Western Conception Of The Nuclear Family
What are the alternatives to the western conception of the Nuclear family?
The nuclear family is well known conception within the Western world. It consists of 2 adults and 2.4 children. There are many supporters of this traditional family construction, and there are many with contrasting arguments who disagree.
An alternative to the nuclear family in the west is the extended family. It consists of the traditional nuclear family and added relations such as an aunt, or cousin. The been-pole family is a sub-category of the extended family and it consists of 3 generations living in the same household who are directly related through blood or marriage, for example a grandmother, mother and child. This type of family is found all over the …show more content…
world and has recently risen in the west.
The single parent family consists of one parent and their child or children.
This could be caused by divorce, death, separation or sexual prescurity. In the olden days these family types were looked down on and seen as something o be pitied, this is because of the causes. If someone had lost a partner through death they were to be pitied. If they were a lone parent family because of divorce or separation they were looked down on because they were not the social norm and if it was a woman, they were defying the patriarchal society structure. If they were a single parent family due to sexual prescurity, they were seen as the bottom of society. Now, however, single parent families have increased. This may be because the number of monogamous relationships have decreased leading to increased rates of divorce and separation. This could be because society has become less patriarchal and women are free to leave relationships they are not comfortable in. Also the amount of sexual prescurity has also increased leading to higher single parent families from that cause. In today’s society the single parent family is another alternative to the nuclear …show more content…
family,
The Gay/Lesbian family is a family made up of a gay or lesbian couple and a child or children. The child could be adopted, or they could be biologically related to one of the parents from an old heterosexual relationship or from conceiving a child for the family with someone outside of the partnership. In the western world this type of family has increased and become an alternative to the traditional nuclear, however it is not as common as the other types of family.
A reconstructed is often referred to as a step-family.
This family type is similar to the reconstructed but it consists of at least one member that is not fully biologically related to the rest of the family living in the same household. For example a half-sibling which means one parent is the same but one is different. Or a step-parent which is an adult that acts as a parent even though the child is not biologically related to them. The reconstructed family socialises the children in the same way as the nuclear. It is the most similar alternative to the ‘cereal packet family’ as it can appear in the same way.
The above are all example which are found in the modern day western world. Other alternatives include Feral children. For example Amala and Kamala the 2 girls raised by wolfs. They were raised as part of a family of wolves where they adopted wolf norms and values as well as wolf behavior. This is an unusual alternative to the nuclear family.
In 1917 following the Russian revolution there was a deliberate attempt to delete the traditional family. Marriage and divorce were abolished. If you were already married your papers were destroyed meaning that by state, you no were no longer married and you could not get married anymore. Nurseries, laundrettes and eating canteens opened up all over Russia to free the women from domestic work. There were negatives to this, the main one being that children grew up psychologically disturbed by the instability as their parents went
through many partners.
The Onedida community founded by John Humphrey Nuyes in 1848 Bostom is also an alternative to the nuclear family. The community consisted of a group marriage with children raised communally. Adults could have sex with anyone who was part of the group however only those considered suitable were allowed to reproduce.
The women of the Nayar tribe in 1972 southern India bore up to 12 children to the ‘sandbanham’ husbands. The biological fathers took no responsibility for the children and instead the mothers brothers were economically responsible for their upbringing. This can reflect some of the contemporary alternatives to the family; such as financial support for the single parent family.
In today’s society we know that both mother and father have a biological link with the child. However the Lakker tribe say that the mother is seen to have no biological connection and is only the container for the child to grow in. When the child is born she does not take on the traditional mother role. In the Trobriand Islands they say that the father has no biological link and when the child is born it is not recognised that the father even went into the making of the child and has nothing to do with it.
The family is changing all the time and we can see that there are many alternatives to the nuclear family not just in the west but all around the world. The role of the family is always to socialise the children into society but with each family type the role of which family member does it changes. We can also now see that the meaning of family changes within each family type and culture.
The nuclear family is well known conception within the Western world. It consists of 2 adults and 2.4 children. There are many supporters of this traditional family construction, and there are many with contrasting arguments who disagree.
An alternative to the nuclear family in the west is the extended family. It consists of the traditional nuclear family and added relations such as an aunt, or cousin. The been-pole family is a sub-category of the extended family and it consists of 3 generations living in the same household who are directly related through blood or marriage, for example a grandmother, mother and child. This type of family is found all over the …show more content…
world and has recently risen in the west.
The single parent family consists of one parent and their child or children.
This could be caused by divorce, death, separation or sexual prescurity. In the olden days these family types were looked down on and seen as something o be pitied, this is because of the causes. If someone had lost a partner through death they were to be pitied. If they were a lone parent family because of divorce or separation they were looked down on because they were not the social norm and if it was a woman, they were defying the patriarchal society structure. If they were a single parent family due to sexual prescurity, they were seen as the bottom of society. Now, however, single parent families have increased. This may be because the number of monogamous relationships have decreased leading to increased rates of divorce and separation. This could be because society has become less patriarchal and women are free to leave relationships they are not comfortable in. Also the amount of sexual prescurity has also increased leading to higher single parent families from that cause. In today’s society the single parent family is another alternative to the nuclear …show more content…
family,
The Gay/Lesbian family is a family made up of a gay or lesbian couple and a child or children. The child could be adopted, or they could be biologically related to one of the parents from an old heterosexual relationship or from conceiving a child for the family with someone outside of the partnership. In the western world this type of family has increased and become an alternative to the traditional nuclear, however it is not as common as the other types of family.
A reconstructed is often referred to as a step-family.
This family type is similar to the reconstructed but it consists of at least one member that is not fully biologically related to the rest of the family living in the same household. For example a half-sibling which means one parent is the same but one is different. Or a step-parent which is an adult that acts as a parent even though the child is not biologically related to them. The reconstructed family socialises the children in the same way as the nuclear. It is the most similar alternative to the ‘cereal packet family’ as it can appear in the same way.
The above are all example which are found in the modern day western world. Other alternatives include Feral children. For example Amala and Kamala the 2 girls raised by wolfs. They were raised as part of a family of wolves where they adopted wolf norms and values as well as wolf behavior. This is an unusual alternative to the nuclear family.
In 1917 following the Russian revolution there was a deliberate attempt to delete the traditional family. Marriage and divorce were abolished. If you were already married your papers were destroyed meaning that by state, you no were no longer married and you could not get married anymore. Nurseries, laundrettes and eating canteens opened up all over Russia to free the women from domestic work. There were negatives to this, the main one being that children grew up psychologically disturbed by the instability as their parents went
through many partners.
The Onedida community founded by John Humphrey Nuyes in 1848 Bostom is also an alternative to the nuclear family. The community consisted of a group marriage with children raised communally. Adults could have sex with anyone who was part of the group however only those considered suitable were allowed to reproduce.
The women of the Nayar tribe in 1972 southern India bore up to 12 children to the ‘sandbanham’ husbands. The biological fathers took no responsibility for the children and instead the mothers brothers were economically responsible for their upbringing. This can reflect some of the contemporary alternatives to the family; such as financial support for the single parent family.
In today’s society we know that both mother and father have a biological link with the child. However the Lakker tribe say that the mother is seen to have no biological connection and is only the container for the child to grow in. When the child is born she does not take on the traditional mother role. In the Trobriand Islands they say that the father has no biological link and when the child is born it is not recognised that the father even went into the making of the child and has nothing to do with it.
The family is changing all the time and we can see that there are many alternatives to the nuclear family not just in the west but all around the world. The role of the family is always to socialise the children into society but with each family type the role of which family member does it changes. We can also now see that the meaning of family changes within each family type and culture.