The Sociology of the Family

Name: Charlotte Seagrave

What does the term ‘family’ mean to you?

Family

The definition of ‘family’: My definition of family to me is people who’re related to you through marriage and birth parents. Doesn’t have to be people who live in your household too.

The different types of families

Nuclear family

A pair of parents and childern.

Extended family

Consisting with grandparents, aunt and uncles and cousins, living near by or in the same household.

Reconstituted Families

A reconstituted family (also known as a blended family) is a sociological term for the joining of two adults via marriage, cohabitation or civil partnership, who have children from previous relationships.

Lone parent families

A single parent with a family.

Beanpole families

Bean pole family is a kinship relationship between any entities that share a genealogical origin, through either biological, cultural, or historical descent. In anthropology this system includes people related both by descent and marriage, while usage in biology includes descent and mating.

Boomerang families

It's a household in which grown children move back in with their parents, or the parents move in with their grown children.

Symmetrical families

Share househole jobs between parents.

What are the functions of the family?

Functions of the family

The term ’functions of the family’ means: what does the family do

Respect Caring

Emotional support

Money

Parents

Family

What are the functions of the family?

Socialisation and Social Control: The process by which children learn to become human and adopt certain behaviour.o Children learn from what they see and experience in their developing years.o Since children spend most of their early years only interacting with their family members, the family unit has the greatest impact on development.

Emotional Support: Students from parents that have a loving relationship, and are supportive, have a more positive self image and were also more confident.o Students from families that have distrust and hostility are more likely to have a negative self image and emotional problems.

Economic Support: Families are the means whereby children are supplied with the necessities – food, shelter and clothing.o In the past, children were needed to work on farms and help provide for the family at an early age.o Today children are normally dependant on the family until after high school.

The place in society

Functions Continued…

How many functions?

Criticisms of family functions

What is a household?

The term household refers to the people you live with.

Are all households families?

Is your household the same as your family?

Does your family extend beyond your front door?