The Importance Of The Nuclear Family

Yanomami were very simple, innocent, and flawless people. No social class, no God, no leader and no money concept exist between them. They depend on the forest for their needs.

Throughout the article, Doing Fieldwork among the Yanomamo, by Napoleon A. Chagnon the reader is able to read along as if they were a real anthropologist’s on a journey throughout the villages of tropical forests in unoccupied lands. Changnon begins his writing explaining the culture and life style of the Yanamamö people. How their daily lives focus on gardening, hunting, visiting and completing tasks to get through the day. He describes their short life expectancy and the risks of violence between surrounding villages. The amount of men is exceedingly larger than the women, and often time’s men have multiple wives. Changon describes how each village is apart of broader political demographic. However he expresses how difficult it is to understand all of this simply from his descriptions.

passion for his work he may have been caught up in the fact that there

In 1970, 40% of couples were married with children. 2013 marked a new low as only 19% of household were married with children. A nuclear family is usually described as a heterosexual marriage with the average of 2.5 children, became synonymous with the American dream philosophy in the mid-1940s. The nuclear family standard is rapidly on the decline in the United States. These declining number have a range of causes. The causes of the decline of the nuclear family are cohabitation, childfree couples, high divorces rates, and the introduction of LGBTQ families. The effects are increased self-fulfillment, serial monogamy, childhood psychological trauma and family diversity. Gay and lesbian marriages

which family members can easily and meaningfully interact (Gladding p. 203). The essence of family structure is greatly influenced by culture; it defines the role of men and

Assess the extent to which social policies reflect and support the traditional nuclear family (24 marks)

Chagnon felt that the most important aspect of his research in Bisaasi-teri was to collect genealogical information and organize the marriages and relations between the villagers. This turned out to be his most difficult task, but nonetheless the most useful. He tells in the very beginning of the ethnography that the Yanomamo are considered a very “primitive” societal organization of human beings. The most obvious sign of primitive human life is simply the way the dress. In addition, their fickle nature, lack of industry, methods of hunting and gathering, and political organization, contribute to their primitive nature.

In Patrick Tierney’s article “The Fierce Anthropologist,” he discussed the faults that are, or may be, present in Napoleon Chagnon’s anthropological research of the Yanamamo, or “The Fierce People,” as Chagnon has referred to them in his best-selling book on the people.

What is a family? The meaning of family has changed throughout history. It means something different to many people. According to the U.S. Census Bureau: “A family includes a householder and one or more people living in the same household who are related to the householder by birth, marriage, or adoption. All people in a household who are related to the householder are regarded as members of his or her family. A family household may contain people not related to the householder, but those people are not included as part of the householder’s family. Thus, the number of family households is equal to the number of families, but family households may include more members than do families. Not all households

Assess the view that the nuclear family functions to benefit all its members and society as a whole.

The Yąnomamö are a group of Indians that live in a tropical rain forest in Southern Venezuela and part of northern Brazil, isolated from other human life. They do not bathe regularly, nor do they wear clothing, except for a few cotton strings on around body parts. Their warfare with neighbors shaped Yąnomamö politics Their daily life revolves around gardening, hunting, gathering, visiting, and producing the few material possessions they own. In their tribe they can earn a 'living' with about three hours' of work per day. Most of what they eat is what is grown in their gardens (mostly plantains), and a variety of meat from game animals (hunted daily by the men). They live in very open spaces, so privacy is very rare. Villages are either

Located in the Amazon Basin of Southern Venezuela and Northern Brazil, the Yanomamo are an indigenous group numbering close to 23,000. They utilize slash and burn horticulture, hunting and gathering to survive within their ecosystem. Napoleon Chagnon termed the group, “fierce people”, citing their numerous disputes within non-allied villages. Aside from their periodic warfare, they have managed to build and sustain their unique culture through adaptations to their environment for generations.

When it came to the Chipewyan, first marriages were arranged by parents, and girls were often betrothed in childhood. Patrilateral cross-cousin marriage may have been preferred. Polygyny was permitted and occurred most often among group leaders and skilled hunters. In aboriginal and early-contact times marriage was unaccompanied by ceremony, but today is attended by a Roman Catholic service. In the past the newly married couple resided with the bride's family until the birth of their first child, at which time they might take up residence with the husband's family. And when it came to divorce, it was available to both husband and wife, but was rarely done. Divorce is also not common in today’s time. Positions of leadership and authority were not there among the early times of the Chipewyan, but individuals with unique abilities were given respect and had a great influence. These men were usually hunting group and band leaders.

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).

Society is composed of many elements based on values, traditions, cultures, government’s policies etc.; and family is one of the main basic ingredients, forming the society. Therefore, as the society changes its element, family is also forced to change the flow of life. Yet, during the past 50 years, our society has undergone big social transformations which are seen as “dramatic and unparallel changes” or a “veritable revolution”. Thus, the two basic forms of family, the extended family and the