Changing Family Life and Social Theories - Essay Example

Changing Family Life and Social Theories A family is a social unit made up of one or more adults and their off-springs who they care for. It is a group of persons united by consanguinity, likeness, or co residence. In most cases, it is the primary institution for the socialization of the family members especially the children. There are a number of aspects in the family that have been changing over time; this study seeks to explain using the Marxist and the Feminist theories. Overtime people have gradually moved away from traditional family patterns for instance, family members assuming new roles in the family and the emergence of a variety of new family structures. These transformations reveal economic, social, and scientific developments and changing attitudes. For example, family gender roles, family relations and stability, divorce, modern birth control methods, choice of spouse, preferential treatments among family members among others (Margeret and Howard, 2006; 413). This study seeks to explain how and why most of these changes in the family life aspects have occurred. For instance according Gore, the family structure is changing, because of whatever factors; these changes appear in new status-definitions, new interpersonal relationships and personality orientations. “The impact of industrialisation is making the nuclear family culturally more acceptable, we may expect to find urban members expressing attitudes more compatible with that change than rural members express”(Gore, 1968; 3). The emerging trends of leaner family according to the Marxist theory attributes to the economic progress. The development of individual ownership of property which called for the development of the nuclear family; would facilitate and ensure that men's property would be passed on to their own biological male descendants. The exploitation of women in the nuclear family was likely to occur in a number of respects (Hughes, John A., et al., 1995; 74-76). It argues that, women in the family were there to serve their men and reproduce the men’s future generations, and would not be included in the inheritance of the material ownership in the family. “Why else are women in the family today still struggling to have control their reproductive lives” (Baer, 2002; 36). The Marxist institution has from its early development, with the belief and literature of Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, stood for the emancipation and independence of women. According to Marx and Engels the ruling class dominates and oppresses women, consigning them to second-class membership in within the family and society: "The bourgeois sees in his wife a mere instrument of production. He has not even a suspicion that the real point aimed at is to do away with the status of women as mere instruments of production”. This has led to the rise in single parent families amongst the economically independent women (Tischler&Mendelsohn, 1999; 286). Marxism considers capitalism not only an economic system but is also a social and political system. The Marxist theory also believes that capitalism can only blossom on the exploitation of the working class; in most cases those who control the resources in a family life context are the ones who enjoy more of the benefits from the family (Jones, P., 2011; 33-34). Changes in family life have made men and women roles more alike than ever. Couples keep trying to find the right balance between work and home. These roles have, however, brought even more friction, and conflicts between the family members, this in most case occur where a woman is economically independent making the man in the family dependent on her, for example, in a situation where the society expects a man to play a role that was “traditionally” a woman’s (Bomar, 2004; 122). Marxist proponents’ points out that the economic conflict generates class and inherently class bring about conflicts; these gender conflicts in a family setting come out in the roles played by each member in a family. After Marx had borrowed his ideas, he argued further that the increasing oppression of women was as a result of the emergence of rank in society (class) and of the nuclear family. While the man took control in the family; it reduced and degraded the women to servitude; she became a servant and a mere reproduction instrument. In the end, the women in the family felt that the gender roles assigned them were oppressive and their protests have led to dysfunctional families and even divorce (Wise & Stanley, 2002; 93). The relationship between these two groups of people (social classes) in the family is based upon exploitation. The conflicts over the benefits in the family arise when the amount that the dependents receive is less than the value that they produce. Almost half of divorces occur as an attempt to solve issues from a marital dissatisfaction, which come about when both partners in a family are not content with the benefits dictated by the resource control. Currently, the challenging burden of job and family are a main source of pressure for all working women in the family. “If she carries out her duties in the private service of her family, she remains excluded from public production and unable to earn; and if she wants to take part in public production and earn independently, she cannot carry out her family duties" (Beere C. A., 1990; 376). Marxism claims on capitalism came in play when families break as a result of economic gains by a family member. The economic context of the family is another aspect to put into consideration in understanding the effect of materialism, adding a fundamental dimension to the divorce process (Bauman and May, 2001; 123). Divorce, has affected many family members regardless of whether they are members of the nuclear or extended family throughout every generational level, as a result, creating a crisis for the whole family. The normal family life cycle responsibilities, interrupted and distorted by the divorce, go on with bigger complication owing to the connected phases of the divorcing process. This, in turn, has led even more single parent families and street children (Wise & Stanley, 2002; 92). Capitalism has also weakened the links in the family especially among the extended family members. Historically, face-to-face gathering and reunion have played a significant role in the social life, in the societies, and within families, however, the role of social media like Facebook is reducing family meetings and face-to-face meetings have been overwhelming. This heavily blamed on the capitalist society which has socialised the society into individualism. If a family can negotiate the crisis and the accompanying transitions that must be experienced in order to re-stabilize, it will establish a more fluid system that will allow a continuation of the "normal" family developmental process (Cummings et al., 2000; 333). Feminism can be described as a theory whose premises argue that the previous societies systemically deprived women, and the situation has not changed in present-day societies (Jones, P., 2011; 211). Most feminists believe that women have experienced a series of social, political, economic, and personal problems in their lives. For example, once women get married or cohabit and have children, they in most cases than their men to feel indebted to forgo their career ambitions in the interests of their husbands'. It means that married/cohabiting women in families, who have accepted a traditional housewife or mothers’ role without paid employment, are economically reliant on their husbands (Tischler & Mendelsohn, 1999; 287). According to Feminists, the socialisation process operating in the family and elsewhere encouraged females to accept the traditional gender roles which entrenched female disadvantage in the private domestic sphere and the public sphere of employment and political and social life (Marsh, I. et al., 2009; 321). Feminists argue that, in the past, many parents in the family socialized their daughters to show dependence, obedience, conformity and domesticity whereas boys learnt to be dominant, competitive and self –reliant. When young children saw their parents acting out traditional gender roles they would perceive these roles as natural and inevitable (Margeret and Howard, 2006; 414). However, since, these gender roles are social constructions they are adjusted via various political and economic strategies and improvements in female educational and employment opportunities. These changes are signs of lesser gender inequality as the number of working married women has been rising significantly. The increased number of working women has led to several changes in family life. It has brought about the model of the equalitarian family, where each family member is of value and neither parent endeavour to be the superior member of the family (Wise & Stanley, 2002; 94). In spite of the fact that women spend more time on domestic chores than men, the collective amount of time that the men spend on paid employment is comparable to the time that women spent on housework and childcare. This in general suggest that although men and women undertake differing roles within the family they do use equivalent amounts of time on the entire family responsibilities pooled together (Bomar, 2004; 123). Feminists argue that the stability and harmony of the modern family is overstated while understating the degree of conflict within it. They assert that it designs the ideologies to safeguard the traditional family existence which is often detrimental to its members. They also point out that, in nuclear families (modern), the men make significant financial decisions rather than both parents while the distribution of domestic chores responsibilities and childcare unjust between men and women putting in to question the supposed evenness of the nuclear family (Beere C. A., 1990; 377). In conclusion, as the society gradually becomes more inclusive and women more financially independent, it increases tension in family life between the parents. This is because currently more women are getting employed than men, thus; husbands are more involved in childcare, the heavy load of domestic chores and parenting remains with women translating into a delicate balancing act between spousal engagement, job responsibilities, and care-giving demands. Self-definition can eventually work against the woman when it turns a heavy burden and self-defeatist, eventually; she has no home to come home to. Bibliography Baer Judith A. (2002). Historical and multicultural encyclopedia of women's reproductive rights in the United States. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press. 35-37. Bauman, Z. and May, T. (2001) Thinking Sociologically, Oxford: Blackwell. Gore M. S (1968). Urbanization and family change. Bombay: Popular Prakashan. 2-5. Beere Carole A. (1990). Gender roles: a handbook of text and measures. New York: Greenwood Press. 375-378. Bomar Perri J. (2004). Promoting health in families: applying family research and theory to nursing practice. 3rd ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Saunders. 121-123. Cummings et al. (2000). Developmental psychopathology and family process: theory, research, and clinical implications. New York: Guilford Press. 333. Hughes, John A., et al. (1995). 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