Importance Of Family As A Social Institution

According to sociologists, family is defined as a social group whose members, are bound by legal, biological, or emotional ties, or a combination of all three. Definition aside, the family, no matter how it is structed or who the members are, is often considered as the most important institution because it is the first institution where young children are acculturated. It is through family that everyone learns their values and where people first get a sense of belonging. Family is the basic unit of social structure and an important agent of socialization. It is in this way that the lyrics in the song "Tighten Your Wig" by British punk/folk singer Billy Bragg, “When you're raising a family/You're raising a consciousness" mirrors Sociological

Therefore, when taking a functional perspective, one must consider the ways in which the family is a social institution that helps make society possible. The family is the primary unit for socializing children, which is important because no society is possible without this process. In most societies, family is where most socialization not only begins but also where it is most often to occur. Parents, siblings, other relatives, and any member of a family unit, all help to socialize children from the time they are born. Ideally, family is supposed to be a major source of support, both practical and emotional, for its members. Family provides their children with food, clothing, shelter, and other necessities. It also provides people with love, comfort, and other forms of non-materialistic support. Another function the family performs is to help regulate sexual activity and reproduction.

All societies have norms that determine with whom and how often a person is meant to have sex.

The unit through which these norms are learned is through the family. For example, the incest

FAMILY AS A CONSCIOUSNESS 3 taboo that most societies have, which prohibits sex between certain relatives, helps to

Additionally, she may not marry a boy with her father's name or her brother's name, and a boy in turn may not marry someone with his mother or sister's name"(p. 86). For the Ju/'hoansi, it's not only important to avoid incest with obvious relatives, they go so far as to ban the marriages between people with the same names as relatives of the opposite sex. Although the Ju/'hoansi have a stricter marriage practice, compared to that of western cultures, they still learn these rules the same way everyone else does, through their family. Family also provides its members with a social identity. Children are born into their parents’ social class, race, ethnicity, religion, and so on. Social identity is important for the opportunities we get in life. Some children have advantages in life simply because of the social identity they get from their parents, while others face many obstacles because these identities, like race and ethnicity, into which they are born is at the bottom of the social hierarchy. Consider the term white privilege. While in modern day white privilege is often subtler in practice, not so long ago being born white automatically gave you rights in this country that people of