Sociological Perspectives on Students and Families - Essay Example

SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON AND FAMILIES Family serves as the primary of a social establishment and plays decisive role in theidentification, personality formation and brought of the individuals. Man is born and dies in this fundamental social institution, and maintains very intimate relationship with its members throughout his life. It is family that provides the individuals with all necessities and comforts, including food, clothing, shelter, protection as well as emotional, economic and sentimental support and encouragement.

Moreover, family is responsible for the nurturing, socialization, education and grooming of its members. The individuals look for its support at precarious state of affairs, and hence remain in strong bondage and constant connection with the family throughout their life. The family is the basic building block of society because it performs important function such as conferring social position and regulating social activity. To most family members the family is a haven in a heartless world. (Macionis, 2007) Before the arrival and advancement of industrialization, there existed the concept of extended family set up, where blood relations including grandparents, parents, real uncles and aunts, and children were considered the part of one family unit.

However, rapid industrialization has given birth to the concept of nuclear family structure, where husband, wife and children are regarded as one family unit. Additionally, the individuals have got the way of living together as couples without marriage in modern times, which have popularized the concept of single parenthood in the western societies of contemporary world. Child rearing and socialization of the young ones is viewed as the most imperative obligation of a family. Initially, man enters the informal learning process at home while having interaction with parents and siblings.

The parents provide basic knowledge of social and natural phenomena to their children, and get them admitted to schools on the basis of their financial position. The contemporary world has eliminated the division of schools on the foundation of racial, ethnic and religious background, and now children get admission in the institute of their own choice without discrimination. The amalgamation of the young ones within one institute having all racial and ethnic groups turns out to be supportive for them in respect of their penetration in the multicultural societies and cultures of modern world.

Community centers are playing very important part in this regards, which offer joint educational, sports and health facilities to the members of one community or region. Somehow, the innate feelings of hatred for the rival ethno-racial groups can also be observed in the attitude and behavior of young ones, which sometimes turn into clashes and conflicts between the individuals belonging to divergent communities. Another significant challenge the individuals undergo in contemporary society is the availability of quality education.

Though millions of institutions are offering almost universal courses to the young learners, yet the notions like creativity and novelty are fast dying these days. The individuals are bound to choose few specific educational courses in order to enter the professional life soon after the completion of their education. Since the contemporary social norms and values do not parents and siblings to impose their will on children, on the basis of their vision, exposure and experience, the young students make mistakes in the selection of subjects and courses, and the society witnesses the flood of graduates in few fields only.

Consequently, the disciplines like philosophy, literature, linguistics and archaeology lack professionals and experts in the contemporary era. Another drawback of contemporary society is the negligence of parents regarding the activities of the young ones. Since the young generation is not well aware of the consequences of their acts and actions, they aptly get involved into perversion and delinquency. Since it is only the family that can provide the young students with the orientation to the outer world, the parents should not be discouraged to teach moral lessons to the children.

Hence, it is the need of the hour that the parents must be allowed to guide and advise their young ones regarding their education and recreational activities in order to make collective progress with a fast and rapid pace. Work Cited: Macionis, John J. “Sociology: A Global Introduction.” Eleventh Edition Prentice-Hall 2008 468-478