Submitted by: Crystal Barker
Who lives in your house? Exactly who and what type of people make up a family?
Does a family consist of any group of people who happen to reside in the same living space? No.
Generally, we think of a family as a biological father, mother and children. Of course the extended family includes aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents.
Robert T. Schaffer, author of "Society Matters" describes the general family as "a set of people who are related by blood, marriage (or some other agreed-upon relationship) or adoption who share the primary responsibility for reproduction, and caring for members of society."
Based upon cultural and or religious beliefs, the family is like a mosaic. We all have cultural diversities, but families don't always look the same. The video clip below is a short statement on what family means to people of different backgrounds.
There was a time when western society's ideal family was a father, mother and two children, but changed in the 1970's. Society was opening up to new ideas and the media introduced us to the Brady Bunch and the Partridge family. Mike and Carol Brady blended six children into a step-family when they married. Weren't Mike and Carol the first step-parents on T.V. Shirley Partridge was also a trailblazer. She was a divorced mother of five children and they had a band. Shirley sang lead with oldest son, Keith. The new dynamics of family soon caught on. These groups of people were still families, but the nucleus had changed. Parental roles were tested.
Who lives in your house? Exactly who and what type of people make up a family?
Does a family consist of any group of people who happen to reside in the same living space? No.
Generally, we think of a family as a biological father, mother and children. Of course the extended family includes aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents.
Robert T. Schaffer, author of "Society Matters" describes the general family as "a set of people who are related by blood, marriage (or some other agreed-upon relationship) or adoption who share the primary responsibility for reproduction, and caring for members of society."
Based upon cultural and or religious beliefs, the family is like a mosaic. We all have cultural diversities, but families don't always look the same. The video clip below is a short statement on what family means to people of different backgrounds.
There was a time when western society's ideal family was a father, mother and two children, but changed in the 1970's. Society was opening up to new ideas and the media introduced us to the Brady Bunch and the Partridge family. Mike and Carol Brady blended six children into a step-family when they married. Weren't Mike and Carol the first step-parents on T.V. Shirley Partridge was also a trailblazer. She was a divorced mother of five children and they had a band. Shirley sang lead with oldest son, Keith. The new dynamics of family soon caught on. These groups of people were still families, but the nucleus had changed. Parental roles were tested.
As we have moved through this course, we have discussed many of the reasons why the family dynamics change. Who makes the decisions now as opposed to who made all of the decisions in the 1950's?
Divorce has become more acceptable, leaving more females to assume the roles of head of household.
If the mother remarries, there is now a stepfather in the picture. What is his newly assigned role?
There are more same sex couples raising children. The percentage of single fathers has also risen to four percent according to research quoted in Schaffer's "Sociology Matters." Households are also returning to the generational living arrangements of old, where there may be two or three generations living in the same residence. This last is largely in part due to the economy as it was in years gone by. Extended families living together was how you made it when things were really financially tight.
The ideal family of the 1950's and earlier still exist, but as main stream society has learned to broaden its views, we now recognize that a family can be any group of people who choose to share households, responsibilities, finances, raise children and sometimes care for members of the extended family group.
It's love and nurturing that build the bonds that tie people to families.
No comments:
Post a Comment