The Institution of Family Has Got through Significant Changes - Essay Example

The institution of family has got through significant changes as the population at a definite location is constantly growing with people of different social and cultural values, universals, and histories. Teenage parents are usually considered to be in the group at risk. In this respect, the theoretical approach should be applied in order to investigate and properly analyzed the problem from the inside out. The theory of structural functionalism serves to dispute the idea of family and teenage parents so obvious for the poorest areas of the American cities. Thus, in the most basic terms, contemporary sociology should address functionalism in its relation to norms, customs, rites, and traditions people possess to keep up a proper lifestyle in their communities so as to deliver them to youngsters.
It is vital to note that family, as one of the main institutions of society, promotes the growth of society itself. One should keep in mind that such growth refers to all spheres of life, not merely biological propagation. To say more, each family equally deserves appreciation on the part of the society, but not just blame as in the case with teenage parenting. This is why living in a modern multinational society requires that individuals are likely to keep friendly intentions and inclinations to neighbors of different descent or identities (Mitchell, 2008). Functionalism seeks to gain social equilibrium through a good functioning of the main social units, such as customs, traditions, and the ability to bring awareness of the problem and make efforts to sort it out in the long and in the short run. Families and teenage parents should not be disintegrated in close accordance with the functional approach.
Family is seen by many functionalists as a uniting force leading toward normal life on the whole. In turn, it means that despite differences in age, individuals are better to create families, even though it happened in the early ages and in an unplanned perspective, so to speak. However, at this point, opinions differ since there are some other forces that may make the whole picture of the family obscure or somehow deviating. In this vein, there is a strong position in the theoretical postulates of functionalism regarding the family, namely: “Currently, some functionalists interpret the family as “breaking down” under societal strains, suggesting this breakdown is the result of the disorganizing forces that rapid social change fosters” (Andersen & Taylor, 2007, p. 309). Thereupon, it is quite hard to state that teenage parenting is well appreciated within society. Nevertheless, it cannot be just disregarded regarding the functionalist theory.
On the other hand, the family is a way to save the social order so as to omit mismatches rising as a result of a misconception of basic tasks set to answer the basic needs of individuals (Swenson, 2008). The notion of family embraces the age category of parents who managed to create the family notwithstanding the initial forces to do so. Thereupon, primary socialization and personality stabilization play a great role for families through enlarging an individual’s cultural and emotional richness respectively (Giddens, 2006). The question is that young parents are to be counseled by proficient psychologists and pediatricians so as to achieve positive results in their parenting with no breakdown of the family. Read More