THE FAMILY

One of the most common definitions of the family has been advanced by George Peter Murdock:

“ A social group characterized by common residence, economic cooperation and reproduction. It

includes adults of both sexes, at least two of whom maintain a socially approved sexual
relationship, and one or more children, owned or adopted, of the sexually cohabiting adults.”

Murdock notes that this family structure is found in every society and it is the basic unit.

In general, sociologists define the family as a group of people who are related by kinship ties.
Kinship ties exist through relations of blood, marriage or adoption. Most sociologists today
recognize a diversity of family forms. Family life can be organized in a number of ways and
sociologists use different terms to describe the wide varieties of family.

The Nuclear Family

The nuclear or conjugal family is the smallest family unit and is the officially accepted type of
family in modern western societies. It is a basic human social unit, consisting of a father, mother
and child or children who live in the same household. This structure is regarded as the ideal
structure with the marriage of a man and woman.

Polygamy

A variation of the nuclear family can be found where marriage occurs with a second partner
without divorcing the first, in effects allowing the formation of two or more nuclear families. In
western societies, this is a crime known as bigamy and it is acceptable in some societies.

There are two types of polygamy: polygyny and polyandry.

Polygyny is the marriage of one man to two or more women at the same time. This form is
practiced in Islamic countries such as Egypt, some of the oil rich Arab countries, among
Muslims and some African societies. The husband/father is shared at one level between or
among co-wives and at another level, between or among sets of children. The husband/father
usually has separate quarters in the home or lives in a nearby separate quarters in the home or
lives in a nearby separated dwelling.

Polyandry is the marriage of one woman to two or more men at the same time. This is quite rare
and is found in those societies where living standards are so low that a man can afford to support
a wife and child by sharing the responsibilities with other men. This family form has been found
in Southern India.
The Extended Family

This family type can be found in most societies throughout the world. The classic extended
family is made up of several nuclear families joined by kinship relations. The classic extended
family can also be referred to as a three or four generation family, because it contains the
generations of grandparents, parents and children or other relatives such as aunts and uncles.
Extended families tend to be quite large and in its classic form can be found in societies or
communities whose economies are agriculturally based. One possible reason that has been
advanced for this type of family in agricultural societies/communities is the need to keep
property, especially land, intact.

In the more contemporary period, the modified extended family tends to consist of related
nuclear families, who although living far apart geographically, maintain regular contact through
the telephone or email with continuing close relations made possible by advances in
communication technology.

Joint and Stem/Branch Family Structures.

The joint and stem/branch families are variants of the extended family found in some societies.
The joint family is characteristic of the extended family in India where cousins, aunts and uncles
are included are included in the immediate extended family household.

The stem/branch variation is an Asian, especially Japanese, extended family structure that
focuses upon the father, his sons, especially his first sson and their children. The stem consists of
the father and his wife and children, together with his first son and his household. The branch is
often started by second and third sons eventually establishing a new stem family. The branch
family maintains some links with the original stem family, but with time becomes increasingly
autonomous. In such formal family structure an elder has the decision making power. That elder
may be either a man or woman depending upon the cultural background of the group.

The Single Parent Family

In the contemporary period the single parent family is increasingly common in Western societies.
In some cases, this type of family would have started as a nuclear family but would end up as a
single parent family, perhaps because of death of a partner, divorce or separation of a couple.
There are also instances where it exists by choice, specifically, one parent, usually the female,
chooses to have and raise a child(children) outside of any formal relationship with the other
parent.

The Reconstituted Family

The reconstituted family is a family where one or both parents have been previously married, and
they bring with them a child or children of the previous marriage. This arrangement leads to a
new reconstituted family, with various combinations of step-mothers, step-fathers and step-
children. Such a marriage type is usually the result of divorce and remarriage and is more often
seen in developed rather than in developing countries.

The Symmetrical Family

The symmetrical family is one where the roles of husband and wife or cohabiting partners have
become more alike and equal. There are more shared tasks within relationships rather than a
clear division between the roles of the male and female partner. Both partners are likely to be
wage earners in the symmetrical family.

Same Sex Family

There is increasing evidence of lesbian and male homosexual couples who are choosing to
become joint parents and raise children as a family. The methods used for having these children
may include adoption, implantation of an embryo, artificial insemination and, in the case of
males, may involve the use of a surrogate mother. It is possible that, in this family type, a single
child will be the biological offspring of only one partner.

SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON THE FAMILY

The Functionalist Perspective

The functionalist perspective presents a view of society as a set of social institutions that perform
specific functions to ensure consensus and achieve continuity. Social institutions are seen as the
basis upon which a society reproduces its culture, that is, its norms, values, roles and statuses
among others. Functionalists, such as Parsons, define social institutions in terms of their
functions or the part they play in maintaining society. Functionalists focus on three main issues
in their contribution to the study of the family as follows:

1. The functions of the family. The main focus here is with the contribution made by the
family to the maintenance of the social systems. The family is seen as necessary for
social solidarity, order or integration since it teaches society’s culture to its young
members through the process of primary socialization.

2. The functional relationships between the family and other parts of the social system. The
focus here is on the degree of fit, integration and harmony between the parts of the social
system that allow the society to function efficiently. For example, there is particular ‘fit’
between the family and the economy. In societies based on subsistence agriculture,
families tend to be large, extended groups. However in industrial modern societies the
dominant form of family is the nuclear unit. The nuclear family adapts to the demand for
geographical and social mobility in modern achievement-based societies.

3. The functions performed by the family for individual members. For example, individual
roles in the family are determined by the gender of the spouse, that is , the husband or
 wife. Husbands generally perform the heavier tasks that require physical strength, while
wives engage in lighter tasks such as cooking and cleaning. It is claimed that this
domestic division of labour is practical since it is derived from women’s childbearing and
nurturing functions.

George Peter Murdock – Universal Functions of the Family

The Economic Function

The nuclear family functions as an economic unit that seeks to meet the material needs of its
members. These are the basic necessities of food, shelter and clothing. In pre-industrial
society all members of the family contributed to the production of goods and services that the
family required, and the family home was usually the place where production occurred.

The Sexual Function

Every society regulates sexual relationships. In most cases it is not common for people to
mate indiscriminately. Rules exist that indicate with whom one can or cannot have sexual
intercourse, where such acts can or cannot occur and so on. The nuclear family is seen to
play an important role in this regard by helping to regulate sexual relationships. Within the
family the two adults are usually united in an on-going bond based on marriage, no longer
having to compete with others for sexual favors outside of the family. Spouses must therefore
provide sexual gratification for each other.

The Reproductive Function

According to the function, reproduction takes place within a stable mating bond or
partnership that should afford the female economic and emotional support during the
pregnancy and child rearing. In many societies, this function of the family is reflected in the
identification of children in relation to their parents. This is society’s way of passing on the
social status and identity of persons, particularly that of fathers to their children. The
reproductive function also helps the family to replenish the society with members since it is
expected that in all societies people will die.

The Education Function

The function is also referred to as the socialization function. The education function involves
the teaching of norms, values and roles to new members of the society. The largest groups
being socialized by the society are infants and young children. The family is the primary
agent of socialization and is generally the most lasting influence in a child’s life.
Main Critics of the Functionalist Theories of the Family

In modern industrialized society the functionalist views of the family have come under heavy
criticisms. Critics point to a body of evidence which, they say strongly suggests that many
families are far from happy and stable. These criticisms are summarized below:

1. Functionalists like Parsons, fail to consider the influence of class, religion, ethnicity and
region. In this way it is suggested that family life is much more diverse than the picture
functionalists create. Morgan (1975) stresses the point that Parsons fails to explore the
possibility of differences between middle-class and working class families or different
family structures in ethnic minority communities.

2. The modern nuclear family is far from harmonious. Its geographical separation from kin
puts parents under additional emotional and financial stress. As a result, parents fight and
children rebel.

3. The family sometimes exploits children’s dependence. In some instances, it creates

mental illness such as schizophrenia especially where spouses fail to agree about the way
children should be socialized. (Laing and Esterson, 1970)

4. Children are often used as ‘scapegoats’ by parents venting their frustrations. Some
mothers have been known to lash out at sons for their fathers indiscretions. (Vogel and
Bell)

CONFLICT PERSPECTIVES ON THE FAMILY

Friedrich Engels and later Karl Marx were the first proponents of the conflict approach to
the study of the family.

The Marxist Perspective on the Family

Marxist Theory sees the family as an institution which helps in the reproduction of the status
quo, by contributing to ensuring that the ruling or dominant class maintains the hegemony.
The family is presented as the main unit that transmits and maintains the ruling class
ideology in the form of norms and values that are passed on to young members.

Engel’s Views on the Family.

Engels (1884)in the publication, The Origins of the Family, Private Property and the State
puts forward an evolutionary view of the family, tracing its development through several
stages, each stage being more complex than the one before.
Engels was of the view that in the era of primitive communism, a time when all the means of
production were owned communally, the family did not really exist. Engels claim that this
was a time of communal promiscuity when there were no limits on who had sexual relations
with whom and there was no need for marriage since the idea of private property did not
exist. He further argued that over time, society began to put restrictions on those with whom
persons could have sexual relationships. The family he said gradually evolved through
several stages, including the stage of polygyny. The nuclear family later developed in
response to the needs of the capitalist system of production where the private ownership of
the means of production was paramount.

According to Engels, in order to protect private property, the state created laws that
encouraged and strengthened monogamous marriages, that is marriages between one man
and one woman exclusively, because this type of marriage ensured the legitimacy of heirs.
The paternity of children could more definitely be assured in a monogamous marriage and
the sexuality of women could be controlled more firmly.

For Engel’s the family form varies according to the mode of production. Thus, under
capitalism, the existence of private property makes it expedient for members of the
bourgeoisie to produce legal male heirs so that wealth and property can be kept within the
class.

Eli Zaretsky’s View on the Family

Eli Zaretsky (1976) in Capitalism, the Family and Personal Life, focused his analysis on the
nuclear family in modern capitalist societies. Zaretsky’s view mainly relate to working class
families. The main ideas contained in Zaretsky’s work are summarized below.

1. The family is a major prop to the economy for two main reasons: first, the domestic
labour of housewives allows for the production of future generations of workers, second,
the family as a unit consumes many of the products of capitalists, for example, basic
items such as household appliances and furniture, as well as luxury goods for the more
well to do families in the society.

2. The family creates the illusion that its ‘private life’ is quite separate from the economy.
This illusion stem from the fact that modern day families are no longer units of
production where all family members are involved in the production of particular goods
and services. The modern family that emerged with the development of factory based
production has now become a unit of consumption. Zaretsky, while acknowledging that
the idea of a private life may be an illusion, welcomed it nonetheless. With its reduced
number of family life as a safe haven away from the exploitative capitalist production
system in offices and factories. Zaretsky’s view suggests that the private life of the family
provides opportunities for satisfaction that are unavailable in the alienating work
environment.
3. Notwithstanding the above, Zaretsky emphasized that the family as constituted in a
capitalist society, is unable to provide for the psychological and personal needs of the
individual; while it may work to cushion the effects of pressures from the society, it
actually props up the capitalist system that reinforces the status quo. Thus, it is only when
socialism is attained will the family be able to produce real opportunities for its members
to become happy. Zaretsky insists like Marx that under capitalism only members of the
bourgeoisie would be free from exploitation and alienation.