Functions of Families
Why we study family…
 To understand how families organize (types of
families)
 Understand family behaviour(s): traditions, beliefs,
roles, responsibilities, etc.
 Motivations: why we carry out
these roles.
Boys vs. Girls
 Snips and snails and
puppy-dog tails vs. sugar
and spice and all things
nice.
 What message does this
send to children?
The following is a slide show that was prepared
as a way to teach EAL (English as an additional
language) students how to identify the English
words for family members…
SEE IF YOU CAN SPOT
SOME PROBLEMS WITH
THIS
INTERPRETATION…
Family
Mother
Father
Daughter
Son
Brothers
Sisters
Brother and Sister
Mother and
Father
Grandmother
Grandfather
Grandfather and grandmother
Father and Daughter
Mother and
son
Mother
and
Daughter
Father
and Son
Universal Function of the Family
Shirley Zimmerman (U of Minnesota)
6 Key Functions
1. Addition of New Members
2. Physical Care
3. Socialization
4. Regulate Behaviour
5. Maintain Morale & Motivate
6. Economics
1. Addition of new members
 Births
 Marriage
WHY?
Cycle of dependency: have children to look after you
when you are older
2. Physical Care
 Society is not always organized to support people as
a family can.
3. Socialization
 Teach children skills, knowledge, values, attitudes of
larger society.
 Foster ability of children to appropriately function in
society according to their roles in adulthood.
4. Regulating Behaviour
 Maintain order in family society as a way to motivate
order in the larger society.
5. Maintain Morale & Motivate
 Sense of duty / economic necessity
 Affective nurturance: LOVE…meeting emotional
needs in foundation of our commitment >
contributes to the health of society.
6. Economics
 Producing & Consuming
 Earn income to purchase goods for the family.
NEEDS
WANTS
Why do Humans NEED Families?
 Helpless at birth
 1st families were reliant on each other for survival:
made unions based on:
1.
2.
Reproduction
Hunting vs. gathering
Agricultural Families
 Created a sustainable and abundance food supply.
 Formed enduring couples so men (fathers) would
help look after the children.
 Farms required a lot of labour.
 Land = wealth and needed to be worked and
protected…resulted in larger families (i.e. more
children).
Agricultural Families
MEN:
 Worked and protected the land.
WOMEN:
 Domestic chores > rearing children, household
chores.
Urban Industrial Families
 Changes in roles: Men, women, and children worked
outside the home in factories.
 Emergence of the Industrial Nuclear Family:




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Motherhood became the sacred and primary role of women.
Women nurtured and stayed home. They were supported by
their husbands.
Men: money earners for their wives and children.
Children: Compulsory education enacted in 1871 in Ontario.
Child labour laws passed in the 1880’s to protect children.
Modern Nuclear Family
 Emerges at the beginning of the 20th century.
 Delayed marriage until purchase of own home.
 Children supported by their parents until the
finished school…parents therefore could not afford
large families.
 Husband: provider
 Wife: Homemaker
 Children: play under supervision of mother & attend
school.
The Modern Consumer Family
 Read the article and answer questions 1-3 at the end
of page 19.