From the early stages of life, interaction is essential to survival. “The family is the single most significant agent of socialization in all societies” (pg. 107) The real world: an introduction to sociology. We first learn about society’s values and norms within the family. For instance, we are told not to lie, not to steal and to share with our siblings. Therefore, the family is an important component of society. The chapter on changing family discusses marriage, and the role race plays in the family structure
. The Family institution is the main subject of this chapter. The institution of family is what drives society, without it, socialization would not take place. This chapter speaks about the importance of family in society, and its
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Thus, the family institution is imperative for the development of society.
For many centuries, marriage has been idolized by society. It is believed that individuals get married because of “love”. However, what constitutes a marriage is the need for company and survival. No individual wants to be alone, that’s why people marry. And one of the goals of the human race is the reproduction. According to the chapter Changing Family, a successful marriage constitutes a unified family. It says, that if two people come together, and find the satisfaction in working together they have created a successful marriage. In the chapter, marriage is described as a symbiotic relationship. What I mean by that is, with marriage people get benefits. Not both partners may get those benefits, but at least one person can. Examples of the benefits mentioned in the chapter were financial security, protection, and rights. In my family, my parents work together to pay the bills. Thus, we consider ourselves
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Although there are different kinds of families, the majority consists of two parents. The Africa American community contain poor family structures. The majority of the cases is due to the incarceration of African American males. Michelle Alexander, a civil rights advocate describes the incarceration of black boys as the New Jim Crow. Under those circumstances, African Americans are deprived of basic human rights and are being oppressed. They are sentenced to five or more years in prison for distribution and possession of drugs. Whereas, Caucasians are only given up to one year in prison. The incarceration of African American boys has had an impact on the family structure. Most of the inmates have partners and children. When they are sentenced time in jail, their families are impacted. Therefore, in the black community women are usually the providers, because they do not have a partner supporting them. Thus, they are given the named “superwomen” or as one of my classmate put it a “Strong African women”. Society, we continue to criticize the black community, but because of stereotypes and self-fulfilling prophecies, children grow up believing that they cannot be successful. Thus, they turn to the streets to make a living. A father figure is absent in most African American households and because of these absences, the family structure sits on a poor foundation. Black poverty is due because of this poor family structure. Women
DeVault, C., Cohen, T., & Strong, B. (2011). The marriage and family experience: Intimate relationships in a changing society. (11th ed., pgs. 400-426). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth cengage learning.
A family is a group of people consisting of the parents and their children who live together and they are blood related. The family is always perceived as the basic social units whether they are living together in the same compound or at far distance but are closely related especially by blood. Therefore, the family unit has had a great influence on the growth and the character traits possessed by the children as they grow up and how they perceive the society they live in. the family also shapes the children to be able to relate well with other people that are not part of their family and with a good relationship it impacts to the peace achieved in country. This paper addresses the reasons as to why the family is considered the most important agent of socialization. It’s evident that families have changed over time and they have adopted different ways of living. This paper also tackles on the causes of the dramatic changes to the American family and what the changes are. Different people with different race, gender and preferences make the family unit and this makes the difference in marriages. This will also be discussed in this paper.
Black men in Jail are having drastic effects upon the black community. The first and arguably most important effect is that it intensifies the problem of single parent households within the black community. When these men are sentenced to prison, they, many times, leave behind a wife/girlfriend and/or children. If they have already have had children, that child must spend multiple years of his/her early life without a primary father figure. In addition, that male's absence is even more prominently felt when the woman has to handle all of the financial responsibilities on her own. This poses even more problems since women are underpaid relative to men in the workforce, childcare costs must be considered, and many of these women do not have the necessary skills to obtain a job, which would pay a living wage, which could support her and the children. Black male incarceration has done much to ensure that black female-headed households are now equal with poverty.
As a primary institution, it carries with it the responsibility as an agent of socialization that possess the responsibility in ensuring social stability, implementing a set of family values, as well as playing a direct role in child rearing. When employing this perspective to the nuclear family, it allows us to examine how each individual within this family form is socialized with the notion of gender roles. The nuclear family ideology assigned different roles to men and women based on gendered lines. Placing focus on the way in each individual is given a gender role; the nuclear family displays the same characteristics as the process of socialization as it too causes a distinction of a male and female role within the family
Dysfunctional families play a huge role in many African-American communities and they affect the children as they mature. When people do not have a job or cannot access one, that leads them to poverty. When individuals are in poverty, it is hard to provide for a family or themselves. Many adverse outcomes can happen when a child is living in poverty that will impact their future. Many African-American males are incarcerated which affects their connection with their children. Not having a father in a child’s life can negatively impact them. When parents are not vigilant and have dysfunction happening that allows an opening for sexual abuse to take place whether it is a family member or someone outside of the
African Americans are incarcerated at nearly six times the rate of whites, it is projected that one in every three African Americans born are expected to go to prison. The consequences for black men have radiated out to their families. By 2000, more than 1 million black children had a father in jail or prison"(Coates pg.2). Men going to prison at such high rates has left many women to fend for themselves.
This paper will examine sociological theories and how they relate to the social institution of the family. We typically view society as a group of people, but in sociology, society is not a group of people but a social organization. People are molded by society to fit within the accepted societal bounds. Society must be understood using “the meanings that people put on their values and beliefs” (Bartle, 2010). Within sociology there are three major perspectives. These are the Functionalist, Conflict and Interactionist Perspectives. Each perspective views society in different manners, with each being correct and relevant since social institutions are too complex to be defined by any one theory. Each perspective will be used to explain the perspectives’ relevance to the family.
In a world where society is mostly driven by our faults, family can be a relative term that brings it all back down to earth. Since societies can be extremely divided at times, it is important to have a back bone and a community that understand your own values, customs, and practices. It has been said that “minority group” families, which in Canada or the United States, could be considered anyone who isn’t Caucasian, are less stable in form and function than families who are a part of the general societal “majority”. Throughout this essay, I would like to discuss how untrue this statement is. From racial and cultural differences, to relying on each other and to growing as a unit, it is evident that minorities can have an even stronger relationship than those from the majority.
The unit of a family is the most prominent essential for all of us. As social human beings, we seek social support in order to thrive, and that is where family comes into play. A family is where you receive love, support, encouragement, and many other social benefits. The total number of households in the United States increased from 63 million in 1970 to 113 million in 2008 (Weeks, 2012). The family has influenced multitudes of people in many ways. The traditional family in the United States consists two-married individuals providing care and stability for their biological offspring also know as the nuclear family. However, the term of a true family has ultimately changed over the last 50 years especially for African Americans.
"A family is a small social group of people related by ancestry or affection, who share common values and goals, who may live together in the same dwelling, and who may participate in the bearing and raising of children. They have a physical or emotional connection with each other that is ongoing" (Vissing, 2011) and is the foundation of all societies. They can be formed by a grouping of father-mother-children or even more complicated combination of relatives. In the primary stage of family life in the United States, everyone from every generation lived together in one house. Subsequently, the idea of traditional family evolved and a married couple with children is at present, often called the traditional family. There are many types of families; however, this paper will focus on the traditional family. It will describe how the functionalist perspective, conflict perspective, and the interactionism theory apply to the sociological institution known as a family. It will explain some of the similarities and differences between the sociological theories in regards to families and how they affect the family members.
The word Bible is taken from the Greek word "ta biblia or the books" and became the foundation of Judaism and Christianity. The Old Testament or the Tanakh is the first and the oldest section of the Holy Bible with the New Testament added at a later date. The Old Testament consists of several individual books written, compiled and edited by various authors over a period of centuries. These several books were divided into three groups with the first group being the Torah, the Teachings or the Law, Neviim, or the Prophets, is the second group and Ketubim, or the Writings, is the third group. The first letter in of each of these divisions such as T for Torah, N for Neviim and K for Ketubim makes an acronym of the name TaNaKh.
Family by its nature is a social unit wherein children grow up and it acts like the socialization agent. Children receive their earliest and most consistent socialization here in the family. In a family it is very important as to how parents cater the needs of their children and how children take care of them in return. Parents as well as the child are very important part of the developmental process, as it is the parents who will shape the children as what they will become. The parent child relationship influences each other and together they shape the relationship they engage in it. Family is a social unit where in all the members living together is related to one another. Family is regarded
Sociologists look at society from either a macro or micro view and the theories that define their work are based on those perspectives. There are several family theories that we learned about this semester. Briefly, Structural-Functionalism and Conflict Theory are “macro” theories in sociology. Structural-Functionalism sees society as a living machine made up of different parts which work together for the good of society. Individuals, as well as Institutions work together, and the family is the key to the well-functioning machine. Emile Durkheim, considered the Father of Sociology argues social solidarity, where people do the right thing, create harmony and have shared values. According to Durkheim the nuclear family is the only type of institution that can achieve that. Conflict Theory sees society as a pyramid with those at the top having more power and influence than those at the bottom. Males in society have more power than females. There is a power imbalance, which could lead to oppression o...
Family is arguably the most important social institution in an individual's life. A family is defined as a group of individuals that are related through blood ties, adoption or marriage, that form an economic unit, where the adult members are responsible for the upbringing of children. As a social institution, families change over time, but are usually the first and most important social part of an individual’s life. Education also prepares young people for entry into adulthood and is therefore a form of socialization.
Everyone is born into some form of family, with the family taking the responsibility of nurturing, teaching the norms or accepted behaviors within the family structure and within society. There are many types of families, which can be described as a set of relationships including parents and children and can include anyone related by blood or adoption. Family is the most important, “for it is within the family that the child is first socialized to serve the needs of the society and not only its own needs” (Goode, 1982).