Preview

The Changes Occurring at Society at Large Which Have Affected the Structure of the Family Might Be Seen at Steps Down the Slippery Slope of the Disintegration of the Family as a Social Institution. Critically Discuss

Best Essays
Open Document
Open Document
2365 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Changes Occurring at Society at Large Which Have Affected the Structure of the Family Might Be Seen at Steps Down the Slippery Slope of the Disintegration of the Family as a Social Institution. Critically Discuss
While the majority of young couples seem to be following a linear progression in their relationship along traditional lines, others are starting families away from the established structures of society and even outside legality (Galea 2007, Fenech 2011). In Malta, the situation has its unique characteristics. What we have been witnessing in recent years is a combination of factors with important repercussions. According to family scholar Abela (2009a), the unity of the institutionalised family and the need to sustain marriage as a permanent relationship continue to be important values that are entrenched in our culture. Moreover, the vast majority of Maltese university students still want to marry for life (Abela 2009a). Conversely, the rapid rise in teenage pregnancies, single parenthood, widows, middle-aged divorcees, unmarried teen-aged mums and the fact that about one third of the children born in Malta each year are outside wedlock (NSO 2011), might indicate this rapid transformation. All the above elements surely cannot be taken as one spectrum in social analysis. Bugeja (2012) states that the disintegration of the traditional Maltese nuclear family in an increasing number of local communities is the principal source of so much social unrest and misery. According to Galea (2007), being committed to one`s partner and to the relationship remains a challenge for all married persons. Then again the challenges for younger couples are becoming more complex as the crisis in commitment is manifested as early as in the courtship (Tufigno as cited in Galea 2007). The serious nature of the problem we are facing in Malta, mainly in the privatisation of relationships and the institutionalised family life, should not be underestimated (Galea 2007). People today seem to have a different way of understanding a traditional family commitment than from the past. The transition is from a commitment to an institution to a more personal bond. Nevertheless, in a society where the

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    In order to assess reasons for the changes in the patterns of marriage and cohabitation; it is necessary to first establish the term marriage and cohabitation. Marriage is traditionally conceived to be a legally recognized relationship, between two consenting adults, that carries certain rights and obligations. Cohabitation is an arrangement whereby couples who are not legally married live together in partnership within the common law. Cohabitation has become so widespread that the term itself is now rarely used. I will now critically examine the changes in the patterns of marriage and cohabitation in the last 40 years or so.…

    • 929 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    According to the Marxism theory, the proletariat are being exploited by the bourgeoisie as they own the means of production which indicates that they are the basis of the whole society and they control everything in it including the family. This kind of system could be seen as a capitalist society which means it makes the rich gets richer and the poor gets poorer.…

    • 496 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Family, as we all know, is the groundstone of every ones life.Our behaviour will be so similar to the behaviour of our parents’ and close family members’. When there is a good example, children have much more possibilities to grow into mentally-healthy, good-mannered adults who obey the law and respect other people’s rights without any pressure on themselves.…

    • 509 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In 1961 30% of people in Britain lived in a ‘Nuclear Family’ (Class Notes 2015) A nuclear family can be described as two generations of biological relationships. The Nuclear family has somewhat declined and more recent survey taken in 2010 show that 18% of families in Britain live in a Nuclear family. The decrease in Nuclear families can be related to the change in social norms and values. Feminists argue that lone parents and same sex couples are equally beneficial in providing a nurturing family environment for children to grow and develop. (Haralambos,2000:514) Other critiques of the traditional family believe that there was a form of alienation throughout, leaving not much room for choice, some would say It was more like a confinement.…

    • 173 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Sociological theories are important in understanding how the society operates. In addition, the theories help one understand how people in society relate with each other. The theories have helped understand various social issues in the society and made it easy to develop solutions to the problems. There are different theories that are used to explain how the society operates and how people interact with each other. Examples of the theories include functionalism theories and conflict theory, and interactionism theory. The theories have helped examine different institutions in society and how they operate. The theories named above impact families in many different ways. The theories affect the functioning of the family and interaction of family members. Sociology and family go hand in hand and a family can not true be whole without understanding each other first.…

    • 1674 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Devolution Of Family

    • 988 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The modern American family unit is ever-changing. The American family now includes more and more diverse people. As Natalie Angier says, “In increasing numbers, blacks marry whites, atheists marry Baptists, men marry men and women women, Democrats marry Republicans and start talk shows”. This seems to many to be a good thing. The American family is becoming more diversified and inclusive of all types of people. However, these examples of what seems to be diversity are actually destroying the American family unit. These new types of families do not work as well as the traditional mother/father families. Single and gay/lesbian parents cannot parent their children as well as a mother and a father can because…

    • 988 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Assess the view that in today’s society the family is losing its functions (24 Marks)…

    • 856 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The answer to this question will be dependent on your own definition of ‘the family’. The functionalist George Peter Murdock believes the family is universal and that the ideal family is the nuclear family, however, many other sociologists e.g. Gough, Gonzalez, Callahan and Sheeran disagree and believe that there is more than one way to class the family.…

    • 618 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Applying mostly to the nuclear family structure, the Family Life Cycle is less relevant to today's society than it was a few decades ago. However, it still retains some importance, with currently 79.6% of all families with children under 15 being couple families – this clearly highlights a significant proportion of nuclear families still present in society. The Cycle, throughout the lifetimes of the family members, consistently has impact on their well-being, whether positive or negative, and assists in developing their resilience, experience etc.…

    • 493 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    teens, but as the necessity to have lots of money the view on this has…

    • 818 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    inner workings of the family institution and how they fit into society. These theories are used to…

    • 2156 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    We usually define the word "family" with a group consisting of parents and children living together in a household but to many sociologists, this definition is narrow and is not a very accurate way of describing a family. According to Murdock (1949) the family is a "social group" which is identified by common "residence", "economic" and "reproduction" whereas Giddens (1993) states that the family is directly linked by "kin connections" where the adult members take on the responsibility of caring for the children. These definitions from various sociologists gives us a clearer understanding of what a family is but also, it could be argued that it does not address different family types and also the functions it has for society.…

    • 711 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    married couple, family with children, family with adapted or fostered children (single or a couple takes the child/children in, creates a family)…

    • 373 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    This article talks about the way in which and the extent to which lesbians conduct their relationships in an egalitarian manner battling power imbalances and other inequalities that come their way. The author has conducted a study on lesbian relationships where interviews were conducted and information was gathered on the positive and negative aspects of their experiences. Lesbian women focus on equality be it economic power, the domestic sphere, emotional labour and career opportunities. The article highlights the absence of gender scripts that doesn’t restrict either partner from being who they are and do what they like. Au contraire, the existence of these gender scripts are the very reason heterosexual relationships become problematic and throws restrictions on women causing them to fall into prescribed roles. It illustrates clear differential features between heterosexual and homosexual relationships using experiences of women who have been in relationships with both men and women. It goes on to talk about the importance of economic independence and how lesbians recognize that their lifestyle requires them to be self-sufficient and makes financial dependency or dependency of any kind undesirable. This belief is extended towards unilateral house ownership, which is another source of a major power imbalance. Women feel more secure when they have their own apartment and their independence intact i.e. the choice to walk out of the relationship whenever you can. It leaves no room for dependency and makes them more self-reliant. The author also tries to demonstrate how sexuality itself fuels the ability of women to achieve success in their work sphere and to do so whilst managing a relationship and navigating through structural inequalities of power and to some extent, domination.…

    • 1961 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The family – the fundamental yet significant unit of society, is in jeopardy. Decades ago, the prediction that the state of matrimony could one day be an aberration would be condemned as a piece of unreliable augury. What do we see today, when the demographic change of society around the globe has highlighted that the glorious era of marital domesticity is in its last days. These startling shifts in the evolution of mankind is in stark contrast if today’s society were to be juxtaposed with the society of before, when man used to live in extended families, running household corporations, and feeding themselves solely by what the manpower of the family produced. The glamorization of dysfunctional families today is very much disconcerting. TV shows such as The Simpsons and Desperate Housewives over-valorize scandals, turning the concept of “family” into something that is more of a sickbed of problems. Meanwhile, the wave of globalization and revolution of ethos that once guided societies to strict, binding marriages has called for anxious ruminations in many. It might be time people abandoned the notion of looking at this issue through rose-tinted lenses, and instead stand out to face the naked, brutal truth of the family in flux.…

    • 433 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics