based on how families are influenced by and then influence the environment whereas the structural functionalism theory explains how society works, how families work, and how families relate to the larger society and to their own members. The conflict theory states that life involves discord and competition. They always see people as individuals and groups always in competition. The feminist perspective focuses on a womens family experiences, family diversity, and gender-based division of power. They base family experiences on gender. The symbolic interaction theory looks at how people interact with each other whereas the social exchange theory bases things on a cost-benefit basis, looking to maximize rewards and minimize costs. The family development theory emphasizes the change in the family over time. The family systems theory combines the structural functionalism and symbolic interaction theory to form a more psychological theory. I do not agree with the structural functionalism theory because I dont believe that the family should be related to how society works. The real world isnt a place to be basing your family off of. I like how the conflict theory is based on competition because I am a very, very competitive person. I don think that people should base their families off of the social exchange theory because that is encouraging selfish acts, always looking for what is in it for me. My favorite theory is the symbolic interaction theory because I love interacting with people. I can use these theories to base what my family will be like in the future.

Parker Ellis 9/30/13 6th Ethnic Families Stereotypes: African Americans-single parent families, lower annual income, non-marriage births Latinos- illegal immigrants, work at McDonalds, very poor, Mexicans Asian Americans- smart, squinty eyes, short and talk very fast, big business owners Native Americans- comes from tribes, very cultural and traditional, strong emphasis on family European Americans- dont know much about them, I have no stereotypes about them

I got these stereotypes from what I know and hear about the general population of each ethnic group. Also from rumors and what other people tell me. I believe that most are fair assumptions except for Latinos. Most are great people but lots of people think they are thieves and work at McDonalds. Im sure a lot of Latinos are very nice people. There are very successful Mexican business owners across the world; people like this contradict these awful stereotypes. Most stereotypes are bad generalizations as the ethnic group as a whole rather than judging everyone individually.

Parker Ellis 9/30/13 6th