Traditional Family Relationships

Introduction

A traditional family is two or more people who are related by birth, marriage or adoption that live in the same household (Eshleman 4). However, this definition is the typical idea of what society thinks of when they hear the word “family.” Family can consist of anyone you feel a close connection or bond with, one should not let society have control over who is and is not family. However, many times a family member is related to you by marriage. Marriage is another ever-changing factor in the United States. Today, a traditional marriage is considered to be a man and a woman with a public announcement of an engagement, a “performance” of marriage and a legally binding contract. Though the meaning of marriage has grown over time

A symbol is anything that meaningfully represents something else and gives meaning to a human communication (Kendall 2015:25-26). Our relationships and society have become so dependent on symbols, that we have attached everything to symbols and without them we are unable to plan for the future. It helps the people of society analyze social life and the way we define others and ourselves by face-to-face interactions. As well as how people make sense of life and determine or describe their relationships (Henslin). By creating a better understanding of how life functions, we begin to appreciate our judgments and learn the meanings of attraction and repulsion toward our beliefs about the important symbols in life (Burr

It caused the husband and wife to depend on each other more than ever before. As a result of this these everyday “functions” were interrupted (Henslin). Later on, functionalist came to believe that marriage functions on the emotional quality between the two people in the relationship. Later on, as the relationship advances, these functions will be extended to the relationships between parent and child (Function and destiny book). They believe that without these functions, there would be complete chaos and the divorce rates would skyrocket. Marriage creates such a reliance on one another in the relationship that it can limit the amount of ‘personal’ emotion a person is capable of feeling. When there are limitations in a relationship, the functions begin to be enabled. When a family becomes unable to do their functions then they become more at risk of divorce (Henslin). Due to these constant functions of each spouse, functionalists believe that the relationships of marriage can be a problem within itself. (Function & destiny