Social Influences on Family Formation

It wasn’t that long ago that two people formerly had very little say in their mate selection. That major decision was left up to their parents, specifically those of the woman. Oh, how times have changed. Today, a couple sometimes doesn’t even seek the approval of their parents and their personal preferences take precedence. However, the early stages of family formation can be affected by many things in society. The three earliest stages, consisting of dating, including the emergence of the hook-up culture, cohabitation and marriage are often affected heavily by race, social class or socioeconomic status, and gender. In this paper I will be analyzing how each of these social aspects affects each of the early stages of family formation in the order in which they typically occur starting with dating and ending with marriage.

When discussing dating in today’s society one must first consider the new approach many young adults have towards dating. This new approach, known as the hook-up culture, is quickly becoming the most common first step towards a relationship. Today, almost fifty percent of relationships in college begin with a hook-up. According to Blow (2008), the beginning of the typical relationship in today’s world starts with a few hook ups then moves on to a more typical first date if there is mutual liking between the two people involved. This means that more people are beginning to see the idea of hooking up as a good way to test the waters and see if you like someone before investing too much time into a relationship. Hooking up has received the stigma of being a college campus phenomenon, however, that may be where the idea was first formulated but it is now extending further into adulthood. This extension ...

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