Sociology of Family Class Brothers and Sisters - Essay Example

Sociology of Family “Brothers and Sisters” (kindly fill out in this section) We are in an endless pursuit of understanding the family life. Although we are guided by the norms and conjectures of sociology, but these theories oftentimes do not equate to reality. Are we a unique entity compared to others? Do these divergences and misunderstandings that we as a family experience happen to all? Do we really need a family? A way to appreciate our own issues is through comparison to other units. The media endeavored to capture the events that take place in a typical family setting. One such medium is through television shows that portray stories which give us insights about families. One of which is “Brothers and Sisters”. A television series that will grip your heart and eventually make you value the joys and pains of relationships. “Family is a social unit that binds people together through marriage, blood, law, and/or social norms.” (Sociology A Global Perspective [SAGP], 2006) In its complex way to define family and the variety of family arrangements exists in the world, this is the most acceptable definition of all. This diversity came from the numerous norms that specify “how two or more people can become a family”. (SAGP, 2006) Therefore we have sociology of the family which is simply the study of the family entity from a sociological point of view. It revolves around the analysis of gender, social class, and ethnicity. It involves the records such as the number and ages of the children in a family, their racial background, their economic status and the mobility of the unit, the educational attainment of each family member, and their behavior towards other people and the community itself. It further deals with how the family relates to the modern environment with regards to beliefs, gender differences, and states policies in relation to marriage. Over a period of time, family roles changes and this study further deals with those changes. Since the traditional family setting believes that a father’s role is to provide for his family’s needs, the mother on the other hand maintains to be the supporting factor; rearing the children and keeping order in the household. However, there are demands for women in the workforce thus, sociology further studies, the adaptation of the father as caregiver and provider as well. The gender roles are increasingly interlaced. “Brothers and Sisters” is a television series about a typical American family named the Walker’s. This TV series is one of the media’s most effective shows about family setting, more to which portrays a nucleus type of family. The Walkers lives have not been without challenge; romance, parenting, divorce, infidelity, addiction, war and even death have pushed each of them to the boundary, but they continue to work toward living their lives as individuals, while loving each other unconditionally and trying to maintain some semblance of normalcy after the loss and lies of their larger-than-life family patriarch, William Walker. The legitimate wife, Nora Walker, is the emblematic, traditional, and devoted wife and mother to her husband, William, and five children, Sarah, Tommy, Kitty, Kevin, and Justin. She sacrificed her dream to have a career just so that she can provide a good home for her children and her ambitious and career-oriented husband to whom Ojai Foods, the family business, belongs to. For so long she thought she and her husband had a monogamous relationship until William’s death when the Pandora’s Box was opened where all secrets were revealed and the idea that they had a perfect family life was shattered. William happened to have a long time affair with Holly with whom he shared a lot of his business ideals and dreams. Sometime in the story she became a business partner to Sally and Tommy Walker, two of whom the business was entrusted to manage. Kitty, the third child, is married to a US Senator, Robert McAlister. She and Sarah are the typical career ambitious women but still have great love and desire for a normal family life. Unfortunately, Sarah had a painful divorce; a price she paid for being the bread-winner of the family and her husband, Joe, being the one left to take care of the house and kids. Unlike Sarah, who has two children, Kitty longs for a child. She experienced a miscarriage during the time her husband, Senator McAlister is campaigning for US presidency. Their futile attempts to have another pregnancy, made them decide to search for a birth mother and adopt instead. Tommy Walker, together with Sarah, is also taking care of the family’s business while also fraught with his family life. They lost their son, William, who is Elizabeth’s twin brother, after his wife, Julia, gave birth under Tommy’s decision to have the baby sooner than what Julia wanted. That particular phase in their lives almost made them break up since Tommy had a brief affair with a colleague, and Julia likewise had a same circumstance with an ex-boyfriend. But their love and commitment for their daughter made it possible for them to work things out with the help of the entire Walker family. Kevin, the fourth son to William and Nora Walker, is a gay lawyer who initially struggled with his sexuality while his father was still alive. When he finally came out during his senior year, his father had troubles accepting that a Walker man is gay contrary to Nora who accepted it wholeheartedly and supported him all the way. This support and show of love and acceptance made him gain confidence both in his career and his life as a whole. He has had several failed relationships until he met Scotty, to whom he married under the California law on Gay Marriages. The Walker’s youngest son, Justin, is a soldier who served during the war in Afghanistan. He was once a drug addict; a habit that became his outlet to pour out his frustrations in his life. He has a relationship with Holly’s daughter, Rebecca, who they initially accepted as their own sister until they soon found out that she is a daughter of Holly’s former lover before she had her affair with William. All of them are very close to Saul, Nora’s brother and best friend. He worked with Ojai Foods and had a strong bond with William Walker, Sr. He also battled with his sexuality for so long keeping it until the time he realized he is no longer living his life. Like Kevin, he was accepted and understood by Nora and her children and with that he left his long time career at Ojai to find himself again. Most families can view themselves as the Walkers. Conflicts between brothers and sisters, parents and children, relatives, and even those within their social circle are present and experienced. One of the principles of Sociology tells us that life is a continuous struggle. This suggests that “social behavior is best understood in terms of conflict or tension between competing groups.” The disagreements portrayed in “Brothers and Sisters” are of different levels. There are those that take form from petty arguments; for instance that of Kitty and Kevin to where Kevin does not agree of Senator McAlister’s involvement to his sister since being a Republican senator he does not agree on gay marriages. There had been some exchanges of banters and insults which are quite typical to most siblings. Another scene was the violent confrontation between Nora and Holly in the kitchen where they actually threw things at each other while venting their mutual feelings of anger. Holly believes that Nora is stealing her daughter, Rebecca’s attention away from her and she is brainwashed by the usual eccentric Walker family. While Nora’s bottled-up fury for Holly over her husband’s infidelity was the cause of her catharsis. Never the less, the temporary reconciliation was done and said in a most civil and even close to a surprisingly friendly way. They both laughed seeing their messed-up appearances and thought of themselves as foolish also saying that they both need to move on and accept the new chapters in their lives. Conflicts associated with the study of Sociology need not to be violent at all times. It can take the form of “labor negotiations, party politics, competition between religious groups for members, or disputes over feudal budget.” (Sociology, 2005) Party politics was further portrayed in the sitcom when the Senator runs for presidency. His campaigns and how he sought support from his colleagues and constituents were highlighted in some of the episodes. This also pertained to a typical scenario of social unrest and “the view that our social world is characterized by continual struggle between competing groups.” At present, the “discipline of sociology accepts conflict theory as one valid way to gain insight into a society.” (Sociology, 2005) In some aspects, the Walkers appeal to the functionalist perspective since they can be identified in terms of the social functions they perform for society. The family is said to carry out certain duties in the society to create order and stability in the bigger society. In this regard, a family is said to have at least five functions. First is “regulating sexual behavior.” (SAGP, 2006) In “Brothers and Sisters”, William Walker, Sr. had an affair while he was still married to Nora but it is not a polygamous type of marriage. His was a mere extra marital relationship; although falling under this function is the prohibition of having sex outside the marriage, but somehow these affairs are widely accepted and tolerated. All of the married Walker children maintained a monogamous type of marriage, except Sarah who is no longer married, while Kevin is married to his gay partner and wed under the provisions of the law on Gay Marriages. Second function is “replacing the members of the society who die.” (SAGP, 2006) When William Sr. died, Nora took over the affairs of the house. She became the key decision maker in the Walker home and rules have changed dramatically from a patriarchal household to a somewhat egalitarian in nature because she made sure she also solicited the ideas of her grown up children. In the family business, Ojai Foods, Sarah took over most of the business’ operations with Tommy as her closest successor. It is inevitable in a family setting that members who die are hypothetically and realistically replaced by those who are still alive and they are meant to be nurtured. The third function is “socializing the young.” (SAGP, 2006) As we know, socialization is a learning process that begins immediately after birth. Similar to the Walker children, they were exposed so much by Nora in their early ages on the lessons on relationships and the rules of life. During the moments when she advise her children on what to do she would tell them stories on how she always taught them about life when they were still young. One episode that captured this was when Sarah seemed to complain that her mother was not always there for her. Nora said that she always saw Sarah as the stronger child in the family; never putting emotions first from reasoning. She got both the strengths of hers and William’s and she said that she always believed in her no matter what. This act of Nora for Sarah is also in relation to the fourth function which is “providing care and emotional support.” (SAGP, 2006) No matter how old people are, all humans still require meaningful social ties to others. “A family is expected to care for the emotional and physical needs of its members.” (SAGP, 2006) Nora is always the source of strength in their family. Not only doe she endlessly provide emotional needs to her family, but one episode showed that she will always care for her children even in the their most difficult times. This was when Justin came home from Iraq after suffering a war injury. Being a drug addict, he wanted to resist drinking painkillers but the throbbing he felt on his injured leg is overwhelming. His distress caused him to be petulant even to Nora. She would hear Justin crying at night and because this was unbearable for her, she one day told Justin to drink the medicine assuring him that she would be with him all the way so that he will not fall on the pitfall of addiction again. She portrayed different approaches on how she showed care to her family, and so did Sarah to her children, Tommy to his wife and child, Justin to Rebecca, Kitty to Robert, and Kevin to Scotty. In their differences and complexities, they maintained to be sources of support and love for each. That is because family confers social status. They depend on each other for survival and support which radiates to maintain the stability around them. Finally, “parents’ occupations and incomes are also important predicators of life chances.” (SAGP, 2006) “Family resources affect children’s ability to pursue certain opportunities, such as higher education and special lessons.”(Sociology, 2005) Similar to the Walker children, all acquired good education and are successful in their own right except for Justin who stumbled through high school, never finished college, and never had a steady job. These frustrations later pushed him to join the Army, a decision that stunned his family but somehow managed to win him respect. Their status made it easy for them to fit well in the upper, elite circle. Humans are often engaged to interacting with others. In the case of a family, Interactionist perspective is concerned with the micro level of family and other intimate relationships. The Walker family made sure that they get together during one member’s happy and memorable moments. With a glass of wine at hand, they sit and talk about family gossips, which would later turn into trivial arguments. One scene that shows their sociable side is when Kitty and Robert had their wedding party. They had to meet Robert’s equally eccentric and peculiar family with Robert’s crazy uncle on the lead. For once the Walkers thought of themselves as the subtle and gentle clan compared to what they were seeing from the McAlister’s extended family folly. One Aunt stole table decorations; a cousin who was dead drunk, vomited on the lawn; not to mention the long line of hula dance that Nora was forced to join. The Walkers always tell people who will, on one way or another, be involved with them that they translucent with their emotions no matter the event that’s taking place. They openly bicker, they are drinkers with looses tongues to match once intoxicated, but altogether they are compassionate and loving. When one has a serious problem, one knows that there is someone to watch his back. Like when Nora is asked by a serious suitor, Isaac, to go with him to Washington and live with him there. The children made sure that their mother will be safe and if that is the right decision for her. The guys, Tommy, Kevin, and Justin, decided to play golf with Isaac, just to get some more information on their plans to leave. At an instant, they all talked her out of it. Saying how they desperately need her with them. But Nora said that it has always been about them and never about her. She was constantly the person in the house waiting for them for whatever needs they will be asking help for. Realizing this, the grown up Walker children said that it is time to let their mother go. Towards the end, Nora decided otherwise because she truly believed that her life belongs to her family. Not as someone to solve all their problems, but as someone that binds them together through thick and thin. She no longer feels she had no right for her own decisions, but she knows that her children will support her the same way she has been there for all of them. Akin to them, we each all have a family to call our own, amidst the chaos, craziness, love, hate, happiness, and trivialities. The feeling that we belong to a family gives us security and comfort that we do not often encounter with the entire society. It is unfortunate however that some people feel otherwise with their kin. That is, not having their family as their support group. The show “Brothers and Sisters” simply portrayed that no matter what our worries are with the rest of the world, we have a home to go to; a comfort zone that will temporarily block the commotions outside until we are able to get back on our feet to face them. Theories in Sociology will give us the principles on how a family would act as a unit, but experience tells us that all these principles should be mixed up to portray a very realistic setting. We are then thankful for the media for the propagation of shows that deal with families. Not only are we given the opportunity to be entertained with the quarrels and the drama, but it also served as a lesson for us to become better with our relationships. Having good relationships starting with those closest to us will radiate to the entire community, and though it’s a cliché but with this, we can really have a better world to live in. One writer stated in his book that, “Thank God that some things don’t ever change. Because in this insanely chaotic world of ours, our children desperately need to know that they can hold certain realities that remain true for life. Or else they will lose their way, and die somewhere inside.” References: (1) Joan Wagner. 2006. Sociology A Global Perspective 7e.Belmont, California: Thompson Higher Education. (2) Richard T. Schaefer. 2005. Sociology Ninth Edition. New York, NY. McGraw. Hill International Edition. (3) Bo Sanchez. 2000. You Can Make Your Life Beautiful. The Boss. Second Collection Read More