Family Residence: Where Do We Live?

Formally, a married couple is expected to establish a separate household. However, if we take a cross-cultural view, it is relatively uncommon. In many societies, the bride and groom live either with his or her parents. The reason for it is that the new couples need the emotional support and especially the economic support of their kinfolk.

Authority Patterns: Who Rules?

Imagine that you are recently married and must begin to make decisions about the future of your new family. Immediately, an issue is raised: «Who has the power to make the decision?», in simpler terms, who rules the family?

Societies vary in the way that power within the family is distributed. If a society expects males to dominate in all family decision making, it is termed a patriarchy. Women hold low status in such societies. By contrast, in a matriarchy, women have greater authority than men. But researchers have come to the conclusion that in modern history there is not a society which truly has this pattern of family organization.

Some marital relationships may be neither male-dominated nor female-dominated. The third type of authority pattern, the egalitarian family, is one in which spouses are regarded as equals. This does not mean, however, that each decision is shared in such families. Mothers may hold authority in some spheres, fathers in others. In the view of many sociologists, the egalitarian family has begun to replace the patriarchal family as the social norm.