SOCIOLOGICAL CONSTRUCTION

Analysis of Different Sociological Construction of the Family

Analysis of Different Sociological Construction of the Family

Introduction

There are various definitions of the term 'family' and every society has different values for this term. Although geographic patterns are visible all over the world, there is nothing to prove the reason families exist in the way they do. The construction of families is based merely as a social need and not any environmental or biological need. They are social groups that behave as institutions where everything is organized. The members of the family provide each other socialization, security, companionship, and protection. Although the needs of families are similar across the globe, their structure can be different depending on the region, religion, caste, etc (Newman & Grauerholz, 2002).

From the very beginning of civilization, families existed as social groups where the men hunted for food and the women prepared it along with the duty of taking care of the children. During that time, families consisted of extended family members and people lived as tribes where everyone worked together to run the community. This construction of families changed over the years into the structure that is common today (Chambers, 2012).

Change in Families

Several historic factors contributed towards the change in the structure of families. The most notable are the feudal period, industrial period, and post-industrial phase. Before the feudal period, people lived in tribes and in extended families. The feudal system changed the family structure because of the increase in the number of battles being fought. During the feudal system in Europe, men were recruited to fight battles. This resulted in changes to the family system in which extended families got together to live as one family in order to take care of the family affairs and raise the kids in the absence of males. This marked the ...