Just like marriage, family is also a very familiar term. We all come fiom families. We see families around us. Family is an integral part of our life. Can we answer these questions: What is a family? What is the need for a family?
Who constitute the family? Is it a mere union of parents and children? What is the relationship between the members in a family? Is the family a human invention or a natural evolution? Is it found among animals also? What are the
forms of family in different ages and different cultures?
The family was a necessary precondition for human evolution, for without it human existence would not have been possible. The human infant is born helpless. It has a potential for physical and mental development. But it requires years to achieve its maturity. In the case of animals, their young ones are able to take care of themselves shortly after birth. But for human beings the long period of pregnancy and the prolonged helplessness in infancy and childhood, needs a long association of parents. This has resulted in the formation of a family. The Evolution of the Family The family as a group of parents and offspring's existed even before the appearance of man upon this planet. Family like association is seen among birds and higher mammals. The chimpanzee is a highly social creature which
lives in family groups. The family life of apes and human beings can be compared. There is a selection of a mate, interaction between male and female, levels of control among father, mother and children and a child is taken care
of primarily by mother.
There is a great deal of difference between the family life of apes, mammals and birds and that of man. In the former case, the nature of family life throughout the world is the same in any given species. But in the case of man, family
behaviour varies greatly from one society to another. In the animal family, the behaviour of the members is motivated by instinct, whereas in the human family it is motivated by culture. The animal family is largely biological in
nature, while in the human family its structure and functions are shaped by culture.
According to many sociologists, man in caurse of his evolution might have developed one or another family form as determined by situational and historical factors. In short we can say that geographic environment, economic conditions and culture rather than biological factors were the determinants of human family patterns. In man, the family is not only a biological group it is first and
foremost a social institution. The Definition of Family
We have seen that the structure and function of the family varies from place to place. So it is difficult to give a definition of the term 'family'. However, the definition of the family must include that which is common to the great
variety of human groups to which the term 'family' has been applied. There are certain characteristics that are common to the human family in all times and in all places that differentiate the family from other social groups. According to Ernest W Burgess and Harvey. J. Lock, these characteristics are:
1) The family is composed of persons united by the ties of.
2) The members of the family typically live together under one roof a14
Marriage constitute a single household. Sometimes, as in the past, the household is large consisting of three or four or even five generations. Today the household is small, consisting of the husband and wife with or without
one or two children.
3) The family is a unity of interacting and intercommunicating persons. They play the roles of husband and wife, father and mother, son and daughter, brother and sister. These roles are defined by the
community.
4) The family maintains a common culture derived mainly from the general culture. Usually this culture is the outcome of the merging o i the two cultures of the husband and wife. On the basis of the above characteristics the family may be defined "as a group of persons united by the ties of marriage, blood or adoption, constituting
a single household; interacting and communicating with each other in their respective social roles as husband and wife, mother and father, son and daughter,brother and sister and creating and maintaining a common culture".
A family is a community of people living together in an environment which is a centre of healing, a place where one can live, where one can admit one's frustrations, stupidities and anger to people who do not retaliate. It is in the
school of everyday family life, with all masks dropped and hypocrisies exposed, that man, woman and child acquire the potential to know what it is to be truly human, and fully human people have tried alternative arrangements for a
family. But none of them are as efficient as a family. Children thrive best when they have a father and mother to love and protect them in a home. The parents also need the life long commitment in which love is proved.
No comments:
Post a Comment