TYPES OF FAMILIES Two basic types of families identified by anthropologists are the Elementary or Nuclear family and the Extended family. Nuclear families are . Extended family is based on consanguineal or blood~relations extending over three or more generations.
- The Nuclear Family
organized around the conjugal tie that is the relationship between husband and wife. relatively isolated and independent unit or it may be embedded within larger kinship units. The claim of some anthropologists (Murdock 1949) that the nuclear family is universal social institution has been disputed on the basis of some exceptional cases such as that of the Nayar and the Israeli Kibbutz. The independent nuclear family is ideal in only a small percentage of the world’s societies, primarily among hunters and gatherers and in modern industrialized nations, both of which require a high degree of mobility.
- Larger kin groups are not expected to exercise control over or interfere in The affairs of the nucler family. Although there are some ideals about the different roles that should be played by husband and wife with regard to economic support, sexual activity, and child care, these roles are not rigidly defined. Failure to carry out familial roles may result in dissolution of the nuclear family, but since larger kin groups are not involved in the transfer of rights and obligations in a marriage, the dissolution primarily affects only the nuclear family members.The nuclear family may also be dissolved by the death of one of the spouses.
- Many functions formerly belonging to the nuclear family have been taken over by other groups. At one time the family in Europe and the US was a productive unit, however, has largely lost this function to economically, a unit of consumption. Once leisure activities and recreation were also carried out primarily within the family group; Today the peer groupplays'a much more important role in leisure and inculcating values.
- The State has also, through various kinds of social programs, undermined the importance of caring for the aged or sick person as a family function. Socialization of children too takes place in important ways outside the family in school and through the mass media.
- In contrast to this picture of the declining functions of the nuclear family is the increased expectation that the family will satisfy our needs for affection and intimacy. Critics of the nuclear family in the United States feel that this burden is too much for the family to bear. In an age in which personal happiness has become a primary cultural value, it is perhaps beyond the capacity of any one social group. The alienation experienced by many Americans indicates that families often do not carry out their ''affective" functions very well.
- The nuclear family is adapted in many ways to the requirements of industrial society. Where jobs do not depend on family connections, and increased geographic mobility.
- a small flexible unit like the independent nuclear family has its advantages. adaptive to the requirements of a hunting and gathering life, since more than three-fourths of foraging societies have this type of family unit. not as independent or isolated as in our own society; the family unit almost always camps with the kind of the husband or the wife.
- A sub-nuclear family is the one which is characterized by the presence of only the spouses and not any children. since it does not compIetely fulfill the structure of a true nuclear family, it is called a sub- nuclear family.
- Composite/compound families are aggregates of nuclear families linked by a common spouse. A polygynous household consisting of one man with several wives, in this case, each wife and her children will normally occupy a separate residence.
- A polyandrous family that is characterized by one woman married to several men.The women may be related to each other or not.
- Extended family :- or consanguineal family consists of 2 or more lineally related kin folk of the same sex and their spouses and offspring, occupying a single household of a household head. An extended family is not just a collection of nuclear families. In the extended family system, the ties of linearity, that is the blood ties between the generations, are more important than the ties of marriage. In more than half of the world's societies, the extended family is the ideal type.
- Extended families may be organized around males or females. A patrilineal extended family such as the Rajputs of Khalapur India, is organized around a man, his sons, and the sons' wives and children. women are considered responsible for caring for their own children, and the conjugal tie is clearly recognized.
pre- modern China lineal descendants from father to son to grandson were the backbone of family organization. As in India, marriage in China was viewed more as acquiring a daughter-in-law than taking a wife. It was arranged by the parents, and the new couple lived with the husband’s-family.The obedient relationship of a son to his father and the loyalty and solidarity of brothers were given more importance than the ties between husband and wife. In fact, in both societies the public demonstration of affection between married couples was severely criticized, it was anticipated and feared that a man’s feeling for his wife would interfere with his carrying out responsibilities to his own blood kin. In such cultures a good wife is one who is a good daughter-in-law. With the birth of a son a woman gains more acceptance in the household. As the years go by, if she has been patient and played her role well, the relationship between husband and wife develops into one of companionship and a more equal division of power. As her sons grow up, the wife; achieves even more power in the household as she begins to arrange for their marriages. When several sons are married, a woman may be the dominant person in the household, gradually reducing the authority of the husband.
- A matrilineal extended family is organized around a woman and her daughters and the daughters' husbands and their children. The Nayars of South India represent the extreme of the consanguineal family, for the conjugal tie is for most purposes completely absent. Most extended family systems do give some recognition to the nuclear family.
the Hopi, a Western Pueblo Native American group who live in the Southwest. The Hopi household revolves around a central and continuing core of women. When women marry, their husbands come into the household and have important economic functions, Husbands are peripheral, with divided residences and loyalties. When crises arise, the father is often blamed and treated as an outsider.
The father's obligations to his sons are primarily economic. He prepares them to make a living by teaching them to farm and he may go into partnership with them in herding activities. When a son marries, a father will present him with a portion of the flock and a small piece of land. The economic support a son receives from his father is returned in the father’s old age; a son supports his father and takes the responsibility for his funeral rites. In return for this service, the son will receive a larger share of his father’s personal property than his brothers. The father’s role is more that of friend and teacher, and the father-son relationship is characterized by affection- and little punishment. fathers relationship to his daughter is generally affectionate but not close, and he has few specific duties in regard to her upbringing.
The mother-daughter relationship is an exceedingly close one based on blood ties, common activities, and lifelong residence together. A mother is responsible for both the economic and the ritual training of her daughters. The daughter behaves with respect, obedience, and affection to her mother and normally will continue to live with her mother and her mother's sisters after marriage. A mother also has a close relationship with her son. He belongs to her lineage and will keep much of his personal and ritual property in her home. A son shows a respect for his mother as head of the household and consults her on all important questions. The strongest and most permanent tie in Hopi society is between sisters.
if one sister dies, another looks after her children. Sisters cooperate in all domestic tasks. There are usually few quarrels and when they occur, they are settled by the mother's brother or their own brothers.
As in all matrilineal societies, the mother's brother's relation to his sister’s sons is a very important one. As head of his sister's lineage and household, his position is one of authority and control; he is the chief disciplinarian and has the primary responsibility for transmitting the ritual heritage of the lineage and clan, which occupies the highest place in family. He usually selects the most capable nephew as his successor and trains him in the duties of whatever ceremonial position he may hold. A nephew is frequently afraid of his maternal uncle, in contrast to the affectionate relationship with his father. A mother's brother plays an important role at the time of his nephew's and niece’s weddings and is consulted in the choice of a spouse. It is he who instructs his nephew in the proper behavior toward his new relatives and who formally welcomes his niece’s husband into the household
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