Family, household, marriage

Family

Definition of family

G. P. Murdock – the family is a social group characterized by common residence, economic cooperation and reproduction. It includes adult of both sexes at least two of whom maintain socially approved sexual relationship and one or more children own or adopted of the sexually cohabiting individuals. The parent child relationship is not necessarily biological. Its primary importance is social legitimation of child.

MacIver and Page - the family is the definite and long term group defined by sexual relationships that reproduce and bring up children. It may include other blood relations but it is mainly formed by living together of man, women and their children. The unit formed by their living together is called family.

Ogburn and Nimkoff - the family is an association formed by the sex relations of husband and wife with or without children. They believed that husband and wife or only the women and her children or only the man and his children by living together can form a family. But the family is not limited to these individuals alone. Its size can be large, people of many generations and relatives can also live together in a family.

Characteristics of family

1. Universality

2. Emotional basis

3. Limited size

4. Formative influence

5. Nuclear position in the social structure

6. Responsibility of the members

7. Social regulation

Prevalence of Matrifocal families in US

M. J. Herskorits - West African origin of new world’s blacks influenced their family structure. A system of polygyny and considerable female economic independence lead to relatively marginal role of husband. Plantation slavery another major factor.

M. G. Smith - Under slavery women and children were kept together. Authority of husband eroded. Husband subjected to the authority of plantation owners. Plantation owner had the right of sexual access to all female slaves.

Elliot Liewbow - Female headed families resulting from desertion by the husband because he did not have sufficient funds. Hence poverty is the basic cause of matrifocal families. Matrifocality has become a part of the subculture of the poor.

Functions of the family

G. P. Murdock

1. Sexual function

2. Reproductive function

3. Economic production

4. Educational function

Other functions by Horton and Hunt

1. Affectional function

2. Status definition function

3. Protective function

Talcott Parsons - the basic and irreducible function of the family

1. The internalization of society culture and the structuring of personality

2. The stabilization of adult personalities

Dysfunctional view of the family

Edmund Leach – a runaway world

Pre-industrial society – part of wider kinship unit.

Modern industrial society – nuclear family is isolated from kin and wider community.

Household isolated. Family looks inward. More stress. More strain. Tensions within the family form expression throughout the society.

David Cooper – the death of the family

Family stunts the self and largely denies people to develop their own individuality.

Individual interiorize the family leading to chronic murder of the self.

Family operates as an ideological conditioning device.

Marxian perspective

Family is a unit which produces labour cheaply from the point of view of the capitalist since they do not have to pay for the production of children or their upkeep.

Wife is not paid for producing and rearing in particular.

Marriage

Definition of marriage

Westermarck including both biological (sexual) aspect and social aspect, defines marriage as a relation of one or more men to one or more women, which are recognized by custom or law and involves certain rights and duties both in case of parties entering the union and in the case of children born out of this union.

According to Koos, marriage is a dividing line between the ‘family of orientation’ and ‘family of procreation’ in terms of the nature of roles one performs in the two families.

The roles in the ‘family of orientation’ vary in infancy, childhood and adolescence and carry no responsibilities and obligations. But the roles one performs in the ‘family of procreation’ after the marriage as husband, a father, a bread-earner, a grandfather, a retired person etc. have different expectations and obligations.

According to Bowman, the basic objective of marriage are sex gratification, desire for home and children; companionship, social position, prestige, economic security and protection.

According to Majumdar, although regularized and socially sanctioned sex gratification is a basic reason for marriage, yet it is neither the only nor the final cause. He gives the example of ‘Seema Naga’ (tribe of north eastern India) among whom a child marries his father’s widow (other than his own other) to get possession of property. Thus, Majumdar believes that the objects of marriage are: sex gratification, need for dependable social mechanism, transmission of culture, economic needs and inheritance of property.

Household

Definition of household

A household is composed of one or more people who occupy a housing unit.

Not all household contain families. Under the U.S. Census Bureau definition, family households consists of two or more individuals who are related by birth, marriage or adoption, although they also may include other unrelated people. Non-family household consists of people who live alone or who share their residence with unrelated individuals.

Types and forms of family

1. On the basis of marriage:

1. Monogamous

2. Polygamous

3. Polyandrous

2. On the basis of the nature of residence:

1. Patrilocal residence

2. Matrilocal residence

3. Changing residence

3. On the basis of ancestory or descent:

1. Patrilineal

2. Matrilineal

4. On the basis of size or structure:

1. Nuclear

2. Joint

5. On the basis of nature of relations:

1. Conjugal

2. Consanguine

Others

Family of orientation, family of procreation, heterosexual family, homosexual family, single parent family, live-in partner or cohabitation family.

Lineage and descent

A lineage is a descent group that can demonstrate their common descent from a known apical ancestor. Unilineal lineages can be matrilineal or patrilineal, depending on whether they are traced through mothers or fathers, respectively. Whether matrilineal or patrilineal descent is considered most significant differs from culture to culture.

Descent is a relationship defined by connection to an ancestor (or ancestress) through a culturally recognized sequence of parent-child links (from father to son to son's son = patrilineal descent, from mother to daughter to daughter's daughter = matrilineal descent). In other words descent is the tracing of relationships inter-generationally through real, putative (acknowledged), or fictive parent-child links. The rules of descent are important from sociological point of view because only through this rule;

1. The name of heritage gets transferred from one generation to other

2. It decides the rules of property transfer

Types of descent

1. Patrilineal - father to son.

1. Male Primogeniture – father to eldest son.

2. Egalitarian System – father to all sons equally.

2. Matrilineal –mother to daughter.

1. Female Ultimogeniture –mother to youngest daughter.

2. Female Primogeniture – property gets transferred to all the sisters equally but the name and authority belongs to eldest daughter.

3. Double Descent –society recognizes both the partilineage and the matrilineage but assigns to each a different set of expectations like, the inheritance of immovable materials, such as land, may be the domain of the patrilineage, while the matrilineage controls the inheritance of moveable objects such as livestock.

4. Double Unilineal Descent – father to son and mother to daughter.

5. Ambilateral Descent –patrilineal and matrilineal principles both operate at the societal level, but at the level of the individual various rules or choices define a person as belonging to either the mother’s or the father’s group i.e. offspring determine their lineage. In this system, the name and property gets transferred not on any fixed line. It is ambiguous and can be transferred anyway.

6. Bilateral or Cognatic Descent - considers kinship of the mother and the father more or less equally. In practice, Unilineal systems differ radically from bilateral systems. In a matrilineal system, for example, a person would feel cousin obligations only to the children of his mother’s siblings, while in a bilateral system the person is in some sense allied to the children of both parents’ siblings.

Patriarchy and sexual division of labour

Patriarchy

Patriarchy literally means rule by father.

The term ‘patriarchy’ refers to a hierarchical system of social organization in which cultural, political and economic structures are controlled by men.

According to Sylvia Walby, Patriarchy is a system of social structures and practices, in which men dominate, oppress and exploit women. She sees patriarchy and capitalism as distinct systems which interact in different ways, sometimes harmoniously and sometimes in tension depending on historical conditions. Capitalism, she argues, has generally benefitted from patriarchy through the sexual division of labour. But at other times, capitalism and patriarchy have been at odds with one another. For example, in wartime, when women have entered the labour market in great numbers, the interests of capitalism and patriarchy have not been aligned.

Walby identifies six structures through which patriarchy is operated.

1. Production relations in the household

2. Paid Work

3. The patriarchal state

4. Male violence

5. Patriarchal relations in sexuality

6. Patriarchal cultural institution

Theoretical perspective for sexual division of labour (SDOL)

Lionell Tiger and Robin Fox

Human beings behave according to their biogrammer.

Men more aggressive and dominant genetically.

Males hunt, responsible for protection and wars.

Women programmed to reproduce and care for children.

Male and female biogrammer adapted to sexual division of labour as in a hunting society.

Genetic change slower than cultural change hence the SDOL of hunting society exists in modern industrial society.

G. P. Murdock

Biological difference is the basis of SDOL.

SDOL is the most effective way of organizing society

Cross cultural survey of 224 societies – hunting, lumbering and mining predominantly male role. Cooking, gathering wild vegetables, repairing clothes and water carrying largely female roles.

Talcott Parsons – Biology and the expressive female

Family provides socialization and stabilization, especially woman.

Woman is expressive, provides warmth, security and emotional support to child as well as husband.

John Bowlby

Genetic based psychological need for a close and intimate mother child relationship.

Ann Oakley

Murdock looks at other cultures through western and male eyes.

Uses Murdock’s data to criticize him;

1. 14 out of 225 societies – lumbering is done either exclusively by female or shared.

2. 36 societies – women responsible for land clearance

3. 38 societies – cooking shared activity

Pygmies – a hunting and gathering society with no specific rule of SDOL

China, Russia, Cuba, Israel – women form important part in armed forces.

Criticizing Parsons and Bowlby Ann gave example of kibbutz as an alternative organization for socialization of children.

Ernesctine Friedl – Male dominance and the SDOL

Cultural explanation of SDOL

Weaving, pottery, tailoring are men’s task in some society and women’s in some. Societies where they are male tasks they generally carry higher prestige. This reflects male dominance.

Sherry B. Ortner – the devaluation of women

It is not the biology but the way in which every culture defines and evaluates female biology.

Marxian perspective

Engels - Female subordination is consequence of emergence of private property in particular the private ownership of forces of production.

Monogamous marriage developed to protect the institution of private property.

Men needed control over women to ensure the undisputed paternity of their off-springs and heir.

Contemporary trends

Contemporary trend in family function

1. The economic function has greatly declined

2. The sexual regulation functions have diminished

3. The reproductive function has declined in importance

4. The socialization function grows more important

5. The affectional and companionship function grew in importance

6. The status definition function continues

7. The protective function has declined

Contemporary trends in forms of marriage and family

1. Cohabitation

2. Gay and lesbian partnership

3. Staying single