Family as a Primary Social Group in a Society - Essay Example

Task: Extend definition about family In the human perspective, a family is a group of people who are associated by co-residence, resemblance and consanguinity. In some societies, it is an important base for socialization of children. Extended from the human family division, by biological-cultural affinities, marriage, financial systems, cultures, and friendship are the concepts of a family that are physical and symbolic. Furthermore, the concept of family extends to communities, villages, cities, regions, nationhood, global villages, and humanism. Moreover, there are also perceptions of a family that differ in societies, and the ones, which result from migration to thrive or else stop in their current societies. As a part of socialization and an essential establishment key to the makeup of society, a family is an item of analysis for sociologists of the family. Scientifically, the word family means groups of objects that are absolutely related. Types of families There are different types of families, and they are in many settings. The functions and meanings of families depend on their connection to other societal institutions. A common family is the nuclear family, which also refers to conjugal families in the North America and Europe. To sociologists, there is a difference between the nuclear family and the conjugal family. According to them, conjugal families are relatively independent of the relatives of parents and of other families, while the nuclear families are the ones, which maintain quite close relationship with their relatives (Haviland, Prins & Walrath 242). Extended family is also another family, which can mean people who are related by blood, and can refer to people who are related, and their relationships extend beyond the domestic group and do not fit in to the conjugal family. These families refer to the normative structure, which is found in a society (Haviland, Prins & Walrath 242). All societies show some differences in the composition and outset of families. Sociologists, historians, and anthropologists dedicate themselves to the understanding of variations, and changes in the family that result after some time. There is also another type of family called the bourgeois, and is a family structure, which arises out of the sixteenth and seventeenth century from the European households. This family is formed from the marriage between a man and a woman under strictly defined gender-roles. In this type of family, father is given the responsibly of looking income, while a woman has to take care of family matters. The huge transformation that led to current marriage in Western democracies was due to the religio-cultural value system provided by Judaism, early Christianity, Roman Catholic laws, and the Protestant Reformation. In some societies, there exist families, which are headed by the same sex. Although there is increasingly acceptance of the families headed by the same sex in the western societies, the heterosexual families are still the norm against which the same sex families are compared to. The rules of heterosexual marriage, which has encouraged same-sex partnerships to think critically about familial relationships, egalitarian strategies of family practices, and to invent creative family forms (Haviland, Prins & Walrath 242). There are also families, which are called blended families or stepfamily. These are families, which have mixed parents, whereby, one or both parents have remarried, and have children of the previous family in the present family. The affiliate of the couple to whom the child is not naturally linked is the stepparents. If the stepparents legally adopt the partners’ children, they become their legal parents. In this case, they may stop using the terms stepparent. However, some emotional issues that are common to stepfamilies may continue to be a problem. Family members should bond with their stepfamilies as with the biological families. Additionally, there are traditional and non-traditional families. The traditional families are those families, which the father is the breadwinner and the mother remains at home to take care of their biological children while performing household chores. The non-traditional families are different from the traditional families since the mother can be the breadwinner while the father is left to take care of the household. Moreover, the couples do not have to raise their biological children like the traditional family (Haviland, Prins & Walrath 242). Another common type of family is the open-adoptive families, which involves a legally married husband and wife who have agreed to adopt a child. The couple can decide if the child can have a relationship with the biological mother or not. Most families adopt children because they are not able to have children of their own (Haviland, Prins & Walrath 242). A family can also decide to adopt children if the biological mother is financially unstable and cannot provide the basic needs for the child. There are also Grandparent- headed families which the grand parents have the responsibilities of raising children. Some parents go beyond getting help from their parents in raising children. This occurs mostly in those families, which are torn apart by violence, or drugs and the grandparents have custody of guardianship over their grandchildren formally or informally. Functions of a family The main functions of a family are to produce and reproduce people, biologically and socially. From the children point, the family serves to locate children socially and plays an important role in their enculturation and socialization. The parents’ goal in a family is to produce, enculturation, and socializes children. A family has a strong influence in the personality of a person. The daily interactions between the family members have its effects on the development of personality and on the quality of life. Accepting responsibilities, learning tasks, and getting support and security from other members are the activities that can influence the personality of an individual. Full commitment to the family task is very vital in realizing the goals set by the whole family. If family members understand that domestic responsibilities realization to family or personal goals, they will be more committed to performing their roles. A family is like a team where each member has a special role to play, and these roles vary as the family goes through different stages of its life cycle. In many families, the husband provides leadership in determining the goals and aspirations of his family. The family in which the father possesses authority or control of the family is patriarchal. He is expected to be the principal breadwinner and his activities are usually outside the home. He projects the image of a stern personality, a disciplinarian, and the final decision maker. Traditionally, the wife is expected to play the role of homemaking and childrearing. She can help in the increasing of the family income by engaging in small businesses like retailing and home industries. In a matriarchal family, the mother possesses authority. Children ought to respect, obey their parents, and help in household chores. They must give high priority to their studies. Traditionally, girls were given household work while boys were supposed to do yard work and some minor repairs and to take care of pets. Ideal Family Traits Communication in a family In families, there are communication patters. There are some viewpoints in the family that show how its members should interact. These family communication systems start from two basic sets of values. The first one is the conversation orientation, which is the extent to which the significance of communication is valued. Secondly, is the conformity orientation which is the extent which the families emphasize similarities of differences in attitudes, beliefs, and values. Cooperation Cooperation in a family is very important since it focuses on sharing work and fun in the family. Cooperation should be a two-way arrangement that children have with their parents and siblings. Moreover, it involves giving up something that one needs when someone else needs it urgently. This sharing brings about a sense of unity in a family (Haviland, Prins & Walrath 242). Conclusion In conclusion, a family is a primary social group in a society. Those who join to form a family are no longer restricted to the customary composition of mother, father, and children. The traditional description has transformed to reflect the active advancement in family arrangements. The new definition of a family shows the varied pattern of those who come jointly to make family units. Work cited Haviland, William. Prins, Harald. & Walrath, Dana. The Essence of Anthropology. New York, NY. Cengage Learning. 2009. Print. Read More