Sociology 1. Family

The word family is derived from the Latin word famulus.

Explanation - The meaning of the term famulus is ‘to serve.’

The cell of the society is family.

Explanation – Family is the basic unit for all kinds of social activities, including all kinds of political, economic and educational aspects.

If the father is the head of the family, that family is called a patriarchal family.

Explanation – it is a father centred or father-dominated family. Here father holds key authority and rights of the family. He is the owner, administrator of family and he has the right to take a final decision in any matter of family.

Among the Nayars of Kerala matriarchal family is found.

Explanation – In a matriarchal family, the property rights and the right to successor ship belong to the woman of the family and therefore the head of the family is the mother as against the patriarchal system.

Every activity of social institutions start from the family. The political, economic, educational and several other activities of the society begin from the family. For example - During earlier times, the family was sending its members to participate in the important activities of the local community. Now, due to the increased complexity of social life, many functions of the family have been assigned to various other social institutions. However, the family continues to hold immense importance in acting as the primary social unit in society.

There are three types of families with the following nature:

1. Family-based on kinship.

2. Family-based on the residence of the spouse- Matrilocal residence, Patrilocal residence.

3. On the basis ofthe nature of authority family is classified as a Matriarchal and Patriarchal family.

On the basis of ancestry or descent, the family is also classified as a Matrilineal and Patrilineal family.

A Joint Family consists of grandfather, grandmother, their children and their grand children and great grand children and in some situation the members belong to extended two generations.

They all share food prepared in the same kitchen The whole family has the same kind of religious ceremony. It generally consists of a group of blood relatives.

Family that consists of father-mother and their unmarried children as members are called a nuclear family. Nuclear families have increased in modern society. Individuality, focus on individual achievement, the concept of individual happiness, change in value system with regard to rights of property, progress in the areas of science and technology, rapid urbanization, democratic values and concept of equality and many other things have contributed to the rise of nuclear families.

Following are the characteristics of a family:

1. Family is universal in nature.

2. It is the basic unit for all social activities.

3. It holds continuous responsibility and social accountability.

4. It plays an important role in building up and nurturing children.

5. It inculcates the appropriate social behaviour and value systems.

6. Family guides and instructs the correct traditional beliefs.

The family creates the basic rights and responsibilities in an individual’s social development. It creates a way to nurture and bring up the children and makes them literate. Further, childhood and adolescence are very important stages in the process of socialization. A child learns his or her mother tongue in the family and understands the social life around him or her. Children develop as per the social situation around the family. The family teaches the children about the ways of interacting with elders and the peer group. This means, the social behaviour, its demands and taboos, indirectly controls the children. The family teaches behaviours like friendship, freedom and security during childhood, adolescence, adulthood and old age in future.

Characteristics of a joint family:

1. A joint family is large in size.

2. It involves coordination and cooperation on behalf of all the members of the family.

3. A joint family lives under one roof and share the same kitchen.

4. Religious practices are the same in a joint family.

5. The senior members of the joint family are entrusted with authority and responsibility.

6. A Joint family is a self-sufficient unit.

Individuality, focus on individual achievement, the concept of individual happiness, change in value system with regard to rights of property, progress in the areas of science and technology, rapid urbanization, democratic values and concept of equality and many other aspects have contributed towards the rise of nuclear families in the modern day.

Joint family

Nuclear family

The family system of tribal communities is different from us.

Main characteristics of a tribal family is-

1. Family has limited size and members.

2. Members have common habitation.

3. Their customs and rituals are different from common people.

4. They are less educated.

5. Some tribal families are patriarchal (Bhil and Gond) and some are matrilocal (Khasi tribe of Jaintia hills).

6. They follow different kind of social traditions like- different tribe follow a different system of marriage ex- monogamous, polygynous, polyandrous etc.

7. They follow different biological and economic patterns.

Matrilocal family- a family is matrilocal if it is centred toward the woman and her children. In that family father of kids holds secondary place mother holds primary place and responsible for the administration and management of the family. She holds the authority to take important decisions in key matters.

Patrilocal family- a family which is centred the man in the family and the man holds a key position in the family. He is completely responsible for management and administration of family. He takes all the key decisions of family and holds important rights and authorities of family.

Students are supposed to prepare their individual family trees in this activity.