Considering the functions of family in Britain particularly: Before 1980, the family can be seemed to be a private area for love, intimacy and personal fulfillment, that there is no much interfere from other institution of the society (such as the politics). This can show that the function of the family can protect certain rights for the family members, that there is lack of this outside the family.
Hobart C argues that the family members are structured together because that the family can provide certain relationships where other social institutions cannot or lack to do so. These relationships are due to certain factors; possible factors could be blood, which is biological factor, but sometimes can represent to be a symbol for certain class or division of society. The affection, where the affection on the further generation sometimes can be seemed as the continuity of the life and certain value. Duty is due to traditional sense of obligation. Other factors such as shared experienced and common interests are also considered, as mostly the members of family are living together and affected similarly by the events they meet in their life.
- Examination of Diverse family functions and structures.
After looking through the general functions and structures of the family. This article would like to examine diverse family functions and structures.
Take the extended family to begin with. ‘A family that includes a nuclear family plus additional relatives such as grandparents, aunts, or cousins.’1 It is one of the fundamental factor which form the traditional family pattern in most countries around the world, it may last from the tribal days to possible forty years ago. As an extended family, the members are either living closely or have a frequent contact. Due to this reasons, this type of family provide some particular functions for the members of the family. Firstly the family can support members at times of distress. This can be exemplified when there is a loss of family members, as other members of the family can easily offer the emotional support. Next, instead of bring up the children only by the parents, other relatives can help to bring up the children or look after the children in case of emergency or the working situation of their parents. The extended family can also give the advice on problems or helping financially, mainly because they share the common experiences and common interests. However, as the society develops and changes, this type of family has become less dominant than the nuclear family. The pressure on the individuals given by other members of the extended family could be responsible for this. For example, older generations in extended family usually give advice for the marriage of their children; this can cause the problems and conflicts as the further generations may lose their choices of life.
In someway, the nuclear family can be seemed as the dominant pattern of family life in the modern society. It is defined as ‘an independent family unit formed by a monogamous union’1, where the family is consist with parents and their children. The beliefs of nuclear family has risen rapidly mainly because that it is much easier to explore further today for the people’s adventures; as the same time, the extended family, which is usually limited in certain area, has vanished. The rise of the feminist and capitalist can also be the reason for boom of the nuclear family. The feminist fought against the extended family pattern to free the women as they though the traditional family is patriarchal; And during the first stage of the industrial revolution, capitalists took production out of the household and collectivised it, under their own supervision, in the factory. What happened due to that was the members of extended family left their community to chase higher wages.
Due to the features and history of development of the nuclear family, some sociologist argue that in modern society the nuclear family perform none of the functions of the traditional family. Due to the development of society and production, most of the traditional family functions are provide by the welfare state or business. However, the human cannot survive without the community. As there is a lack of community for human, the expectation on their life partner (wife or husband) will be higher, which can lead several new family life pattern after the breakdown of the family.
The first new family life pattern created by the breakdown of family considered here is the single parent family. The single parent family is usually created by the divorce. There is evidence show that there is higher rate of divorce in Britain. The reason in the capitalist perspective of the rise of divorce could be that the people have more choices about their life, as well as more choices to choose their job due to the increase of production and application of advanced technologies. In feminist view, it is because today the women are more equal to men, as their life is no longer depends so much on men, they can divorce more freely. In someway, the functions provided by the single are similar to that of the two-parent family. Although the choice of welfare state and business can help the members of single parent family, it is still very hard for the parent, as she/he need to provide all the children’s needs; the life of the children is also hard as there maybe a lack of emotional support and less sense of community compare with others in the two-parent family.
The hardship faced by the single parent family, may lead to another pattern of family, the blended nuclear family; if the parent in the single parent family decide to get married again.
‘A blended family/blended household includes at least one step-parent, stepsiblings, and/or half-siblings. A step-parent is the spouse of the child's biological parent but is not the child's biological parent. Step-siblings do not share a common biological parent; the biological parent of one child is the step-parent of the other. Half-siblings share only one biological parent’
Although the functions and structures provided by the blended family is almost as same as that of traditional nuclear family, the recent research has showed that the children in the blended nuclear family do worse than that of traditional nuclear family, in the areas such as academic achievement, conduct, psychological adjustment, and the quality of mother-child and father-child relationships.
There is another pattern should be considered, the pattern of ethnic minority family. In order to keep their kinship, traditions and cultures, they would have some disciplines to follow for their marriage. There are certain functions these groups emphasize such as maintenance of the blood relationship. However, this pattern has been weakened because of the boom of nuclear family in the ethnic minority group also has taken placed. Most members (usually the second generation) of the ethic minority group would like to choose the life freely now.
Although so many new patterns of family have been created, there is still some stability for the family. This can be proved by both the behavior and attitudes of the British people. Robert Chester, "The Rise of the Neo-Conventional family, New Society 9/5/85 argues that:
According to Chester’s argument, there’s no great change in the family life, and the common nuclear family pattern still remain a strong continuity, as most of the people behave as same as that in the past.
Sheena Ashford, British Social Attitudes 1987, argues that: ‘there is maintenance for the attitudes towards marriage and other family matters; the British emerge as highly and consistently conventional’. Silva & Smart (1999) conclude that ‘there are strong continuities in British family life, but that at the same time there was drift towards more varied forms of family organization, based they argue on more freedom of personal choice.’
Conclusion
Due to the development of the society, the maintenance of the extended family has been weakened. The nuclear family now can be seemed to be dominant pattern for the family life in the British society. Although in recent decade there are varied forms of new family patterns has been created from the change of nuclear family, there is a strong continuity of traditional/conventional family life. Family is the important institution in the society. In modern society, although there is a great social change compare with the past, the family still can provide many particular functions for both their members and the society as a whole. In my opinion, to consider the society as a whole, the family’s functions are changing passively. As in modern Britain, other social institutions of provide more and more functions of traditional family. On another hand, the family’s functions and structures are changing actively, due to that the people have more choices of life than that before.
References:
- Definitions of diverse family given by the web sociology dictionary
- Diversity, Quicklearn of family ideology, provided by s-cool.co.uk
3. Divorce, provided by the website of essay bank
- Family diversity, provided by the www.esher.ac.uk
- Is the family changing in the Contemporary British Society, provided by website of essay bank.
- Extended family, from website of Assemblies of God Beliefs
- The Autonomous Nuclear Family, web of Japan Insight
- The Nuclear Family: A Matter of Fairness
The phenomena of lone parent families in contemporary British society have led to an increase in pov, from the website of essay bank.
- Traditional Nuclear Family vs. Blended Family, by Kristy Jackson
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Why save the nuclear family, by Kevin Michael Grace
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Some Thoughts on the Post-Nuclear Family, by Jeff Beardwood
- The sociology textbook,
Chapter 8, Families and Households, page 502
- Sociology Student Handbook
Chapter 11, Education, page 129
Chapter 8, Families and households
