Family is humankind’s most basic social unit. It is a social institution
primarily established by society to ensure its continuity and to regulate
sexual behavior of its members. Since the infant is born helpless and
dependent, the family has been socially constructed to insure that there
will be adult members who will look after the infant’s biological and emotional
nurturance and safety. The family is the primary group where the child is
initially socialized and initiated in the ways of life of his group. It
also provides the child’s social, psychological, and emotional needs : warmth,
intimacy, affection, love, nurturance, care and security.
The
Family is “The nursery of human nature”
Delicate
and fragile as he is, the child is given the most special care and attention
and nurturance in the family, so that he is better equipped with knowledge and
adaptive skills before he is “transplanted” to a more or less
inhospitable forces of the bigger society.
The
basic foundation of a society is the family without the family there is no
society.The failure of the family to develop good citizens of the society will
result in the society’s problems and imperfections.
What
is a household?
Household
is a group of persons living under one roof and sharing the same kitchen and
housekeeping arrangements.
FUNCTIONS OF THE FAMILY
1. Regulates sexual
behavior and is the unit for
reproduction. Within the marriage, sex expression is socially
sanctioned.
2. Performs the
function of biological maintenance. The human infant is born helpless and the parents fill the
roles of protectors, providers, and
guardians.
3. The family is the
chief agency for socializing the
child. It transmits the culture of the group- it patterned
ways of living and values.
4. The family gives
its members status. A child is born into a family, which gives him a name
and a lineage.
5. It is an important
mechanism for social control. It
continually pressure on its members to make them conform to what it considers
as desirable behavior.
OTHER
1. Economic – production, distribution
and consumption
unit.
2. Educational – transforms the
biological man into a functioning
member of the society by
learning the values, customs, traditions
and the proper way of doing things.
3. Religious - preserver of religious traditions.
4. Political - child’s first government; learns authority and discipline
5. Recreational - socialization;
learns basic skills and attitudes
necessary for successful
participation in his group.
Cultural Variables that
Influence Family Life
1. Folkways –
These are everyday habits; customs, traditions and conventions people obey
without giving much thought to the matter. People who violate folkways are labeled slobs or eccentrics
but as a rule they are tolerated.
Relatively weak norms
which are only mildly enforced in
a society. (not against the law)
Examples:
Correct manners.
Appropriate dress.
Proper eating behavior.
2. Mores – these are the norms people consider vital to
their wellbeing and most cherished values; they are special customs with moral
and ethical significance, which are strongly held and emphasized. Mores are coercive
and compulsory due to their moral and legal sanctions.
The strong and important norms of a
society. Violation of mores will evoke severe punishment. (against the law most
of the time.)
Examples of Mores
1. Bigamy
2. Incest
3. Cannibalism
3. Folklore is
traditional customs, beliefs, dances, song, tales or sayings preserved orally among a group or people.
4. Language is
the special manner or characteristics mode of expression significant for human
intercourse.
5. Values are
abstract concepts of what is important and worthwhile. They are
the general ideas that individuals share about what is good or bad,
right or wrong, desirable and undesirable.
- something deserving of one’s best
effort, something worth living for and, if need be, worth dying for.
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