Page 92 - DSOC201_SOCIAL_STRUCTURE_AND_SOCIAL_CHANGE_ENGLISH

Sukanya Das, Lovely Professional University
Unit 4: Family

Unit 4: Family Notes

CONTENTS
Objectives
Introduction
4.1 Perspectives in Studying Family
4.2 Concept of Family
4.3 Forms of Family
4.4 Changing Family Pattern
4.5 Decline of Joint Family: Causes and Consequences
4.6 Summary
4.7 Key-Words
4.8 Review Questions
4.9 Further Readings

Objectives

After studying this unit students will be able to:
• Understand the concept of family
• Discuss the forms of family.
• Assess the changing family patterns
• Know why decline of joint family.
Introduction

In human context, a family (from Latin: familia) is a group of people affiliated by consanguinity,
affinity, or co-residence. In most societies it is the principal institution for the socialization of children.
Anthropologists most generally classify family organization as matrilocal (a mother and her children);
conjugal (a wife, husband, and children, also called nuclear family); and consanguinal (also called an
extended family) in which parents and children co-reside with other members of one parent’s family.
There are also concepts of family that break with tradition within particular societies, or those that
are transplanted via migration to flourish or else cease within their new societies. As a unit of
socialization the family is the object of analysis for sociologists of the family. Genealogy is a field
which aims to trace family lineages through history. In science, the term “family” has come to be
used as a means to classify groups of objects as being closely and exclusively related. In the study of
animals it has been found that many species form groups that have similarities to human “family”—
often called “packs.” Sexual relations among family members are regulated by rules concerning incest
such as the incest taboo. Extended from the human “family unit” by affinity and consanguinity are
concepts of family that are physical and metaphorical, or that grow increasingly inclusive extending
to community, village, city, region, nationhood, global village and humanism.
One of the primary functions of the family is to produce and reproduce persons, biologically and/or
socially. This can occur through the sharing of material substances (such as semen, and food); the
giving and receiving of care and nurture (nurture kinship); jural ties of rights and obligations; and
moral and sentimental ties. Thus, one’s experience of one’s family shifts over time. From the perspective
of children, the family is a “family of orientation”: the family serves to locate children socially and
plays a major role in their enculturation and socialization. From the point of view of the parent(s), the

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