SI - Family, a Social Institution Lesson
Family, a Social Institution Lesson
All societies contain social institutions, those subsystems that we create to bring stability to our societies, past and present. The social institutions include education, religion, economy, politics, health and welfare, and family. Of all of these institutions, the family usually has the strongest ties and is the one that seems to evolve faster than any of the others. As a cultural universal, families are always made up of groups of people that share kinship and work to care for each other. A family may consist of those people who share ancestry or the extended family. An extended family is also called a consanguine family which means they "share blood." But, a family may also consist of people who have joined together as a conjugal family, or nuclear family, which forms through marriage. There are cultural particulars found in different societies that cause families to differ in their construction and their roles.
Cultural Particulars that Affect Family Construction
Flip through the photo album below to see some of the basic cultural particulars or norms that affect the initial construction of a family.
After a family has formed, they must decide where to live. Again, a society's cultural norms will influence this decision. Most commonly around the world, patrilocality determines where newly married couples will live. Patrilocality is the cultural residential pattern that encourages families to live near the husband's family. This was most common historically due to inheritance patterns favoring sons over daughters; however, now this pattern is the most common due to security needs in areas of the world where safety is not always guaranteed by the local government. Based on the old statement "that there is safety in numbers," new nuclear families choose to reside close to the husband's extended family under its umbrella of protection. Because of the patriarchal traditions around the world, patrilocality is more prevalent in more societies than matrilocality. Matrilocality does exist. This is when a new nuclear family will live near the wife's extended family and occurs in those rare locations where there is a matriarchal tradition within the society. Both patrilocality and matrilocality are located in lesser developed nations with lower incomes that encourage extended families to unite for survival, whether financially or physically. In higher-income nations, nuclear families follow a relatively recent historical trend of nonlocality. Neolocality (as the name suggests) is a cultural residential pattern that encourages nuclear families to live apart or in a new location from either the husband's or wife's extended families.
These residential patterns emerged initially from patterns of descent. A pattern of descent is the approach taken for determining lineage over generations. In patrilineal societies, families trace their ancestry through the male line and are the most common due to the prevalence of patriarchal traditions that arose in pastoral or agrarian societies that passed ownership of land on to the sons. Matrilineal societies trace their ancestry through the female line. Although rarer than their male-based counterparts, there are matrilineal societies located in some communities of Africa, Southeast Asia, and India. In those parts, not only do families trace their ancestry through the mother's line, but they also rely on matriarchal traditions of inheritance and authority. Lastly, many societies rely on a bilateral system to determine lineage. In these societies, families trace their ancestry through both the mother and the father's line. Tracing a family's lineage is important in most societies to determine kinship- the family ties are based on common ancestry, marriage, or adoption. Establishing kinship helps to create a bond used by families to care for one another, but it also allows a family to know who is eligible to join the family through a future marriage. Kinship is defined by blood relatives or by adoption. So, it is necessary to know to whom a person is related. Patterns of descent provide structure for following a culture's norms.
Why is it important to a sociologist to learn on what a society bases the construction of a family? By doing so, the sociologist will be able to spot patterns of authority that will enable him or her to better understand the roles and interactions within this important and influential social institution. As you know from previous modules, the three major theoretical approaches need this information to be able to create theories or formulas to better explain society at large.
Theoretical Approaches to Family
| The Structural-Functional Approach views the Family as the "backbone of society." As such, this approach studies how the Family is responsible for socialization, social placement, and material and emotional security within society. | |
| The Social-Conflict Approach also views the Family as central to society. However, this approach studies how Family sustains inequality in society through property and inheritance, patriarchal traditions, and endogamous marriages that perpetuate racial and ethnic divisions. | |
| The Symbolic-Interaction Approach views family through a micro-orientation lens. This approach studies how Family develops intimacy between individuals that allows them to identify with each other and form bonds that ultimately affect social interaction. | |
| There is a fourth approach- the Social-Exchange Analysis Approach- that is not one of the major theoretical approaches but is mentioned at times. (It most resembles the Symbolic-Interaction Approach but focuses more on the interaction than the symbolism and emphasizes self-interest.) As another micro-oriented approach, Social-Exchange studies the negotiations found between individuals as they court and possibly marry. It studies how the social positions of men and women determine the social exchange between the two and how they work out the best matches for themselves. |
At the beginning of this lesson, we mentioned that family is the social institution that probably has evolved and continues to change more than any other social institution. Therefore, it is a topic of great interest to most sociologists who study culture and society. Though this is most true for nations like Sweden, the United States has undergone a shift in the definition of family as well. This is due to the need to define a family to carry out public policies. According to the United States Bureau of the Census, a family is defined as "a group of two people or more (one of whom is the householder) related by birth, marriage, or adoption and residing together." In reality, though, this definition might not cover all of the groups that people recognize as "families" in America.
Stages of a Family
Let's look at how a family comes together and develops in America to see what challenges could arise with this definition.
Each stage has its own set of problems or alternatives that could directly defy the U.S. government's definition of a family.
Family Contradictions
Move through the activity below to see how real culture might contradict the ideal culture in defining the social institution of Family.
Specifically, the formation of a family and the alternatives and problems that were listed above are found in the United States. That doesn't mean that these don't apply to other societies or that these are the only family options that exist in the world. A sociologist's job is to determine the cultural norms and see how they affect the social institutions and vice versa for the society being studied. The steps to create a family and the practical definition of a family vary from society to society. But the presence of the family as a social institution is always there and is why it has been identified as a social institution.
Usually, around the world, a person's first chance to participate in a group happens within the family construct. There are five categories of group social interaction that include the behaviors we perform towards each other and their corresponding reactions: exchange, competition, conflict, cooperation, and accommodation.
- Exchange refers to the behaviors demonstrated in anticipation of a reward. It is one of the most basic forms of interaction and includes those behaviors that expect both material and nonmaterial rewards. Within the social institution of family, the exchange can be seen in the completion of chores to receive an allowance or finishing dinner to have dessert.
- Competition occurs when at least two people are interacting in anticipation of achieving a goal that only one will succeed at. Within the social institution of the family, competition can be seen between siblings.
- Conflict is the process where one person attempts to conquer another- whether physically or socially. Within the social institution of family, conflict can be seen in the passing on of values and traditions by parents with dissimilar backgrounds.
- Cooperation happens when at least two people are working towards the same goal- it is the form of interaction that allows for things to be accomplished. They work together to reach an end. Within the social institution of the family, cooperation can be seen as parents work together to protect and nurture their children.
- Sometimes Accommodation is referred to as coercion since it is the interaction displayed when one person attempts to coerce another into doing something and the other accommodates the one. Within the social institution of the family, accommodation can be seen in the negotiations between members over family resources.
Within the social institution of family, all five categories of group social interaction are represented in myriad ways. This is one of the reasons that most sociologists regard the family as such an important social institution since social interaction is the means through which people form their perceptions of social reality and the family is the site for most people's introductions to it.
Theoretical Approaches to Family
Watch the Video on Theoretical Approaches to Family.
IMAGES CREATED BY GAVS OR OPENSOURCE