10.1 Discuss how definitions of families are socially constructed and change over time.

10.2 Illustrate the different patterns of mate selection.

10.3 Provide examples of how families interact with other institutions.

10.4 Describe the controversial issues concerning the family today.

10.5 Explain the formal and informal structures of schools.

10.6 Present evidence to show that schools contribute to the reproduction of social class.

Key Points:

• Families are diverse entities at the micro level, having many forms in different societies; they help carry out needs for societies to replace and train members.
•  The family is sometimes called the most basic unit of society, providing the core unit for pairing into groups (partner taking), for making and socializing new members of society (people making), and sometimes for contract breaking.
•  The process of partner taking involves rules of exogamy, endogamy, free choice or arranged marriage, and polyg­amy or monogamy.
• Power within a partnership—distribution of tasks and decision making—is determined within each family, guided by societal norms.
• The structure of the family has changed in recent years, with more single-parent families, more couples cohabiting outside of marriage, and the legalization of same-sex marriages in a majority of the U.S. states.
• Education is one of the primary institutions of society, focusing on the socialization of children and adults into their cultures so that they become contributing members.
• At the micro level, various statuses and roles interact within a school, and schools develop their own cultures that may or may not enhance learning.
• What we learn in schools goes far beyond the formal cur­riculum. We also learn a “hidden curriculum” in school that helps socialize us into our roles in society.
• At the meso level, education can be understood as a formal organization that works toward certain goals (bureaucracy) but that has many of the dysfunctions of other bureaucracies.

Summary:

Our happiest and saddest experiences are integrally intertwined with family. Families provide the founda­tion through which individuals’ needs are met, and they help prepare children for the demands of society. Soci­eties depend on the family as the unit through which to funnel services. It provides the base from which other institutions—education, religion, politics, economics, and health care—carry out their functions.

The educational institution has a vested interest in stabil­ity but is also viewed as a means to reduce inequality by training children for upward mobility in society. Schools foster patriotism and loyalty toward political systems. It should not be surprising, therefore, that most schools do more to enhance stability than to create change that might threaten those who have power, privilege, and influence. Still, many families put faith in schools providing their children with the means to succeed in society. Schools work largely with young minds in the socialization process—carrying out what powerful policy makers feel is important.