In this section of the course, we will examine the relationship between men and women in the context of marriage. Primarily, we will be concerned with the division of labor in the household--a topic that has received much attention from sociologists as women have increased their commitments to the paid labor force and a topic that is of everyday concern to millions of men and women (take my word for it). With the help of Arlie Hochschildís book, The Second Shift, we will consider the complex negotiations that occur between men and women and the historical context in which these negotiations take place.

As we consider this topic, we need to explore some facts about contemporary marriage, again with the help of CHIP and census data. This time we will do our work in groups and report the results of our data analysis to the class. Each group will answer specific questions using designated data files. Each group will be composed of two people and there will be six sets of questions. Therefore, some groups will be working on the same set of questions independently. (All the data files are in the FREYCENC directory and the CEN1990 subdirectory.)

Each group is responsible for answering the questions listed for their topic and for preparing transparencies to show the results of their analyses for class presentation.

I. COHABITATION (COHAB9-M AND COHAB9-W)

More and more men and women are choosing to live together without being legally married. Although the interpersonal dynamics of cohabitating and married couples differ, these couples face many of the same issues in their relationships.

GROUP 1

1. Are there differences in the characteristics of men and women who cohabitate? (Hint: construct crosstabulations from the marginal distributions from both files?)

2. Are there differences between racial and ethnic groups in the characteristics of cohabitators? Are the differences the same for men and women?

3. What hypotheses do you have about the reasons for any differences that you have discovered?

II. MARITAL STATUS AMONG ASIANS AND LATINOS (MARASN9 and MARLAT9)

In the first data analysis exercise, you discovered differences between ethnic groups in marital status. However, we grouped together all Asians and all Latinos--groups that contain subgroups with very different histories and cultures.

GROUP 2

1. Are there differences in the patterns of marital status between Asian groups.

2. Are the patterns the same for men and for women?

3. Which subgroups most closely approximate the patterns for Non-Latin Whites and African Americans?

4. What hypotheses do you have about the reasons for any differences that you have discovered?

GROUP 3

1. Are there differences in the patterns of marital status between Latino groups?

2. Are the patterns the same for men and for women?

3. Which subgroups most closely approximate the patterns for Non-Latin Whites and African Americans?

4. What hypotheses do you have about the reasons for any differences that you have discovered?

III. AGE AND EDUCATION DIFFERENCES BETWEEN HUSBANDS AND WIVES (SPAGE9YM, SPAGE9YW, and SPED9-M)

Generally, we think people choose to marry people with whom they have fallen in love. But are there patterns in these choices. Specially, do age and education influence marital choices?

GROUP 4

1. How do 25-year-old men and women differ in the ages of their spouses? (Hint: construct a crosstabulation using the marginal distribution for 25-year-old men and women.)

2. Do men tend to marry women with less, more, or about the same education as they have?

3. Are the patterns you discovered in #2 the same for men aged 25-34 as the patterns for men aged 45-54?

4. What hypotheses do you have about the reasons for any patterns that you have discovered?

IV. INTERMARRIAGE (SPRAC9-M and SPACRAC9-W)

Another factor influence marriage choices is race/ethnicity. How common are marriages between people of different races and what patterns exist in intermarriages in the United States?

GROUP 5

1. Among what race/ethnic groups are the proportions of men and women choosing to marry outside the group the highest? The lowest?

2. Are the patterns you discovered in #1 the same for women aged 25-34 as the patterns for women aged 45-54? How men of the same age groups?

3. What hypotheses do you have about the reasons for any patterns that you have discovered?

GROUP 6

1. Among what race/ethnic groups are the proportions of men and women choosing to marry outside the group the highest? The lowest?

2. Are the patterns you discovered in #1 the same for men with differing levels of education? How about women of differing levels of education?

3. What hypotheses do you have about the reasons for any patterns that you have discovered?