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Diversity In Family

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The family is in transition – family structures are growing into exciting new possibilities, due to this, there has been a dramatic increase of diversity in the family and household structures since the earliest centuries. In Africa, our real and perceived blood ties are not bounded by the household or the village, but stretch across communal areas as far as the eye can see and the heart can reach. Traditionally, newcomers would be accepted as part of the family and only excluded only if they spurned the welcome. However, this essay will look at the different family and household structures in the current century, also the diversity of families and understanding the reasons for this diversity and how structures have changed. It will draw theories …show more content…

With the knowledge of Murdock (1949) he says it may include adults of both sexes, who have a sexual relationship, and have children of their own or adopted. In a nuclear family for example, the father takes responsibility on getting food on the table, where they are typically called ‘breadwinners’ of the family, whilst the mother takes the role of taking care of the children and do household duties, such as cooking and cleaning the house. It is therefore clear, considering the statement above why, functionalists believe the family provides important functions not only individually but for the family and for society as a whole. According to Chegg, an online study, “Functionalism (or structural functionalism) is the perspective in sociology according to which society consists of different but related parts, each of which serves a particular purpose”. Functionalists see the family as a social institution, serves a key function towards the stability and continuity of the society. However, Marxists believe that the nuclear family evolved through various stages bringing with it the beginning of ownership of private property, Coltrane & Collins (2001: 66-69) In Stewart & Zaaiman (2014) also agree with this event as one of the causes of family structure diversity. Spiegel, Watson & Wilkinson (1996) In Stewart & Zaaiman (2014), came up …show more content…

Family issues stem from financial imbalance and from patriarchal philosophy. The family can likewise be a wellspring of contention, including physical viciousness and enthusiastic savagery, for its own individuals, the Symbolic interactionism says that the association of relatives and personal couples includes shared understandings of their circumstances. Wives and spouses have diverse styles of correspondence, and social class influences the desires that life partners have of their relational unions and of one another. Family issues stem from diverse understandings and desires that companions have of their marriage, and feminist feel as though the family structure is unequal, and their ultimate perspective of a family is that it creates an unequal power relationship, which tends to benefit some members (men). Feminists say that men take total control in the family and women are expected to be submissive, which lead to exploitation. However, as society has changed, women are now participating in any employment and still take the responsibility as a mother to their children. Diversity within the family has increased dramatically, family structures such as single parents, homosexual families (gay & lesbian) and blended families (two adults in marriage that have children from previous marriages) has become more acceptable

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With any culture, knowing where you come from and your family is a critical aspect when defining identity. The word ‘family’ has a range of uses among Noongar people. Family can denote to the children of the person speaking. Family can even refer to a large kin group from which the kin network is enlisted to as ‘our lot’, or ‘mob’ or ‘that part of the family’. Noongar families are different from the Western ‘nuclear family’ so commonly perceived in our western episteme.

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One main point of the structural functionalism theory is that the erection of a family directly impacts their likelihood of living in poverty. According to Macionis et al stated that the structural-functionalist perspective, poverty, and economic inequality serve several positive functions for society (Macionis et al 2015). Davis and Moore (1945) argued that because the various occupational roles in society require various levels of ability, expertise, and knowledge, an unequal economic reward system helps to assure that the person who performs a role is the most qualified.

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Individualisation addresses choice-making where social action is progressively made by the distinctive individual. The nuclear family, of a married mother and father and their children, have certain gender roles and stereotypes attached to them. The father has always been the breadwinner of the family and the mother has the domestic responsibility of housework and taking care of the children.

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In many societies and depending on their cultures, men and women are seen equally and may share the same roles in the household or even a stay at home father and the mother being the breadwinner. In modern family, Phil and Claire share the responsibilities with both working and both looking after the kids. The gay couple, Mitchell and Cameron who has an adopted daughter, together they learn what roles they should take on but not being gender specific when raising their daughter and the dynamics in the household. In many families today, dual earning families increased and not just the male who goes to work but females as well and follow their dreams like furthering their careers. “In the 21st century within households two pay-checks have become essential for most families to maintain even a modest standard of living in order to provide” (Walsh, 2012:11).

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Through the socialisation of children, the family reproduces both labour power and a false ideology which keeps the capitalists system going. ‘Families thus support the concentration of wealth and reproduce the class structure in each succeeding generation (Macionis and Plummer 2002:440). Engles indicated that families turn women into the sexual and economic property of men. Woman perform unpaid work in the home that would otherwise cost a lot to those who benefit from it. Conflict theorists have seen the family as a social arrangement benefiting men more than women, allowing men to maintain a position of power.

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The positive side of Murdock’s view is that is show an insight to the importance of families, as it critically examines its functions in society. Another functionalist perspective of family comes from Parsons, who believes that the functions a family has to perform will affect its shape or structure. Parsons looks at two types of family structures, the nuclear family and the extended family. His argument on extended family was that extended family has multiple functions, consumption and production included, whilst the nuclear family seemed to fit the needs of modern

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Families have many different ways they could be defined. I would describe my family as being blended. My brother has a different father than me, and he is still considered family. This aspect is important in my concept of family because even if I do not talk to them everyday, I still have this connection where they will support the decisions that I want to make even if it is not an opinion that everyone agrees with. On the contrary, there is definitely diversity by having a blended family, especially since they have been a part of most of my life.

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Families have been around since the beginning of time for the sole reason of procreation. People were reproducing in order to carry on the lineage and to carry on a name. the family is an ideal example of gender inequality. In the centuries that have

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