The Family
The family is one of the social institutions which contribute to the survival of mankind. It is
generally believed that the family plays a pivotal role in the proper functioning of the society.
Indeed, the family is considered to be the most basic social institution. It is usually referred to as
the main pillar of society. Many sociologists have regarded the family as the cornerstone of
society and they consider it difficult to imagine how human society could function without it.
Throughout the world, the family has been assigned the responsibility of shielding, protecting,
sustaining and maintaining children. It is also the first place where socialisation and social
control of children occur.
What is a Family?
A family is a group of people who are related by kinship ties-relations of blood, marriage, or
adoption and who live under the same roof. George peter Murdock argues that the family is a
universal social institution and is an inevitable part of human society. He defines the family as
“a social group characterized by common residence, economic cooperation and reproduction. It
includes adults of both sexes, at least two of whom maintain a socially approved sexual
relationship, and one or more children, own or adopted, of the sexually cohabiting adults.”
In one form or another, the family is found in every society in the world. The family is a basic
social organization, and plays an important role in socializing children into the culture of their
society.
Households
A household is made up of people who share a house or other living place. Many households are
families, but households are different from families. Families do not always live together while
a household may contain people who belong to different families. For example, a group of
friends sharing an apartment.
Sociologists study the different living arrangements people have, so this of course could be
called ‘families and households’, not just ‘families’.
Forms of Family
Even though the family is found in every society, it can take many different forms which vary in
terms of composition and size.
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The Nuclear Family
The nuclear family consists of parents and children, living together in one household. It is
sometimes called the two generation family, because it contains only the two generations of
parents and children. Sociologists have argued that the nuclear family form has developed as
concomitant of industrialization. With the geographical and social mobility normally associated
with industrial development, they argued that the nuclear family has become socially and
geographically isolated from wider kin networks.
In Mauritius, in 2000, about 69% (68.7%) of households live were of the nuclear type. The
nuclear family is the norm among Franco-Mauritians, Creoles, and Mulattoes and is an
increasingly common form of family among all urbanites. The average couple countrywide has
two children; the number is slightly higher in rural areas and among Muslims. During the past
20 years, there has been an increase in the number of nuclear family in Mauritius.
An example of nuclear family
The Classic Extended Family
The classic extended family is made up of several nuclear families joined by kinship ties. The
classic extended family is sometimes called a three-or four- generation family, because it
contains the three generations of grandparents, parents and children. The term ‘classic extended
family’ is mainly used to describe a situation where many related nuclear families or family
members live in the same house and share the same amenities, live in the same street or area and
the members see one another regularly. This form of family has been thought of as having been
more common in the past than today and more common in poorer countries. In Mauritius, the
classic extended family prevailed widely during the pre-industrial era. With industrialization in
the early 1970’s, families started to become nuclear. Today, the largest extended families are
rural Hindu and Creole families.
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If there are other relatives of the same generations, such as brothers, their wives and children
living together, this is a horizontally extended family.
Almost everyone has extended family though nowadays, we are less likely to live with members
of our extended family. In Mauritius, though the family has evolved, kinship ties with
grandparents and other relatives remain strong.
First
generation
Second
generation
Third
generation
An example of an extended family
The Modified Extended Family
The modified extended family is one where related nuclear families, although they may be living
far apart geographically, nevertheless maintain regular contact and mutual support through
visiting and the phone. This is probably the most common type of family arrangement in
Mauritius today.
The Single-parent Family
The single-parent family is made up of one parent and his or her dependent children. This family
arrangement is becoming increasingly common in Western societies. Single-parent families are
usually the consequence of separation or divorce but increasingly some people decide to raise
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children alone. In the past, single-parents were more likely to be the result of the death of one
parent.
An example of a single-parent family (father)
An example of a single-parent family (mother)
The Reconstituted Family
The reconstituted family is a family where one or both spouses have been previously married and
they bring with them children of a previous marriage. This reconstitutes the family with various
combinations of step-mothers, step-fathers and step children. Such families are becoming very
common in western societies, as a result of rising divorce rates and remarriages.
Marriage Patterns
A wedding is a ceremony at which a marriage is recognized. The wedding service is an official
way in which new relationships between a man and a woman, are recognized by the couple
themselves and established in the eyes of the society to which they belong.
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There are few societies in which it is usual for a couple to quietly pair off and start “playing
house”. While this is fairly common in Western societies today, it is not the fully approved and
expected and therefore not the institutionalized arrangement. The institution of marriage is one
of the factors leading to the setting up of the family as an institution. In its broad sense,
“marriage constitutes a commitment or exchange that is recognized by the society in which it
takes place” [Hagedorn, 1994, pg 374]
Marriage is not only the legal union of at least two adults of opposite sex but also the approved
social pattern whereby two or more persons establish a family. It involves not only the right to
conceive and rear children but also a host of other obligations and privileges affecting a number
of people.
The real meaning of marriage is the acceptance of a new status, with a new set of privileges and
obligations, and the recognition of this new status by others. Wedding ceremonies and rituals are
simply ways of publicizing and dramatizing this change of status. Homosexual couples in our
society would like to be married and recognized as a family. At present, this is legally
impossible in Mauritius. A legal marriage legitimizes a social status and creates a set legally
recognized rights and duties. A homosexual “marriage” creates no new status, which others are
forced to recognize, nor are any legally enforceable rights and duties created.
In matters of marriage our ethnocentrism is conspicuous. To us, it is monstrous that parents
should arrange and compel the marriage of two persons who may never even have met. How do
they know whether they will love each other? Why are not their wishes consulted? Our reaction
illustrates the usual error of ethnocentrism- assuming that people with another culture will think
and feel as we would think and feel if transplanted into their situation. It overlooks the fact that
most people wish and feel only what their society trains them to wish and feel. We think of
marriage as a romantic adventure with a person we have come to love. The girl in Afganistan,
about to enter an arranged marriage with a stranger, eagerly anticipated her marriage as a
desirable status and a fulfilling association with a man who had been wisely chosen by her
parents. Each society has viewed the other with an ethnocentric pity; we pitied their young
people for their lack of freedom; they pitied our young people for their lack of parental
assistance. In neither case did the young people feel any need for pity.
Endogamy and Exogamy
Every society limits choice in marriage by requiring that one choose a mate outside some
specified group. This is called exogamy. In Mauritius, the prohibition applies only to close
blood relatives; one may not marry a brother or sister, first cousin or certain other close relatives.
Many societies extent the circle of prohibited kin to forbid marriage within the clan, the village,
or sometimes even the tribe.
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Most societies also require that mates be chosen within some specified groups. This is called
endogamy. Clan, village, and tribal endogamy are quite common among primitive societies. In
Mauritius, religious endogamy and class endogamy are encouraged. Nevertheless, many people
marry outside their own religion and class.
Every society practices both exogamy and endogamy as it specifies both the limits of group
closeness (exogamy) and group distance (endogamy) within which mates must be found. For
example, in rural India, people expect an individual to marry someone from the same caste
(endogamy) but from a different village (exogamy).
Monogamy and Polygamy
Just like the family takes various forms, similarly there are two types of marriage: monogamy
and polygamy.
Monogamy is that form of marriage where an individual is allowed to have only one spouse at a
time. Monogamy is the only legal form of marriage which is found in Europe, USA and in most
Christian cultures.
There are two forms of monogamy: serial monogamy and straight-line monogamy.
Serial monogamy is that form of marriage where an individual can remarry in case of divorce or
the death of a partner. Serial monogamy is widespread in USA, Britain, in most European
countries and where high rates of divorce and remarriage are to be noticed. In Mauritius too
people practise this form of marriage.
Straight-line monogamy is that form of marriage where an individual is allowed to marry only
once in his life. This form of marriage is practised in traditional India by women.
To the majority of people, monogamy is the only one decent and civilized form of marriage.
Yet, a majority of the world’s societies practiced polygamy.
Polygamy is that form of marriage where an individual is allowed to have more than one spouse
at the same time.
Polygamy can take three forms.
One is group marriage, in which several men and several women are in a marriage relationship
with one another. While this is an intriguing theoretical possibility, there is no authentic instance
of a society in which group marriage has been fully institutionalized, with the possible exception,
at one time, of the Marquesans [Murdock, 1949, pg 24].
A very rare form is polyandry. Polyandry is the marriage of one woman to more than one man at
the same time. The Todas of Southern India are the few people who practise this form of
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marriage. Toda polyandry is fraternal, meaning that when a woman marries a man, she
automatically becomes wife to all brothers, and they all live together with little jealousy or
discord.
Polyandry has also been reported as occurring among the Nyinba people of Nepal.
Polyandry appears to arise in societies where the living standards are so low that a man can only
afford to support a wife and child by sharing the responsibility with other men.
The most common and usual form of polygamy is polygyny. Polygyny is the marriage of one
man to more than one wife at the same time. Polygyny is practised in many Islamic countries
such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia, where it is legal and normatively approved. In Mauritius,
polygyny is practiced by Muslim men.
The possession of several wives is often seen as a sign of wealth and success and generally only
the more successful and powerful men who can afford or attract more than one wife practise
polygyny. For this reason, even in polygynous societies, most of the marriages are
monogamous.
The social recognition of marriage makes it more likely that the parents of children born into
society will continue to remain together while they care for their offspring. In many societies,
children are an economic asset. For example, in the Masai, fathers want many children,
particularly boys, as they can help in looking after the herd and later go on raids to bring back
more cattle to the group. In Mauritius, children are no more so economically important and
many married couples decide to have only one or two children. In this way, marriage has
become separated from the idea of having children and the happiness of husband and wife is
often looked on as being just as important as raising children.
Patterns of Family Inheritance
Societies trace descent and pass on property from one generation to the next in three ways:
patrilineal, matrilineal and bilineal.
Patrilineal descent is the system where the inheritance of title, property, and position as family
head is passed down through the male side of the family, from father to son. An example of this
is the way the succession to the British throne is passed through the male side of the Royal
family.
Marilineal descent is the system where inheritance is through the female side of the family.
About 20 percent of known societies trace descent through the female line. For example, for the
Nayar (a tribe in India), a matrilineal people, very often it is the wife’s brother who is the “head”
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of the family. Children are brought up in the mother’s family- with their mother’s brother acting
as their social father. Property and privileged positions are passed from maternal uncle to
nephew.
Bilineal descent is the system where inheritance is through both sides of an individual’s family.
In Mauritius, descent is bilineal.
Patterns of Residence
Societies differ in the location where a couple takes up residence after marriage. There are three
types of residence: patrilocal, matrilocal and neo-local.
Patrilocal residence is the system where a married couple lives by tradition with or near the
husband’s family. Over 50 percent of societies have patrilocal residence rules which tend to
cause a preference for sons. Sons are more highly valued than daughters because they stay with
the family in which they are born.
Matrilocal residence is the system where the couple lives with or near the wife’s family.
Neo-local residence is the system where the couple sets up a new place of residence independent
of either of their parents or other relatives. This rule goes along with a nuclear family structure.
In Mauritius like in Western societies, there is a tendency for families to adopt neo-local pattern
of residence. A number of people have moved away from their family of origin. But such
movement does not mean a breakdown of links with the family of origin. Many families have a
tendency to live in a close-knit community in rural areas, or keep close contact even when family
members have moved to urban areas. It is customary for families who are living away from the
family of origin to keep in touch with, or to visit regularly. Communication through the tephone
and regular visits are still maintained. Those who have moved away from the family of origin,
have their residences in nearby plots, inherited from the elders. In the rural areas, there is a
tendency to live in separate houses but on the same plot of land. This pattern of land-holding
and its availability through inheritance have led to people living near their relatives and to
maintain close links with each other even after marriage.
Patterns of Authority
Family organization varies across societies in terms of power and authority structure. There are
three types of authority: patriarchy, matriarchy and egalitarian.
Patriarchy is a term used to describe the dominance of men over women. A patriarchal family is
one where the father, husband, or eldest male is usually the chief authority and decision maker.
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This particular arrangement tends to occur in conjunction with patrilineal descent and patrilocal
residence, and it has been very common throughout human history and in pre-industrial Japan,
China, India and the Middle East. In Mauritius, out of 296,294 households enumerated at the
2000 Population Census, 82.5% were male headed.
Matriarchy describes the dominance of women over men. A matriarchal family is one where
power and authority is held by the most senior woman. Matriarchy is rare, but there is some
evidence of them rural Japan. It has also been argued that Black American families are
matriarchal due to a heritage of slavery and discrimination that has led to family instability and
thus power was in the hands of women by default.
In an egalitarian arrangement, power and authority are equally distributed between husband and
wife. This pattern is becoming increasingly common in industrialized countries and has led to
the emergence of the symmetrical family where the roles of husband and wife are more alike and
equal.
Functions of the Family
The family usually performs six functions:
1. Reproduction
2. Identification
3. Socialisation and social control
4. Education
5. Protective
6. Economic
7. Religious
With industrialization, some of these functions have been taken over by other social institutions
like the school, the church and the State.
Reproduction Function
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One of the main functions of the family is to reproduce and nurture children. In fact, having
children is considered as one reason for marriage, as a means of passing on family property and
providing a future workforce. Besides, a society can only exist if there are people. Quite simply
families produce the people who compose each generation.
However, in most societies including Mauritius, there has been a steady increase in the
reproduction of children and sexual relations before and outside marriage. This is due to
1. The availability of modern methods of contraception which reduces the risks of unwanted
pregnancy.
2. The decline of extended family life which has meant less pressure from relatives to
maintain ‘moral standards’ and keep sexual relations within marriage.
3. Growing secularization which means that people are less concerned with conforming to
religious moral beliefs as guides to their sexual behaviour.
4. The Welfare State which has made it easier for a woman to support a child financially
without a husband or help from relatives.
Identification Function
The family gives a name, a background and a social class position to its members so that they
may be identified and recognized in society. One is ascribed several statuses like race within the
family. In a class system, the class status of a child’s largely determines the opportunities and
rewards open to him and the expectations through which others may inspire or discourage him.
Though class status can be changed through some combination of luck and personal efforts, each
child starts out with the status of his family, and this highly influences one’s achievement and
rewards.
Socialisation and Social Control Function
Society cannot exist without rules and expectations of behaviour. A society full of unpredictable
behaviour would collapse in chaos. The family acts as an important agency of primary
socialisation. The family socializes children into correct forms of behaviour. It is through
parents that children first learn about the culture of the society they will grow up in. For
example, it is in the family that children first learn the difference between what is seen as ‘right’
and ‘wrong’, ‘good’ and ‘bad’ behaviour, the norms governing gender roles, and the acceptance
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of parental and other adult authority. These rules are reinforced by sanctions such as praise and
rewards. It is acknowledged that the early years of socialisation are important in the
development of the individual because they have enduring effects on his ideas and attitudes.
If children fall out of step with society in some way, the family is usually the first place where
punishment takes place. Thus, the family not only socializes but also acts as an agent of social
control.
In every society, the family still retains the major responsibility for the socialisation of very
young children, but the increase in the number of nurseries and playgroups has meant that
socialisation is no longer restricted to the family. The state educational system and the mass
media now help the family with the socialisation of school-age children.
Education Function
Before industrialization, the family used to be one of the only sources of education for young
people in most societies and it still is in many less developed ones. Children would learn the
skills needed for working life from their parents.
With industrialization, the education of children has been mainly taken over by the state, and is
now primarily the responsibility of professional teachers rather than parents. All children
between the ages of 5 and 16 now have to attend school by law. The skills required for adult
working life are no longer learnt in the family, but at the place of work, at colleges or on
government schemes like Youth Training.
However, the family continues to play an important role in preparing a child for school, and
encouraging and supporting him or her while at school. The family still has a major effect on a
child’s level of educational acheievement.
Protective Function
The family plays a major role in maintaining and caring for dependent children- housing,
clothing, and feeding those children who are still unable to look after themselves. The family
provides most of the help and care for the young, the old, the sick, and the poor during periods of
illness, unemployment, and other crises.
Although the maintenance of children is still very important, the modern nuclear family is less
dependent on relatives for this help and assistance, and relies more on the state. Welfare benefits
like social security and child benefit, and the social services, including social workers working
with families, help parents to maintain and care for their children.
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Economic Function
The family supplies society with its labour force. The family is also a unit of consumption:
goods and services produced by the society are bought and used by the family.
Before industrialization and the growth of factory production in many societies including
Mauritius, the family was a unit of production. This means that the family home was also a
workplace, and the family produced most of the goods necessary for its own survival.
With industrialization, work has been mainly based in factories and offices, not in the home.
Families do not generally produce the goods they need any more but go out and buy them.
Religious Function
It is within the family that an individual learns about his religion and its rituals.
Alternatives to the Family
Although the family performs numerous functions in society, this does not necessarily mean that
there is no possibility of anything else taking its place. There have been many planned
experiments which have tried to find other ways by which, for example, children can be brought
up in society. Examples of experiments in communal living, where children are the concern of
the society as a whole, are groups such as the Israeli Kibbutzim and the Communes of the
People’s Republic of China.
The values of members of communes affirm a challenging significance to marriage and family.
Andrew Mc Culloch argues that “those who form or join communes are often looking for
somewhere where they can ‘be themselves’ and live collectively rather than in small, isolated,
nuclear family units. However, in numerical terms, communes represent very little threat to
traditional familial and marital values” [Haralambos, 1995, pg.371]. Indeed, it would be
misleading to think that these experiments as providing complete alternatives to the family in
society. For instance, the allocation of social functions, such as child-rearing, to other groups
does not mean that the family has no significance in society, rather that it is freed from that
particular activity in the context of the different demands of a communal society.
The Israeli Kibbutz
The Israeli Kibbutz is a form of commune and is the most famous and successful attempts in
establishing an alternative to the family. The emphasis is on collective child rearing, with the
community as a whole performing the functions of the family.
Kibbutz is a “cooperative village or community, in Israel, where all property is collectively
owned and work is organized on a collective basis. Members contribute by working according
to their capacity and in return receive food, clothing, housing, medical services, and other
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domestic services according to their needs. Dining rooms, kitchens, and stores are central, and
schools and children’s dormitories are communal. Each village is governed by an elected
assembly and by a vote of membership. A kibbutz may support itself through agricultural,
entrepreneurial, or industrial means. By living and working collectively, they were able to build
homes and to begin to irrigate and farm the barren desert land. Each person could contribute
individual abilities to the growth of the community” [Http://Encarta.msn.com/kibbutz].
In the early kibbutzim, infants were taken to Children’s Houses after only a short time with their
parents. The physical separation from their family continued into adult life, the children growing
up together and being looked after by specially trained nurses called metapelets and teachers,
only being at their parents’ home or seeing their parents for a few hours each day. Women
therefore were free to take on any work on the same terms as men.
Today, these patterns are changing and the separation between parents and children is less
complete; in many kibbutzim, children return to spend the night at their parents’ flat, and women
are involved in traditionally feminine types of work such as working in the communal kitchen or
laundry.
The Commune System in China
In order to achieve economic modernization, the Chinese government after 1949 sought to find a
general surplus in the countryside (where 80% of the population live) and turn it into investment
for industry. Leaving it to the market was thought to be slow, inefficient, and inequitable, so the
commune system of collectivized agriculture was implemented in the 1950s as one solution to
the problem. Through the pooling and organization of labour and income, communes were
designed to fill a myriad of functions:
1. To give rural communities the opportunity to accomplish large water conservation
projects.
2. To establish small factories and produce goods that would increase general income.
3. To support hospitals and schools and
4. To care for the elderly and disabled within the community.
In the communes of the People’s Republic of China, the family is supported in its social role by
the presence of communal services, such as free crèches, nurseries and canteens. The provision
of these services in the commune releases members of the family for participation in the work of
the commune.
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Cohabitation
Cohabitation involves two unmarried persons of opposite sex living together. Cohabitation has
been called by various terms namely: “living together”, “shaking up”, “serial monogamy”, or
“living in sin”. It is a halfway house for people who do not want the degree of personal and
social commitment that marriage represents.
Although many religions disapprove cohabitation before marriage, it has become quite prevalent
in many societies including Mauritius. Cohabitation is replacing marriage as the first livingtogether experience for young men and women. For many youngsters, living together seems like
a good way to achieve some of the benefits of marriage without the risks of divorce. If things do
not work, breaking up is easy to do. Cohabiting couples do not have to seek legal or religious
permission to dissolve their union.
In recent decades, the number of adults sharing living quarters with adults of the opposite sex has
increased. It is suggested that “premarital cohabitation may become institutionalized as a new
step between dating and marriage” [Zanden, 1996, pg. 308]. Gelles and Levine argue that in
some societies, some couples see cohabitation as a substitute for or alternative to marriage.
However, Popenoe argues that research shows that cohabitation is not a good way to prepare for
marriage or to avoid divorce and that the rise in cohabitation is not a positive family trend.
Cohabiting unions tend to weaken the institution of marriage and pose clear dangers for women
and children. Living together outside marriage increases the risk of domestic violence for women
and the risk of physical and sexual abuse for children.
Bibliography
1. Blundell, J., 2007. Active Sociology. UK: Longman.
2. Haralambos, M and Holborn, M., 2000. Sociology: Themes and Perspectives. 5th ed. UK:
Collins Educational.
3. Haralambos, M., 1996. Sociology: a new approach. 3rd ed. Causeway Press.
4. Moore, S., 2001. Sociology Alive. 3rd ed. UK: Stanley Thornes.
5. 2000 Housing and Population Census
Available from: http://www.gov.mu/portal/sites/ncb/cso/ei411/housing.pdf.
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