Family and Culture : Definitions and Universality

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Family and Culture Definitions and Universality
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Objectives of this powerpoint

• After viewing this slide show you should be aware
  of
• Why the family is important in acquiring culture.
• How the family may be defined.
• Is the family universal?

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Basic Ideas About The Family
Sociologists study the family because it is the
primary socialization agency of society.
It forms one of the central experiences of an
individuals life - as a child and most adults
through parenthood.
The family is the place where we are most likely
to be ourselves.
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Our Task in Studying the Family
To recognize positive and negative features of
family life
To the ways in which the family is changing.
To explore the meanings of family life to its
members.
To understand the role of the family in acquiring
culture.
To ask is the family in decline and dying?
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Defining the Family
Anthony Giddens defines the family as
A group of persons directly linked by kin
connections, the adult members of which assume
responsibility for caring for children.
Household refers to the place of domesticity.
Kinship refers to relationships based on
biological or marital ties.
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What Proportion of Households Contain Families
Like This?
Just 21 of households in 2005!
Married couples with children form just 18 of
all households.
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Murdock and Goode on the Nuclear Family
George Murdock (1949, pictured left) argued that
the basic family unit across the world is the
nuclear comprised of a mother, a father and their
offspring.
William Goode (1963) argued that the worldwide
trend is to move towards the Western model of the
nuclear family.
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Alternatives to the Traditional Family - Polygamy
In Britain we practice monogamy (marriage
involving only two people of the opposite sex).
Polygamy is marriage that involves at least three
people.
Polygyny is where a man can have more than one
wife.
Polyandry is where a woman can have more than one
husband
A common practice in Britain today is serial
monogamy (married to several people over a
lifetime, but one at a time)
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The Nayar Tribe
Kathleen Gough (1972) describes how women bore
children to up to 12 Sandbanham husbands.
Instead the mothers brothers were economically
responsible for her children.
Biological fathers took no responsibility for
their upbringing.
This can reflect some families in contemporary
society.
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Oneida Community (Boston USA) 1848
The Oneida Community was founded by a Christian
preacher, John Humphrey Noyes.
Sexual activity was allowed among any agreeable
members.
There was group marriage with children raised
communally.
Only those considered suitable were allowed to
reproduce.
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Russian Experiment
Following the Russian Revolution of 1917, a
deliberate attempt was made to destroy the
traditional family.
Marriage and divorce were abolished.
Nurseries, launderettes and eating canteens were
introduced, thus freeing women from domestic work.
However, children became psychologically
disturbed by the instability as parents went
through many partners.
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Kibbutz System (Israel)
Today about 4-5 of Israels population live in a
kibbutz.
Children were generally raised apart from their
parents in age-groups,
Children spent family time each evening and
weekend with their biological parents.
Today most kibbutz children eat and sleep with
their parents
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Black Matrifocal Families
Within African-Caribbean communities families
with absent fathers is common.
However, these are just as much a family as any
other lone-parent family.
As such they are different from the traditional
family, but are they just a variation of the
family?
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Communes
Since the mid-1970s, the number of communes in
Britain has halved from 100 to around 50.
Communes vary in structure and liberality.
Whilst there is an element of sharing, usually
the family unit is embodied within the wider
community.
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Is the Nuclear Family Universal?
Diane Gittins (1993) suggests it is only possible
to talk of relationships as universal.
Barrett and McIntosh (1991) stress that it is the
idea of the nuclear family as universal that is
the significant fact.
Robert Chester argues taking snapshots of
household types is misleading. Over the
life-cycle the most people live in families.
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Conclusions

• The family is defined as people tied by
  relationships based on blood, marriage,
  cohabitation and adoption.
• George Murdock sees the nuclear family at heart
  of all families.
• William Goode sees the worldwide trend is to move
  towards the western model of the nuclear family.
• There are many examples that challenge
  universality.
• These include anthropological examples like the
  historical Nayar tribe.

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Conclusions (continued)

• There have been deliberate attempts to produce
  collective-based families like the Oneida
  Community.
• The Russian experiment is important as it shows
  how significant the family is to stability in
  society.
• The Kibbutz system of Israel is not a real
  alternative to the family.
• Diane Gittins argues that because there is such
  variability within societies, it is difficult to
  define the family as universal only
  relationships.
• Chester argues snapshots of households conceals
  the importance of family over peoples life-cycle.

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End of Presentation