Definition of family, this is when a group of people which can consist of parents and their children who live together. But are related through blood, marriage or adoption.
Within society there are many types of family structures, which can vary from one society to another. The family structure types include nuclear family, lone parents, extended family, same sex parents and reconstructed family.
Nuclear family consists of a man and woman who are married to one another and their children, who live at the same address this is the smallest family unit.
Lone parent family this is where the children or child are living with one parent whether it be mother or father, who are solely responsible for the child’s welfare and have financial responsibility.
Extended family this unit is larger than the nuclear family, as it consists of grandparents or other close family members such as aunts, uncles or cousins. Who live close by or they live in the same house.
Same sex family this unit consists of the parents being of the same sex, who share the parenting of the child or children.
Reconstructed family this is when parents get divorced and then get remarried and when there are children involved, these will then be known as step children and the parent will be known as step mother or step father.
Stevens father left him and his mother when he was two years old, for three years it was just Steven and his mother. Then his mother started a new relationship which resulted in the birth of Stevens brother, which lead to a new family structure for Steven.
Steven has been involved in a few family structures while he’s been growing up, Steven started his family life in a nuclear family as he had a mother and father, however his parents soon split up when he was a little boy. This left Steven living in a lone parent family, with his mother being responsible for him. A few years later Steven’s mother started a new relationship which meant Steven had a step father, which made this family a reconstructed family unit. However, Steven does not like his stepfather and vice versa, although Steven is very fond of his brother.
Definition of role, is the part we play in society which determines the way the individual behave. Roles are learned from socialisation and we may play many roles throughout our lives.
Definition of socialisation, this is a lifelong process through which we learn the norms and values of society to which we belong to. Also a person’s personality is shaped and formed.
Within the sociological theory Steven has played a variety of roles within the family structure, such as son, stepson and stepbrother. As Steven has played few roles within his life, he is unsure on how to behave in these roles.
We learn from the socialisation process, through this we learn our family’s norms and values. Also the way we are expected to behave in society, the first process is the primary socialisation which we learn from our parents and family. The next process is secondary process, we learn from peer groups, media, education, work and religion. This is when we can realise what we have learned from primary socialisation is not always the correct way, as we make up our own minds and learn new things.
When Steven was growing up with his mum and dad, he had a normal family life then things changed when his dad left. When Stevens stepfather lost his job he became aggressive and was drinking heavily, which resulted in him becoming violent towards Steven and his mum. As Steven had witnessed this kind of behaviour, he thought it was normally behaviour because he became aggressive towards his step brother when they were in foster care. No one actually took the time to tell Steven that the behaviour he witnessed was unacceptable, therefore Steven did not know any better but to show aggression when he was upset or angry.
Functionalist theory looks at society has a whole on a large scale, also by looking at how society is structured. Functionalism is about how society works together in order for society to function properly and be a stable environment, it is believed for society to work in harmony just like a motor vehicle as society is made up of interconnecting parts for society to function as a whole. If this fails then society will not run smoothly, therefore will be seen as a dysfunctional society. It is also being said that a family is the important part in society, as this is where we learn our values, norms and roles. Everyone in society is in a shared agreement on how society should work, this can depend on a shared understanding of norms, values and roles. Functionalists value that stability and continuity are a positive contribution on society, as this can involve passing our norms and values that are important to society from one generation to another.
Feminism theory focuses on the relationship between mother, family and society. It is argued that there is a gender is the main point in this theory, as men have more power in society than women. As women are the ones socialised into to certain roles, such as bringing up children, housework, stay at home, women also are still experiencing violence in the home. It is also the role we are socialised into when we were younger for example girls where brought up playing with dolls, doing girly things like dressing up and wearing makeup. Whereas males where brought up to be more masculine, not to play with dolls but to fight and not show emotions.
As before a family can be described as when a group of people which can consist of parents and their children who live together. But are related through blood, marriage or adoption.
Both functionalist and feminist theory can relate to family, as functionalism believes that the nuclear family is the foundation of society. When Stevens stepfather lost his job he started drinking and become very aggressive towards both Steven and his mum, this upset the balance in society and Stevens life become unstable. As this behaviour was witnessed by Steven at a young age he did not know this behaviour was unacceptable, therefore when he was in foster care he took his hate for his stepfather out on his stepbrother David. Steven aimed his aggression at David because of his hatred for his stepfather, there was no love or care within this family which put the safety of the children and mother at risk. When Steven was put into a children’s unit they spent time with him trying to find out why he behaved like this, he now shows no aggression towards others and has built new relationships with key care workers. Steven is now in a stable unit where he can learn new norms and values, therefore can contribute to society in the way he should.
Steven’s stepfather obviously stills believes that men have more power than woman, as he was the main bread winner but when he lost his job his attitude changed completely. Men believe they are superior to woman and have more power within society, as this is how they are socialised. Feminists argue that women can have disadvantages within a nuclear family, that females are to accept their gender roles in society. Feminists believe that families are mainly dominated by the men, as women are socialised to be dependent on the other sex. There is unequal power within Steven’s family due to the domestic abuse, Steven’s mother has not reported this to anyone as she wants to protect her partner.