Family as a unit of society

A family is a group of people who are related by birth or blood. It is a group of people closely related by blood, marriage ties and adoption. The topic on family has been discussed in our previous classes.

In the context of human society, a family (from Latin: familia) is a group of people affiliated either by consanguinity (by recognized birth), affinity (by marriage or other relationship), or co-residence (as implied by the etymology of the English word “family”) or some combination of these. Members of the immediate family may include spouses, parents, brothers, sisters, sons, and daughters. Members of the extended family may include grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, nephews, nieces, and siblings-in-law. Sometimes these are also considered members of the immediate family, depending on an individual’s specific relationship with them.

In most societies, the family is the principal institution for the socialization of children. As the basic unit for raising children, anthropologists generally classify most family organizations as matrifocal (a mother and her children); conjugal (a wife, her husband, and children, also called the nuclear family); avuncular (for example, a grandparent, a brother, his sister, and her children); or extended(parents and children co-reside with other members of one parent’s family).

Living together in the family

Living together in the family is a situation where every member of the family i.e the father,wife or wives and children including the extended families at times live together in unity. It is a situation where there is no separation between the families.

One of the primary functions of the family involves providing a framework for the production and reproduction of persons biologically and socially. This can occur through the sharing of material substances (such as food); the giving and receiving of care and nurture (nurture kinship); jural rights and obligations; and moral and sentimental ties. Thus, one’s experience of one’s family shifts over time. From the perspective of children, the family is a “family of orientation”: the family serves to locate children socially and plays a major role in their enculturation and socialization. From the point of view of the parent(s), the family is a “family of procreation”, the goal of which is to produce and enculturate and socialize children. However, producing children is not the only function of the family; in societies with a sexual division of labor, marriage, and the resulting relationship between two people, it is necessary for the formation of an economically productive household.

Advantages of living together as family

Living together in a a family have so many advantages; which are:

Provision of security; living together as a family ensures every member of the family to be secured fro any form of threat from any outsider and give them rest of mind than living separately.

he love in the family becomes stronger

Economic strength for one another and the psychological well-being it imposes on the group

Living together builds confidence in the children

It helps the children and other member of the family to show love to their friends and members of the society

Living together as a family brings happiness, protection and growth in the family

It helps to build good reputation for the family

What happens when family don’t live together

When family members don’t live together; the following are the consequences:

There will be no growth and development in such family

The children can end up becoming violent because of lack of love

Children from separated family lacks confidence and usually feel unsafe

It breeds unhealthy children

Exercise

A family is defined as————-?

Briefly explain what it means to live together as family.

One of the advantages of living together as family is———–? (a) it brings happiness, protection and growth (b) it causes children to be violent (c) it causes backwardness in the family (d) all of the above

What happens when family doesn’t live together?