Top-Rated Free Essay
Preview

Family Theories Essay

Satisfactory Essays
437 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Family Theories Essay
Social unit of two or more persons related by blood, marriage, or adoption and having a shared commitment to the mutual relationship. http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/family.html Different types of concepts are used in family theories. Some point to the structure of a family, its composition or the way it is organized. Some concepts describe patterns of social interaction, the quality of relationships, or processes that occur in families. Some theoretical concepts show how other concepts are related to each other. For example, if a family has five members and one descriptive concept refers to how flexible each member is, the family itself may be flexible if it meets a certain level of flexibility in its members. Perhaps all members must be at least halfway flexible, or perhaps some of the five must be very flexible to compensate for the inflexibility of the others. Whatever concepts are used, it is impossible to have a family theory unless there is a fairly detailed vocabulary for describing what makes families similar to and different from each other. http://family.jrank.org/pages/601/Family-Theory-Purposes-Family-Theory.html there has been a substantial increase in children still living at home long past the age when their parents expected them to leave. The largest growth has occurred among young adults in their late 20s or early 30s: between 1981 and 2001, the proportions doubled from 12% to 24% for those aged 25 to 29 and from 5% to 11% for those aged 30 to 34. http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/11-008-x/2006002/9274-eng.htm Children learn at a very early age what it means to be a boy or a girl in our society. Through a myriad of activities, opportunities, encouragements, discouragements, overt behaviors, covert suggestions, and various forms of guidance, children experience the process of gender role socialization. It is difficult for a child to grow to adulthood without experiencing some form of gender bias or stereotyping, whether it be the expectation that boys are better than girls at math or the idea that only females can nurture children. As children grow and develop, the gender stereotypes they are exposed to at home are reinforced by other elements in their environment and are thus perpetuated throughout childhood and on into adolescence http://gozips.uakron.edu/~susan8/parinf.htm parents socialize children—but children also socialize parents. Peers, according to Judith Harris's (1995) model of peer group socialization, may socialize children even more so than parents. Likewise, parents' families and friends socialize parents.

http://family.jrank.org/pages/1599/Socialization-Conclusion.html

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Esme Boiso1

    • 1217 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Family is a historical construct, and is what we remember it to be-a social memory. In other words, the understanding of a family is shaped by ones past or experiences. It can never be described as just a social unit, because it is considered as an ideal, important structure and has countless values in the context of its use. For example, Frances Stewarts had a patriarchal economic, co-operative family. Her three daughters were under the age of 16 but all had a great deal of responsibilities of taking care of younger siblings, and being caretakers for poultry.…

    • 1217 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    -A “network of people who share their lives over long periods of time bound by ties of marriage, blood, or commitment, legal or otherwise, who consider themselves as family and who share a significant history and anticipated future of functioning in a family relationship.”…

    • 795 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the article, Learning to be Gendered by Penelope Eckert and Sally McConnell-Ginet, the effects of upbringing and society on a child’s gender identification are analyzed. Throughout the child’s development, they are often guided by the world around them into gender classifications. Society decides on norms for the child to follow based on their gender, then they would grow up to better match those ideals. This is important because if society pushes us towards these labels, it limited our ability to decide on what we perceive ourselves as without outside forces acting upon us. Some studies on the development of gender identities in children seem to show evidence towards the nurture side of gender. Often parents would speak to their child differently depending on their physical gender (740) or set their playing tendencies around gender specific toys (743). This sort of mentality seems to be heavily ingrained in our societal conventions, even those who attempt to do away with these patterns fail to overcome them.…

    • 445 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Milk The Mouse Analysis

    • 1121 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Gender socialization, or the “patterns of behavior taught to children and adults in order to help them learn to behave as acceptable females or males,” begins strikingly early in life (Disch 1). While society as a whole is responsible for carrying out such socialization, many researchers believe that the strongest influence on gender role development seems to occur within the family setting, with parents passing on, both overtly and covertly, their own beliefs about gender (Witt 1). Because parents have the strongest initial influence and control over the early gender socialization their children undergo, they also have the potential to end the cycle of oppressive gender socialization most children experience from birth onward, and eventually…

    • 1121 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Gender stereotypes are widespread around the world. They emphasize the male‘s power and the female’s nurturance. Gender stereotyping changes developmentally; it is present even at 2 years of age but increases considerably in early childhood .In middle and late childhood, children become more flexible in their gender attitudes but gender stereotyping may increase again in early adolescence.…

    • 505 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

     The family life cycle divides the family experiences into stages over the life span and describes changes in family structure and roles during each stage.…

    • 270 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    english 1c paper

    • 1491 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Through the process of gender socialization children learn how to act according to their sex with different gender roles. Gender roles can be defined as certain behaviors and attitudes specifically classified as something a male or female distinctly does. If a girl suddenly burps in front of a friend, she might get a response like “ugh, that’s so manly!” This is a prime example of how gender roles have been fused into our society and daily life. Women are generally expected to be housewives that look pretty, cook, clean, and nurture their kids. On the other hand, men are understood to make the money for the family. Girls play with dolls while boys play with action figures. These gender codes are typical for the average American family, and are taught to children through several implicit tactics. In our society there are many hidden signs that secretly teach children how to behave within their distinct gender role. Specifically, gender socialization is most commonly learned through children’s toys which are colored, marketed, commercialized, and distributed by parents in ways that promote gendered behavior. When playing with toys kids learn the stereotypical gender roles categorized for each sex.…

    • 1491 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Growing up, my parents followed the stereotypical gender roles for my brother and I. From the moment we were born he was put in blue and I was put in pink. He was “a little ladies man” whereas I was “going to make some man real happy one day.” My parent’s didn’t mean any harm, they didn’t know any better because they were raised the same way; however, this type of thinking is what causes inequality between the genders in society. In Judith Lorber’s article The Social Construction of Gender she states, “Once a child’s gender is evident, others treat those in one gender differently from those in the other, and the children respond to the different treatment by feeling different and behaving differently” (Kirk 65). In simpler terms, since the…

    • 565 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In today’s culture gender stereotypes and biases are created on the daily and children learn to adopt their gender roles based on these stereotypes. As children grow up they are exposed to factors that have major influences on their behaviors regarding their gender roles. During children development, children’s surroundings shape them into who they are. School, television, advertisements, friends, parents and many others impact these children and brainwash them into following these gender stereotypes. A study found that kids at the age of two and a half use gender stereotypes in negotiating the world, therefore in a number of activities they generalize these stereotypes to apply (Witt, 1997). For instance, girls are encouraged to play with dolls and engage in feminine activities, boys are pushed to play with cars, trucks and be involved in sports. From a very young age these children are experiencing these stereotypes first hand being that they are so vulnerable and are much easier to shape. Television also plays a huge role in children developing gender roles. Disney Channel is only one of many influences on children about male and female roles in society. It has been found that preschools spend nearly 30 hours a week, on…

    • 1585 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Gender In Childhood

    • 1241 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Gender identity has become a prominent topic in today’s society as people are becoming more aware of personal identity. Gender awareness is fundamental for self-assessment and predominant in our perception of others. Social pressures also influence gender as they create stereotypes that people are expected to follow. These societal definitions of male and female greatly impact childhood development as they create restrictions and regulatory mechanisms that guide conduct relating to one’s gender and sex throughout the course of life (Bussey and Bandura 1). Societal perceptions of gender play a fundamental role in childhood development; gender conceptions and roles are the product of a network of social influences operating on the basis of a…

    • 1241 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Wage Gaps

    • 317 Words
    • 2 Pages

    “From birth until death, gender shapes human feelings, thoughts, and actions. Children quickly learn that their society considers females and males different kinds of people, by about age three, they begin to think of themselves in these terms.” (Macionis, 2014) With just these thoughts in mind from such a young age affect how each people think about females and males, which treat them differently…

    • 317 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    family health assessment

    • 1380 Words
    • 6 Pages

    A family consists of a group of interacting individuals related by blood, marriage, cohabitation, or adoption who interdependently perform relevant functions by fulfilling expected roles. (Edelman, Kudzma, & Mandle, 2014, p. 150)…

    • 1380 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    "The concept of 'family' seems simple to many people, but its abounding in subtleties of meaning that involve concepts that are related to but not the same, including the definition of marriage, the meaning of family life, gender roles, relationships, households, sexuality, children, and dependents. That is a lot of human life for one concept to encompass." from Work and Family Encyclopedia. Webster's Dictionary defines "family" as a group of individuals living under one roof usually under one head, also the basic unit in society usually consisting of two parents rearing their children: any of various social units differing from but regarded as equivalent to the traditional…

    • 1076 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Family Theory

    • 1586 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Family system theory is the most suitable theory in working towards having a strong bond between families. A family should have a strong bond with each other because they are blood –related and should be able to work together in making the most of life. Families should be able to communicate freely with each other in order to solve conflict or just have someone they can talk with. Families are the people who stick by each other’s sides in tough situation and should support each other even if someone does not agree with what is going on. Families should be able to express themselves to each other without feeling ashamed of what they believe in. Each family has an important impact on the rest of the family and the children involved. “The family operates as an interrelated and interdependent unit; therefore, events and experiences that have an impact on a particular family member also will have effect the other members of the family or the entire family unit (Minuchin, 1974).” (Gargiulo & Kilgo,…

    • 1586 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Sociology

    • 1163 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The weight of scientific evidence demonstrates that children learn gender stereotypes from adults. As with gender roles, socializing agents—parents,…

    • 1163 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays