Family, it's Functions and Types

 

Family

Family is the simplest and most elementary group found in a society  consisting of a father, mother and one or more children.

Characteristics of Family:

1. Family is a Universal group. It is found in some form or the other, in all types of societies whether primitive or modern.

2. A family is based on marriage, which results in a mating relationship between two adults of opposite sex.

3. Every family provides an individual with a name, and hence, it is a source of nomenclature.

4. Family is the group through which descent or ancestry can be traced.

5. Family is the most important group in any individual’s life.

6. Family is the most basic and important group in primary socialization of an individual.

7. A family is generally limited in size, even large, joint and extended families.

8. The family is the most important group in society; it is the nucleus of all institu­tions, organizations and groups.

9. Family is based on emotions and sentiments. Mating, procreation, maternal and fraternal devotion, love and affection are the basis of family ties.

10. The family is a unit of emotional and economic cooperation.

11. Each member of family shares duties and responsibilities.

12. Every family is made up of husband and wife, and/or one or more children, both natural and adopted.

13. Each family is made up of different social roles, like those of husband, wife, mother, father, children, brothers or sisters.

Functions of family:

Functions of the family can be classified as the essential functions and non-essential functions.

a.      Essential Functions

1 . Satisfaction of Sex Needs:

Sex is the natural and biological urge of human beings. The satisfaction of sex desire requires that male and female should live together as husband and wife.

Hence, family is the only place where husband and wife can satisfy their sexual needs. Family satisfies sexual desires of male and female through the institution of marriage. Without family the satisfaction of sex needs is impossible. The modern family satisfies sex instinct in a greater degree than the traditional family.

2. Reproduction:

The task of race perpetuation has always been an important function of the family. A ongoing society must replace its members. It primarily relies on the biological reproduction of its own members.

The family is an institution par excellence of the reproduction and the rearing of children. It secures a legitimate and responsible basis for procreation by regulating sexual behaviour. It provides care and personal protection to the newly born human beings and children.

3. Sustenance Function:

The family provides the daily care and personal protection to its dependant members namely aged, children etc. The family is an insurance for the individual in times of crisis. Family provides protection and shelter to orphans, widow and her children.

4. Provision of a Home:

Establishment of household life or provision of a home is another essential function of the family. The desire for a home is a powerful instinct for men as well as women. Family provides a opportunity for husband and wife to live together happily. Man after the hard work of the day returns home where in the presence of his wife and children he sheds off his fatigue.

Although there are hotels and club which provide recreation, the home is still the heaven where its members find comfort and affection. Home is the foundation of family, the meeting place of husband and wife, the birth place and play ground of children. The family is a psychological relief station in which one can safely relax.

5. Socialisation:

Man is a social animal. But he is not born human or social. He is made social through the process of socialisation. Socialisation refers to the process through which the growing individual learns the habits, attitudes, values and beliefs of the social group into which he has been born and becomes a person.

From the point of view of society, it is the process through which society transmits its culture from generation to generation and maintains itself. If a society is to endure and function successfully through time, it is to socialise the new recruits.

The family presents itself to the child as an educative group of most fundamental kind. It presents itself as a concrete manifestation of the cultural process. It is the first social environment which trains and educates the newborn child.

The basic socialisation of the child takes place in the family. It carries out the socialisation of the individual. It hands over the social heritage to the generations to come. The family is described as the “transfer point of civilisation. The content of socialisation is the cultural traditions of the society, by passing them to the next generation, says Parsons. The family acts as the cultural mediator.

b.     Non-Essential Functions:

The nonessential functions of a family can be the following ones:

1. Economic Functions:

Family serves as an economic unit. The earlier agricultural family was a self-supporting ‘business enterprise’. It was producing whatever the family needed. Today the importance of family as an economic unit has been lessened as most of the goods for consumption are purchased readymade from the market.

The family still remains as an important economic unit from the point of view of ‘consumer’s outlay’. In other words, the modern family is a consuming unit and not a self-sufficient ‘producing unit’.

2. Property Transformation:

The family acts as an agency for holding and transmission of property. Most families accumulate much property such as land, goods, money and other forms of wealth. The family transmits these property.

3. Religious Function:

Family is a centre for religious training of the children. The children learn various religious virtues from their parents. The religious and moral training of children has always been bound up with the home. Though formal religious education has reached into the earliest years the family still furnishes the matrix of religious ideas, attitudes and practice.

4. Educative Function:

The family provides the bases of all the child’s latter formal education learning. Family is the first school of children. The child learns the first letters under the guidance of parents. The first lesson of child begins between mother’s kiss and father’s care. The child learns language, behaviour and manners from the parents. The virtues of love, cooperation, obedience, sacrifice and discipline are learnt by the child in the family.

5. Recreational Function:

The family provides recreation to its members. The members of the family visit their relations. They enjoy various occasions in the family jointly and derive pleasure. Now recreation is available in clubs and hotels rather than at home.

6. Wish Fulfillment:

The family gives moral and emotional support for the individual member, providing his defence against social isolation and loneliness and satisfying his need for personal happiness and love. The wife finds in the husband love, security, protection and strength, while the husband expects from her affection, tenderness, help and devotion.

To conclude, there are certain core functions with which the family is always and everywhere concerned.

The family has given up some of the functions that it performed in the past. But by and large, the family remains the most important primary group in society for accomplishing certain essential functions.

Types of Family:

1. On the basis of Birth

a.Family of Orientation:

The family in which an individual is born is his family of orientation.

b.Family of Procreation:

The family where an individual sets up after his/her marriage is his/her family of procreation.

The family of orientation and procreation may live together under the same roof, but can still be distinguished.

2. On the basis of Marriage

a.Monogamous Family:

This family consists of one husband and wife, including children and is based on monogamous marriages.

b.Polygynous Family:

A family consisting of one husband, and more than one wife, and all the children born to all the wives or adopted by each of them. This type of family has its basis in the polygynous form of marriage.

c.Polyandrous Family:

A family made up of one wife and more than one husband, and the children, either born or adopted with each one of them. This family is based on poly­androus marriage.

3. On the basis of Residence:

a.Family of Matrilocal Residence:

When a couple stays in the wife’s house, the family is known as family of matrilocal residence.

b.Family of Patrilocal Residence:

When a family stays in the house of husband, the fam­ily is known as family of patrilocal residence.

c.Family of Changing Residence:

When a family stays in the husband’s house for some time, and moves to wife’s house, stays there for a period of time, and then moves back to husband’s parents, or starts living in another place, the family is called a family of chang­ing residence.

4. On the basis of Ancestry or Decent

a. Matrilineal Family:

When ancestry or descent is traced through the female line, or through the mother’s side, the family is called matrilineal family.

b.Patrilineal Family:

A family in which the authority is carried down the male line, and descent is traced through the male line or the father’s side, is called a patrilineal family.

5. On the basis of Authority

a.Matriarchal Family:

Matriarchal families are generally found in matrilineal societies. In these families, a woman is the head of the family, and authority is vested in her. Succession of property is through the female line, i.e., only daughters inherit the property.

After marriage, the husband resides in the wife’s house and descent is traced through the mother’s side. Here, children are brought up in mother’s house. Thus, in matriarchal societies, the matrilocal system exists. Matriarchal families are found only in matrilineal societies, which are very limited in number all over the world. They are found in parts of Latin America, Ceylon, parts of Africa and India (the Khasis and the Garos).

b.Patriarchal Family:

Patriarchal families are commonly found in all parts of the world, since most societies in the world are patrilineal societies. In patriarchal families, the head of the family is a male, and authority is vested in him. Descent and property is passed through the male line and children are brought up in father’s house. Such families are patrilocal in nature.

6. On the basis of Nature of Relations

a.Conjugal Family:

The conjugal family is made up of adults among whom there is a sexual relationship. It refers to a family system of spouses and their dependent children. The emphasis is placed on the marital relationship that exists between spouses. In modern times, the term ‘conjugal family’ is being used for partners, who have a long- term sexual relationship, but are not actually married.

b.Consanguine Family:

A consanguine family is made up of members among whom a blood relation exists, or those who are consanguineal kin, i.e., a family consisting of parent(s) and children, or siblings (brothers, sisters, or brothers and sisters).

7. On the basis of State or Structure

a.Nuclear Family:

A nuclear family is a small group consisting of a husband, a wife and children, natural or adopted. It is more or less an autonomous unit that is not under the control of adults or elders of the family. It consists of two generations only. In all modern societies, nuclear family is the most common type of family. In fact, nuclear family is both the consequence as well as the cause of the disintegration of joint family.

b.Joint Family:

A joint family consists of three generation, living together under the same roof, sharing the same kitchen and purse or economic expenses. It is a family consisting of three nuclear families living together. A joint family is ‘a group of people, who generally live under the same roof, who eat food cooked at one hearth, who hold property in common, and who participate in common family worship and are related to each other as some particular type of kindered.

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