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The Family As A Social Institution

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Malak AL-Raee
Dr. Anaheed AL-Hardan
Soan 201
March 23, 2017
Families in Lebanon Families vary from time to time and from one culture to the next. However, the family as a social institution exists in all cultures. In general, a family can be defined as any group of people who live together and are emotionally bonded, related by blood, marriage, or adoption. Furthermore, there are many variations in the family from one generation to the other, and this is what happened in Lebanon. Lebanon consisted of clans and tribes where all the relatives lived in the same shelter or home with their own united behaviors, beliefs, attitudes, and values. After that, modern life led to a massive change in our way of thought which extended to …show more content…

For instance, in the past and until this time, the family pertains to raising children which refers to reproductive function, provides a safe and comfortable environment and economic security between its members, transmits beliefs, values, attitudes, and even guiding problem solving, defines the standards of sexual behavior within its circle, provides emotional comfort, warm, and intimate relationships between its members, and it affects children’s ability to pursue certain opportunities, such as higher education and special lessons. In fact, Lebanese people often think of the family as two married people of the opposite sex with their children living together, which is evidence for the dominance of nuclear families in Lebanon. Even though nuclear families are dominating in this country, the rare presence of extended families cannot be ignored. Family as a social institution, occupies the first rank of the Lebanese citizens’ interest (Lawler and Hundley 2008: 219). On the other hand, urbanization and migration are major causes for the shift in the type of family on a national scale. The enormous migration from rural areas to urban ones leads to a variety of changes, such as having higher divorce rates, conflict between the members of the family, lack of solidarity, violence, abuse, and unemployment (Jabbour and Yamout 2012:182). A research has shown that “Lebanon is one of the most urbanized countries in both the

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