Family Unit in Human Sociological Terms

Families in the world are very different. They come in different shapes and sizes, it can be based on different kinds of relationship, but what all families have in common that it is made of people you love and care. Over past 20 or more years families in the world has changed the most than it has changed in all history. Of course changes in the families are different among cultures and religions. It seems that United States, Canada and Northern Europe families has changed the most, now Nuclear families are dominating there, when in Asia Extended families still takes a greater number. In the richest places in the world numbers of same sex marriages,

Carl Whitaker began his work in psychiatry, studying mental illness in families. He realized that parents often try to overregulate their child’s actions and emotions. Children who are overregulated often suppress their feelings and emotions in order to avoid parental criticism.Experiential therapy first addresses internal feelings, which helps each member lower their defenses and become more connected within the family. Whitaker also

No matter what background you come from or how you were raised, family is extremely important. According to Malinowski, “Family is a necessary institution for fulfilling the task of child rearing in society”(Conley, 2013). Society has come a long way when it comes to family and it is much different than it was in the 1950’s. Not all families are nuclear families. A nuclear family is having a mother, father, and children that are all biological (Conley, 2013). This kind of family is what some would call more “traditional.” Today in the twenty first century it is getting harder and harder to find families that have actually stayed together. There are so many different kinds of families in today’s society, and more and more families are becoming blended families. A blended family is when two families come together (Conley, 2013). Many families today have single mons, single, dads, and even same sex parents. Family is not always the people that live in the same house as you, family also consists of extended family. An extended family is a network that goes beyond the main “nuclear” family (Conley,

In today’s world, families are dynamic and interdependent systems. The developmental processes of the children in the family are deeply affected by how the family system operates. However, a family’s structure does not determine whether it is a healthy family system or not. Today, families consist of single parents, stepparents, divorced parents, remarried parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles. They are all able to contribute to a healthy functioning family system by meeting each family member’s needs and encouraging positive communication (Jamiolkowski, 2008). Unhealthy family systems have negative and possibly

As Lyndon Baines Johnson says, “The family is the corner stone of our society. More than any other force it shapes the attitude, the hopes, the ambitions, and the values of the child. And when the family collapses it is the children that are usually damaged. When it happens on a massive scale the community itself is crippled. So, unless we work to strengthen the family, to create conditions under which most parents will stay together, all the rest — schools, playgrounds, and public assistance, and private concern — will never be enough” (Danes). He believed that family is the base of the society. The way that family is set up affects children in all ways. Family structure is very important and that no matter what we do,

Family needs have changed since the 1950s and women's work in the ideal nuclear family has been historically constructed and reproduced by culture and patriarchal heteronormative society. An ideal nuclear family is a group consisting of two parents and their children. This family includes both sexes, who maintain a sexual relationship and one or more children. Within this family, everyone had roles; the father worked whereas the mother maintained the household and cared for the offspring. The children were to model and study their parents to become them, so they could later take their place in society when the parents are too old to perform their duties. The nuclear family is no longer the American dream and soon society began to notice that many Americans were not living the ideal nuclear lifestyle. With the world adjusting and adapting there are new definitions for what consists of a family. We are shifting from a heteronormative society to an inclusive society.

Many of us overlook the importance of something as simple as “family” because it has been something we are familiar with since our first day on this planet, never thinking twice about to topic. Truth be told, the family unit is crucial to who we are and what we value, and even in the bigger picture, the cultural importance it has on society. When we explore one of the most signature family units to date, the nuclear family, we learn its optimistic appeal, its modern elusiveness, and the professional and personal opinions surrounding it.

Chapter 3 Families and SocietyWhat stood out for me on Families in Society, was how the reading related families to an "ecosystem". Each family being an "organism", and contributing to creating a community or how the book states an "ecosystem". Family is a system, and in a system each individual experiences four fundamental concepts being "interaction", "stress", "coping, and "adaption". "Interaction" is how one person's actions affects another. "Stress" is when a person is affected by external forces such as biological factors or family dynamics. The last concept is "adaption"; when a person transitions from their environmental family views and way of life. (Wormer & Besthorn, 2017, p. 88 & 89 )The book explained how, "society is becoming

After a thorough review of the textbook and the course material, the specific family system approach that I choose to explore is the Bowenian Approach for this literature review. This specific family system approach is also known as the Bowen Family System Theory as well (D.V. Papero, 2006). The Bowen Family System Theory was established by Murray Bowen, a theorist and psychiatrist who specialized in treating children who were deranged and had schizophrenia (Rockwell, 2010). In the 1950s, Bowen wanted to explore a new venture so he decided that he wanted all of the family members of each child to be involved in an therapeutic process at the same time (Rockwell, 2010).

As a social system, the family can be thought of as a constellations of subsystems defined in terms of generations, gender, and role. Divisions of labor among family members define particular subunits, and attachments define others. Each family member participates in several subsystems- some dyadic (involving two people) and some polyadic (involving more than two). The father and child represent one dyadic subsystem, the mother and father another; the mother-father child represent one polyadic subsystem, the mother and two siblings another. Thus, a positive family climate for children and adolescents involves not only effective parenting but also a positive relationship

In a sociological perspective, family is interpreted as a social group whose members are bound by legal, biological, or emotional ties or a combination of all three. The sociological theories the connect to this concept are functionalism, conflict theory, and symbolic interactionalism. First, functionalism states that the family socializes children, it provides emotional and practical support for its members, and it provides its members with a social identity. Secondly, conflict theory states that members create disagreements, and create emotional support and comfort. Finally, symbolic interactionism claims family members and intimate couples interact on a daily basis. "Families are defined as a relationship by blood, marriage, or affection" (Seccombe 5).

Whitaker believed that the active and forceful personal involvement and caring of the therapist was the best way to bring about changes in the family and promote flexibility among family members. He relied on his own personality and wit rather than any kind of fixed techniques to stir up issues in families and to help them open up and be themselves. He also did this to confuse the family. In his words, "I revel in non-organization. I think that's part of what my therapy has to do with. It has to do with disorganizing whatever the family brings in and enjoying my disorganization as well." (pp. 204)

The family structure determines where you derive from and provides a sense of who you are. The typical family structure is perceived as a father and a mother, two children, one boy and one girl, and a pet. The typical family description described above is still promoted and expected to be the “dream family.” Author Meyerhoff, “While the nuclear family with Dad, Mom, and offspring happily coexisting beneath one roof-remains the ideal, variations in family structure are plentiful and often successful” (Meyerhoff). Meaning that a lot of families are remarried spouses with prior children and more common in the last decade same sex marriages. So, do these nontraditional families have the same qualities? Personally, I would think so. After

We all raised to believe that from the best thing that one can have is an ideal family and growing up we all wanted to be raised in a peaceful, happy and secure family with loving parents who will be there for us no matter what physically and mentally able to provide for the family where we will be always welcomed by our parents and siblings alike and heard and respected all the time. Sociologist define the family as an intimate, domestic and primary group, a social institution of people related to one another by blood or adoption with legal ties, it have three important social functions: to provide and raise children, to provide a sense of identity, belonging and a set of close and strong relations among its members and to transmit culture between generations. In the modern societies, we prefer to think of a family as constructed of a mother, father, and children living under one roof called a nuclear family , when it consist of several generations living together or close by it’s called extended family.

Deciding which type of family unit to interview was not the easiest decision for me. Although I interviewed mostly woman and only one man, I made sure they were of diverse background. One of the woman was raising her children in a blended family. She spoke English as a second language and she conveyed to me that communicating with her children’s teachers and her children was difficult at times. Their family was made up of the mother, step-father, two children from a previous marriage, and one from the current marriage. Fortunately, they both had some college background with the mother holding an associate’s degree, and the dad possessing a bachelor. Both worked blue collar positions for the state. Dad was a police officer for the District of