The Changing Meaning of the Family Essay

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sociological perspectives (e.g., social functionalism, social conflict, and symbolic interaction) be used to conceptually understand the family?

What fundamental changes to the family have been made over the last 40 years?

What is the "family"? Use the 3 sociological perspectives to explain.

Social functionalism views institutions like the family as necessary to preserve society. This perspective views the integrative components that make up society as greater than the sum of their individual parts and holds the family to be one of the fundamental building blocks that provide stability and coherence to people's lives. Preserving the family as a social institution is thus vital to reduce crime and to improve society as a whole. "Through kinship networks, people cooperate so that they can acquire the basic necessities of life, including food and shelter. Kinship systems can also serve as a means by which property is transferred, goods are produced and distributed, and power is allocated." (Kendall, 2015, p. 448). The social conflict or Marxist perspective, in contrast, sees the concept of the family as a way to maintain inequality. For example, poorer women are often vilified for not working and are penalized by government support structures unless they work, even if the cost of daycare and transportation to the workplace is prohibitive.

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Wealthier and middle-class women are vilified for working and leaving their families even if they feel it is necessary to improve the economic situation of their families. The symbolic interaction perspective views the emphasis on the nuclear family that has been placed in modern society as a unique event, not something which has been unchanging for all of human history.

The family has indeed made many dynamic shifts as an institution over the past forty years. Blended families have become more common given the rise of divorce. Children may have stepsiblings from their parents' previous marriages or half-brothers and half-sisters. The extended family unit, where individuals live with several generations in the same household, has become far less common. "With the advent of industrialization and urbanization, maintaining the extended-family pattern becomes more difficult. Increasingly, young people move from rural to urban areas in search of employment in the industrializing sector of the economy" (Kendall, 2015, p. 449). While in previous societies it was common for grandparents to live with their grandchildren and adult children (or to live fairly close by), today it is not uncommon for grandparents….....

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