Family Theories - Research Paper Example

?Theories That Affect The Social Family What are social s? Well, they are defined to be the groups in a certain society, big or small that would affect the whole unit. Some of which are schools, churches, government, businesses, organizations, and of course, the unit where each of us belonged first which is the family. The family is considered the smallest societal unit or institution in a society (Social Institutions, n.d.). Also, the family is deemed as one of the building blocks of one’s character thus, being seen as an important institution that needs to be built up in the right context and also the right understanding of what a family should be like. This is because of the fact that one gets one’s first learning in their own families which would have a big impact on how one’s character is built up. With every member of a family guaranteed with a decent and upright character, one’s own family would not be the only one to benefit but at the same time the society as a whole as the society is made up of individuals that have different upbringing from their own small unit or families. Indeed, being able to fulfill this dream of having a great community that is motivated by integrity, nobleness, and humility would always have its beginnings from the foundation of each family that makes up a community. However, being able to do so successfully would entail one to understand the significant theories that would affect the social institution of the family and how it can be used to achieve a better community. There are different kinds of families with different backgrounds. Some people are born from a family that speaks a different language, adhere to a different religion, looks slightly different from the normal physical appearance, or perhaps live in a different culture. All these would have an effect on how each family should be treated that would result to bringing up responsible and productive citizens of society. However, aside from these geographical, cultural, and racial differences that would affect the family and at the same time the society, there are also sociological theories that would impact the family. First of which would be the theory of Functionalism. It is a theory that was considered as the dominant branch of western sociology during the 1960s where sociologists where at a period of accepting different sociological perspectives. This theory argues that societies are made up of interrelated social institutions such as schools, mass media, political systems, the Church and the family that all contribute to the betterment of the society, considering that all these institutions are functioning well (Functionalism and the Family, n.d.). Thus, it would be safe to say that this theory would put primary importance on how each societal institution functions as the basis of whether a society would be better or worse. Also, this theory believes that the nuclear family, one of which is composed of a father, a mother, and children is the universal social institution that is most accepted as it fulfilled all four basic functions of a family which are the sexual, reproductive, economic, and education. This theory applies to one’s perception of a family as we can see today that people’s perception of a good family would be one that is whole, composing of a mother, a father, and children. Being a part of a broken family with no father or mother is deemed to be a family that would not stand long on its own and will be on ruins with just any blow of life such as financial limitations where the father would supposedly be the one to provide for or perhaps having children growing as rebels or unhappy without a mother’s touch and love, always looking for something to complete them. Aside from that, the Functionalist point of view also would deem a family that has no ability to bore a child as incomplete as it is a family form that would lack one of the basic needs of a family which would be reproduction. Also, do you ever wonder why every family would always start planning how they would send their kids to the best schools? Well, this is because education has played such as big part in our culture and family life and research and at the same time experience would teach us that families composed of well-educated people are those that would most probably be able to contribute to a family and society better. However, as we look at our society today, we would notice that a lot more family forms aroused over time such as the single parent families, gay and lesbian families and a lot more thus making the non-Functionalist sociologist say that the Functionalist point of view should not be considered as the universal form as it does not apply the present day family forms that we have now. Another theory that we need to consider to understand the family would be the theory of Conflict. In this perspective that originated from the theorist Karl Marx who has great influence on class struggles, it says that while other theories focus on the positive aspects of society, more specifically the family, that contributes to the stability of each societal institution as a whole, the Conflict perspective on the other hand focuses on the negative nature of society, taking consideration that it is ever changing. Conflict theory challenges the status quo by encouraging social change by believing that rich and powerful people are the ones who force social order on the poor and the weaker ones (Sociology: Three Major Perspectives in Sociology, n.d.). Further, this means that ruling class are the ones who have ownership and control over forces of production thus, exploiting and oppresses the subject class while various institutions of society such as the political and legal are instruments of ruling class to dominate and serve their further interests. Conflict theory would impact one’s perception towards the family and at the same time their own role in their families big time. Because of the idea that the family is a smaller sociological unit and therefore not as powerful as the government, they would deem themselves always being taken advantage of or abused even when they really are not. With this kind of attitude, one would tend to have higher or even unreasonable demands on the government perhaps such as relying on the government to raise a certain society’s educational level or perhaps blame financial instability that one is facing on the government while not really doing their part to achieve greatness for the whole society. Aside from that, what is an imminent impact of this point of view towards the family would be the purposeful disobedience of any laws implemented by legal institutions because people would always think of the abuse and at the same time pity themselves being that weaker institution in society thus, dimming the great purposes of laws promulgated by law makers that is key for a peaceful and rich society. Thus, today, there are a lot of crimes and poverty that is always blamed on the stronger and richer institutions where one would not hear anything about what an individual did or did not do to cause such situation. When it comes to the families that are considered a part of the ruling class, people who have the point of view of the Conflict theory would always envy and want what these richer families have and always at doubt about their progress while seeing them in the totally opposite condition that would push taking advantage of the ruling class or families every time they get a chance to which is not one of the keys to a successful community. Another very interesting theory that would impact the perception of what a family today would be that of Interactionism. What this theory says would be that it is important for people to consider the symbols and every little bit of details of everyday life to make meaning of how people interact with each other. This theory is also called the Symbolic Interactionism which originated from Max Weber’s principle that each individual acts in such a way based on their interpretation of how they make meaning of the world and their existence (Sociology: Three Major Perspectives in Sociology, n.d.). Interactionism theory is the one that is responsible for explaining why people revere on symbols and highly influences how they are and what they believe in. These symbols could be words or actions that could give certain meanings to the receiver and thus, would be interpreted in such a way that could be parallel or give a different meaning from what the sender really intended to do or say. When it comes to the symbols that involve not static things, it would affect a person based on the intention and interpretation. One example of which would be notes that make music, Church ceremony, or wedding vows. All these are symbols in our daily life that we use to make meaning of the world around us. Applying this theory to the macro level of social interpretation, some critics claim that Symbolic Interactionism neglects the ability of people to see the “big picture” (Sociology: Three Major Perspectives in Sociology, n.d.). This would mean that because of too much reverence to symbols such as perhaps looking at a rose so nearly that people miss out to see the thorns that might cause pain or hurt them. One of the strongest weaknesses of this theory is that it causes poor influence of relevant social institutions on individual interactions. Based on the theory of Symbolic Interactionism, people’s perception of a family really is affected. This is because of the fact that people tend to have higher regard for small symbols which may or may not really be relevant which makes them miss out on a bigger thing. One example of which would be the imminent effect of broken families to the members of that family. Since a family that lacks a mother or a father would symbolize brokenness, people who are part of that kind of family would look at themselves being incomplete forever thus, thinking that a better and happy life for them would be impossible already. This is the reason why a broken family becomes more broken by taking for granted the family member that is left with them as they focus on the one who got away instead of moving forward and filling up the empty spaces in their lives. Applying this to how this this perception of a family to the whole society, perhaps the implementation of laws in society, people that make up the community would always focus on how hard and inconvenient it is for them to abide by some laws such as perhaps paying one’s tax and would rather escape it in many ways as this would give them an instant benefit which would be extra savings for themselves instead of looking at the big picture of actually having more chances of a safer, more convenient, and richer society. Also, applying this theory in economics, people who were brought up from families with this kind of mind set would have more probabilities of being financially unstable as it would be hard for them to invest on what seems to be a good investment because they would focus on the money they have to shell out instead of the ability of financial growth years after. All these three sociological theories: Functionalism, Conflict, and Interactionism really has a great impact on how a family develops in their its own form and at the same time the kind of society that one lives in. Although these three have differing perceptions and principles that changes how a family is perceived where Functionalism would rely on the completeness of the four basic needs of a family which are reproduction, education, economic, and sexual which are some physical or structural factors that are deemed to be important; Conflict where the theory goes beyond the structure of a family knowing that there are a lot of different family forms nowadays instead focusing on the bigger and stronger institutions that displays power over the weaker ones which affects the reality where the stronger ones thrive while the weaker ones exists to survive; and lastly, the Interactionism theory where every symbol one faces or uses is given meaning and influences how one makes meaning of life and society, all these three impacts the family structure that we have today. We can see that Functionalism and Interactionism somewhat have similarities in the beliefs that each theory holds as where Functionalism puts importance in the completeness of a family that is composed of a father, a mother, and children, it somehow supports the idea of Interactionism where every symbol, from words, acts, or intent is given meaning and affects how one becomes in a family and as a part of society. We all know that a father would see the world differently, a mother would give a certain kind of touch to a family, while children would give a certain kind of ingredient that makes a family one that is filled with love and happiness. Without a father, a mother, or perhaps children, the symbols that one would receive would be different which will impact how he or she will see life as a whole thus, affecting how he or she will affect society. The differences of these three theories would be that Functionalism would choose to focus on the positive aspect of the social unit which is the family and assumes that a family composed of a father, a mother, and children would be best for a society, the other two theories which are Conflict and Interactionism would focus on the negative inclinations of the social institution which is the family based on their respective theories. References: Family as Social Institution: A Conflict Perspective. (n.d.). Scribd. Retrieved December 3, 2011, from http://www.scribd.com/doc/17678370/Family-as-Social-Institution-A-Conflict-Perspective Social Institutions. (n.d.). Sage Pub. Retrieved December 3, 2011, from www.sagepub.com/upm-data/12996_Chapter_6.pdf Jobs, b. t. (n.d.). SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY. The Society for Social Research. Retrieved December 3, 2011, from http://ssr1.uchicago.edu/PRELIMS/Theory/weber.html Interactionism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (n.d.). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved December 3, 2011, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interactionism The Functionalist Framework. (n.d.). Pine Forge. Retrieved December 3, 2011, from www.pineforge.com/upm-data/17261_Chapter_2.pdf Functionalism and the Family. (n.d.). Earlham Sociology Pages. Retrieved December 3, 2011, from Functionalism and the Family. (n.d.). Earlham Sociology Pages. Retrieved December 3, 2011, from http://www.earlhamsociologypages.co.uk/functfamsum.html Sociology: Three Major Perspectives in Sociology . (n.d.). Get Homework Help with CliffsNotes Study Guides . Retrieved December 3, 2011, from http://www.cliffsnotes.com/study_guide/Three-Major-Perspectives-in-Sociology.topicArticleId-26957,articleId-26837.html Read More