Today, researchers have not been able to create a complete classification of families due to their diversity among representatives different cultures. Type classification modern families include more than 40 varieties.
Modern family relationships are represented by two types of families: typical and atypical.
Modern typical Families differ from each other according to certain characteristics:
- related structure: nuclear (married couple with children) and extended (married couple with children and any of the husband's or wife's relatives living with them);
- number of children: childless (infertile), one-child, small, large family (three or more children);
- composition: complete (includes father, mother and children) and single-parent families (one of the parents is absent). An incomplete family is formed as a result of divorce, the birth of an illegitimate child, the death of one of the parents or their separation;
- geographical feature: urban, rural, remote family (living in hard-to-reach areas and areas of the Far North).
The calm pace of life in the village, regulated by changes in nature, differs from the fast, rhythmic pace of life and work in the city. The city is characterized by a large number of social groups and a high level of population mobility, while in the village the class structure is more homogeneous.
Families vary:
- By homogeneity of social composition: socially homogeneous (homogeneous) families (spouses have a similar level of education and the nature of their professional activities); heterogeneous (heterogeneous) families: unite people of different levels of education and professional orientation;
- family experience: newlyweds (1 year); young family (up to 3 years); those who have reached middle marital age (from 4 to 15 years); those who have reached older marital age (from 15 to 25 years); married couples with extensive experience (over 25 years);
- type of driving needs, the satisfaction of which determines the characteristics of the social behavior of members of a family group: with a “physiological” type of consumption (mainly food-oriented); “intellectual”, i.e. with a high level of expenditure on spiritual life; intermediate;
- features of the way of life and organization of life: giving a person communication, moral and material support; child-centric type (children are at the center of parents’ interests); by interest - a sports team or a discussion club; providing comfort, health, order;
- nature of leisure activities: open (focused on communication and cultural industry) and closed (focused on family leisure);
- the nature of the distribution of household responsibilities: traditional (responsibilities are mainly performed by women) and collectivist (responsibilities are performed jointly or in turns);
- quality of relationships: prosperous and dysfunctional (divorced, remarried, single-parent families; with alcohol or drug demoralization, a sick child, impaired communication, when hostility arises between partners, failure to fulfill social roles, closed conflicts);
- type of leadership (distribution of power): authoritarian and democratic. Authoritarian family characterized by strict upbringing, unquestioning submission of a wife to her husband or a husband to his wife and children to their parents. The husband (and sometimes the wife) is the monopoly head, the despotic master. Democratic family based on mutual respect of its members, distribution of roles in accordance with the needs of the specific situation, personal qualities and abilities of the spouses, on the equal participation of each of them in all matters family life, making all important decisions together. In a democratic family, as a rule, there is no “official” head, but there is a leader, an authoritative person, and the husband can be the leader in some relationships, and the wife in others; In some life situations, growing children can also become leaders.
The modern nuclear family is becoming egalitarian- an equal union, with an equal share of the rights and responsibilities of all its adult members, and a fairly independent position for children.
A family is a complex system of relationships in which each member occupies a certain place, participates in the performance of certain functions, and through his activities satisfies the needs of others.
The presented typology of families would be incomplete if it did not include atypical families. For objective reasons, atypical families are quite difficult to study. However, such non-traditional marriage unions exist and have their own characteristics:
- dating family: the marriage is registered, but the spouses live separately, each of them has their own home. Even the appearance of children does not serve as a basis for unification and living together. Such a family gets together either on holidays and weekends, or while the spouses are on vacation. The rest of the time, spouses meet occasionally, without burdening each other family problems and worries;
- interrupted family: characterized by the fact that the marriage is officially concluded, the spouses live together, but consider it acceptable to separate for a while and not maintain a common household;
- swinging (open and closed): Openly or secretly, spouses allow relationships outside of marriage. Some married couples, in search of sexual variety, consensually establish sexual relationships with other, one or more, couples. Unlike carefully hidden extramarital love affairs, such relationships involve “co-marital” sex: the legal, social and emotional bonds of a legal marriage are preserved, but the marriage loses its sexual exclusivity;
- polygamy (polygyny): found in Muslim families. One man can have four official wives, who usually live under the same roof or in separate houses built for them by the husband. If all wives and their children are in the same household, household and family responsibilities are strictly distributed among them. The husband is the sole owner of all household members, submission to him is mandatory for all family members;
- Concubinate: a long-term union of a man and a woman who do not intend to legally consolidate their relationship, while the woman has an illegitimate child from the man, and the man has a parallel official family.
So, we looked at the classification of family types. The family is a complex multifunctional system; it performs a number of interrelated functions. Family function- a way of displaying activity and vital activity of its members.
Sociologist A. G. Kharchev considers the main social function of the family reproductive, it is based on a person’s instinctive desire to procreate. In carrying it out, the family is responsible for the physical, mental and intellectual development child, it acts as a kind of fertility regulator. However, the role of the family is not limited to the role of a “biological” factory.
The family, with its constant and natural nature of relationships, is called upon to shape the character traits, beliefs, views, and worldview of the child. It has enormous potential and range of educational impact. Therefore, the selection educational The functions of the family as the main one have social meaning.
Sexual-reproductive The function of the family is rooted in the instinct of procreation, no less powerful than self-preservation. Marriage is concluded primarily for the purpose of regulating sexual relations in order to avoid casual relationships.
A number of works highlight household, or existential-economic, family function. This function, according to T.I. Dymnova, is to create altruistic family production, home economy, and household, in the maintenance of children and other disabled family members, accumulation and inheritance of private property. The economic and household function of the family is no less important for society. She provides physical health population, including children and other disabled members. Thanks to home economics, people's standard of living improves.
Essence and content economic function consists of managing not only the general household, but also economic support for children and other family members during the period of their incapacity.
During the period of socio-economic transformations in society, the functions of the family undergo changes. The leading function in the historical past was the economic function of the family; it subordinated all others: the head of the family - a man - was the organizer of common labor, children were early included in the lives of adults. The economic function entirely determined the educational and reproductive functions. This function is designed to provide the basic material needs of a person in full healthy eating, everyday comfort, regular rest.
For each person, the family performs emotional or recreational functions that protect it from stressful and extreme situations. The comfort and warmth of home, the fulfillment of his need for trusting and emotional communication, sympathy, empathy, support - all this allows a person to be more resistant to the conditions of modern hectic life.
A number of researchers highlight the function leisure, the content and forms of which depend on the level of culture, national traditions, individual inclinations and interests, the age of family members, its income.
Emotional-ethical The function of the family, as defined by T.I. Dymnova, is to satisfy the needs of a person of any age for psychological security, emotional empathy, unconditional acceptance, and love. If this function is not fulfilled in the family, then the person is subjected to “emotional attacks.”
Social status function - satisfaction of the needs of the intellectual sphere, manifested as indicative interest, the desire to know and draw one’s own conclusions. The most obvious form of implementation of this function is to assist each family member in obtaining a good education and constant self-education, promoting professional growth, and acquiring a significant position in the social hierarchy.
Function socialization is to prepare children for life among people, the child’s normal entry into society, and self-control. The social significance of family socialization lies in the regulation of moral norms, the education of responsible people, and the cultural reproduction of society. Failure to fulfill this function entails the criminalization of public life.
Function social control- responsibility of family members for the behavior of its members in society, their activities; the guiding basis is the values and elements of culture recognized throughout society or in social groups. Each family develops its own way of life, its own microculture.
There are different approaches to determining the functions of the family; sociologists do not have a consensus. Thus, A.I. Antonov, V.M. Medkov distinguish specific and nonspecific functions. In their opinion, modern family no main functions. Specific stem from the essence of the family as a social phenomenon. These include the birth of children (reproductive), maintenance and socialization of children (existential and educational). With all the changes in society, the need for the family as a social form of organizing the birth and upbringing of children always remains.
Non-specific family functions are associated with the accumulation and transfer of property, status, organization of production and consumption, household management, recreation, leisure, etc. They reflect the historical nature of the connection between family and society. At the beginning of the 20th century. social institutions increasingly helped the family perform the functions of education and upbringing (kindergartens and schools), protection and security (police and army), nutrition, and leisure (service sector).
Questions and tasks
- 1. List the functions of the family.
- 2. What is the relationship between the functions performed by the family?
- 3. Find definitions of the word “family” in various dictionaries (pedagogical, philosophical, explanatory, etc.). Write them down and analyze whether there are similarities, contradictions, or differences between them.
- 4. Select articles from periodicals on family problems (social, legal, pedagogical, medical, etc.). Highlight the main problems facing the family.
- 5. Announce one of the books about the family in the student group, for example, scientific, popular science, fiction, etc. Books can be of different genres and have different recipients (for teachers, parents, researchers of family problems).
- 6. Write a review of a book about family: what problems are raised in it; what, in your opinion, is of interest from a pedagogical point of view; who is it intended for?
In a comprehensive study of family structure, they are considered in complex combination. From a demographic point of view, there are several types of family and its organization.
Depending on the form of marriage:
monogamous family - consisting of two partners
polygamous family - one of the spouses has several marriage partners
o Polygyny- the simultaneous state of a man being married to several women. Moreover, marriage is concluded by a man with each of the women separately. For example, in Sharia there is a limit on the number of wives - no more than four
o Polyandry- the simultaneous state of a woman being married to several men. It is rare, for example, among peoples Tibet, Hawaiian Islands.
Depending on the gender of the spouses:
same-sex family - two men or two women jointly raising adopted children, artificially conceived or children from previous (heterosexual) contacts.
mixed-sex family
Depending on the number of children:
childless or infertile family;
one child family;
small family;
average family;
the large family.
Depending on the composition:
simple or nuclear family- consists of one generation, represented by parents (parent) with or without children. The nuclear family has become the most widespread in modern society. She may be:
o elementary - a family of three members: husband, wife and child. Such a family can, in turn:
complete - includes both parents and at least one child
incomplete - a family of only one parent with children, or a family consisting only of parents without children
o composite - a complete nuclear family in which several children are raised. A composite nuclear family, where there are several children, should be considered as a conjunction of several elementary
complex family or patriarchal family- a large family of several generations. This may include grandparents, brothers and their wives, sisters and their husbands, nephews and nieces.
Depending on a person’s place in the family:
parental is the family into which a person is born
reproductive - a family that a person creates himself
Depending on where the family lives:
matrilocal - a young family living with the wife’s parents,
patrilocal - a family living together with the husband's parents;
neolocal - the family moves to a home remote from the place of residence of the parents.
Styles of marital relationships
IN During the first two years of marriage, the couple's marital style is formed. Marital style is a way of organizing the life of a married couple, the way in which roles and responsibilities are distributed. The main task of the couple during this period is to establish a style of living together that is acceptable to both, as well as to achieve a mutually comfortable level of intimacy.
Intimacy is closely related to a couple's sex life, which involves sharing pleasure, deepening and strengthening intimacy, and relieving stress from the stresses of life and marriage. Sexuality energizes the marital bond and maintains each partner's sense of specialness. Therefore, creating space for intimacy and sex is paramount to the vitality of a marriage. Conversely, dysfunctional sex, and especially the absence of sexual relations, has a devastating effect on a marriage, destroying intimacy and positive feelings for the spouse.
Each marital style reflects the individual inclinations and needs of the spouses. The formation of each of these styles involves the sharing of certain values and ideas about married life and the correlation of mutual expectations and needs. A marriage of partners with incompatible needs is extremely vulnerable. For example, the union of a wife who strives for an emotionally expressive marriage and a husband with a tendency to reduce conflicts to a minimum is initially doomed to failure. But even partners with generally consistent ideas and expectations face conflicts and are not guaranteed against crises, so the willingness to admit the existence of problems and the desire to overcome them together is essential to maintaining intimate relationships in marriage.
There are four potentially possible marital styles: 1) best friends; 2) complementary; 3) conflict avoidant and 4) emotionally expressive couples. It should be noted right away that completely pure styles are very rare and, as a rule, there is some combination of them.
Best friends. A well-functioning best friends marriage leaves a deep impression on others. Such couples have the highest level of intimacy. This marital style is most consistent with the widely held ideal. These couples are characterized by a high degree of acceptance, intimacy, respect, trust and security. Such a couple shares power in an equal manner. These couples value touch in and out of the bedroom and enjoy pleasure and eroticism. As a rule, they develop a flexible sexual style that takes into account the feelings and preferences of both partners.
What are the potential dangers of this marital style? When confronted with major discrepancies in expectations, such couples are at risk of disappointment and alienation. Disappointment and loss of illusions are a serious test that any couple faces to one degree or another. Awareness of one's own expectations and acceptance of the real qualities of a partner is not an easy task that requires serious mental work. This style has a fairly high percentage of divorces caused by unmet needs, anger and alienation. These couples lack conflict resolution skills. They often sacrifice autonomy and individuality in order to feel like they are part of a couple. Finding a certain balance between the need for solitude and making independent decisions and immersion in relationships is a challenge for any marriage. The trap is to sacrifice autonomy and then become resentful and blame your partner.
Inhibiting sexual desire is another trap that people can fall into. Intimacy and time spent together is a direct bridge to sexual desire. A couple needs a mutually comfortable level of intimacy that provides emotional connection and sexual desire. As you know, insufficient or excessive intimacy can undermine sexual desire, so some balance is also necessary in this matter.
Couples are not persistent enough in overcoming sexual dysfunction and dissatisfaction. There is a myth at work. The expectation that others should guess what I'm thinking and wanting without asking can be quite persistent. But when there are sexual problems, love alone is not enough. Intimacy and shared positive feelings are important, but they are not enough to overcome sexual dysfunctions such as premature ejaculation and vaginismus. When one partner experiences secondary dysfunction, erection problems in a man or lack of orgasm in a woman, both partners oscillate between blaming themselves and blaming the other. When faced with sexual dysfunction, such couples often slip into a cycle of mutual avoidance, reluctance to push the partner and expectation of initiative on his part.
Complementary. Pairs that complement or confirm each other have average level intimacy, maintaining a balance between autonomy and a sense of togetherness. They confirm each other's competence and value and value their marital relationship.
Lack of sexual relations is not typical for complementary couples. In complementary couples, one spouse, traditionally the man, considers sexuality his prerogative. The danger is that a man may place undue importance on the sexual act at the expense of intimacy, attraction and the desire to please, resulting in decreased anticipation and pleasure on the part of the woman. When oriented towards the sexual act, there is another danger that can destroy sexuality; it is especially characteristic of older men. Men over forty are vulnerable to anticipatory anxiety, which can lead to tense, dysfunctional or avoidance of sex. In other words, sexual relationships can become a source of confusion and hesitation.
Conflict avoiders. Such couples may also fall into the trap of routine. Sex can become mechanical. Over the years, the priority of sex in these couples may decrease, taking place late at night after other important things have been completed: the children have been put to bed, the dog has been walked, the TV has been watched. Such a couple may longingly remember the times of romantic love and passionate sex during the premarital period. In such a situation, the couple faces the task of reviving sexual desire. This requires a flexible style that focuses on interaction and intimacy. This is easier to achieve if a woman has her own sexy voice. When both partners value intimacy, pleasure and eroticism, they are protected from sexual dysfunction. It’s good when each partner can initiate sexual relations, say or offer an alternative version of erotic play. Conflict avoiders. This is the most stable marital style. Such marriages are organized according to traditional male and female roles. This style is characterized by avoidance of the expression of strong feelings, especially anger, limited intimacy, and an emphasis on children, family and/or religious values. Stability and a sense of family are of particular importance in such couples. For them, reliability is more important than intimacy, and family is more important than feeling like a couple.
Intense feelings, especially anger, are unacceptable. Expression of strong feelings and sexual desires is discouraged. Conflicts related to sexuality are downplayed or ignored. Conflict avoidance is a typical reaction for such couples, so when a serious conflict arises regarding sexual preferences, sex may simply be avoided and its importance belittled.
Since the sphere of sex in such couples is usually managed by the man, the importance of sexual intercourse with preliminary erotic play is emphasized in sexual life, so that the woman is ready for sexual intercourse. As a rule, sex involves only one orgasm. There is often an expectation that a woman's orgasm should match a man's orgasm. With age, sexual functioning ceases to be easy and involuntary. When a couple stops having sex, at 40 or 60, it is usually the man's unspoken decision. He is too worried or embarrassed about sexual difficulties, so he decides that sex is not worth the effort. Emotionally expressive. This is the most stormy, explosive and unstable marital style, but at the same time the most involving, full of cheerful enthusiasm and eroticism. Intimacy is like an accordion - sometimes very close, sometimes like an insurmountable abyss. Emotions, be it joy or anger, are experienced and expressed in full force.
When everything is good, the relationship of such a couple is something exciting and burning with passion, and their sex life is spontaneous and unbridled. Such a couple literally flies on the wings of love.
Emotionally expressive couples value intimacy, they are not afraid of conflicts and anger. It is in these couples that physical violence most often occurs. Physical and emotional confrontations can even be erotically stimulating, and sex initiated in this way acts as a means of mastering aggression. An active sex life, full of energy and spontaneity, is extremely important for emotionally expressive couples; without passion, marriage loses all value for them. When sexual dysfunction occurs, they lack patience. If a solution to a problem cannot be found in a short time, all efforts may seem futile, which can lead to cheating. Inhibition of sexual desire is a harbinger of marriage death for emotionally expressive couples. The divorce of such couples is usually accompanied by bitter and vindictive attacks, which, however, does not destroy the chance of reuniting again after some time.
Every married couple must decide two important questions - regarding the amount of intimacy and the meaning of sexuality. Intimacy involves mutual desire, sharing, and self-disclosure. If one partner desires a high level of intimacy, and autonomy is extremely important to the other, then the likelihood of inhibition of sexual desire is very high. When couples fall into the trap, intimacy and sexuality suffer. Often there is a situation where a woman wants more intimacy, affection and sensuality. The man withdraws emotionally and prefers sexual intercourse as a means of reunification. This can develop into a stereotypical struggle in which the wife accuses her husband of not showing enough intimacy and love, and the husband primarily talks about the frequency of sex. When sexuality is undervalued, it becomes mechanical. Sex becomes a predictable sequence of actions. To revitalize your sex life, you need to abandon rigid sexual roles. It is ideal when each partner values intimacy, passion, moments of tenderness, eroticism and sexual intercourse. When everyone feels comfortable enough to initiate sex, say, suggest an alternative sensual or erotic scenario.
Families by family history
Families by number of children
Family typology by composition
Typology for family quality of life
By type of relationship between spouses
Families by family history
Newlyweds, a young family, a family expecting a child, a family of middle married age, a family of older married age, an elderly couple. Among them, young families, families of middle married age and elderly families require the closest attention of a specialist in the social and pedagogical sphere.
Young family. This is a married couple, with or without children, first marriage, the duration of this family is up to 5 years, the age of the spouses is not older than 30 years. This is a family at the initial stage of development as a small social group, that is, at the stage of marital choice. It is characterized by primary mutual adaptation of the spouses: material and everyday, moral and psychological and intimate and personal. There is a change in the entire lifestyle of the spouses: adaptation to the new status of husband and wife and the functions associated with them; coordination of patterns of extra-family behavior that existed before marriage; inclusion of agreed patterns of extra-familial behavior in the circle of mutual family ties.
For the stability of a young family, two crisis periods are dangerous or potentially exist: primary marital adaptation and adaptation of spouses to the appearance of the first child.
The main problems of young families include: difficulties in identifying and merging spouses into a single community (too high autonomy of needs, interests, intentions, basic views and life attitudes, spouses’ ideas about the family, etc.), conflict, difficulties in establishing mutual understanding, lack of mutual mental support and, as a consequence, increasing isolation, alienation, fading of love, loss of mutual respect, accumulation of negative emotions towards each other; difficulties in the initial period of raising children, accepting parental roles, difficulties associated with children’s entry into non-family institutions ( kindergarten, school).
Family of middle married age. It represents a kind of collective, the relationships in which can be defined as the education of educators. If parents want to develop any quality in a child, they must develop it in themselves. In the “middle” period, a stereotype had already developed marital relations, family rules have long been developed. This simplifies, but also impoverishes family life. In normally functioning families, the tendency towards stability is balanced by the tendency towards change. In the case of rigid fixation of rules in the family, marriage acquires signs of dysfunction, relationships become the same type and monotonous.
Typical problems of this category of families include: secondary negative marital adaptation, lack of new family goals and prospects, decreased family activity, the child’s entry into adolescence, and the associated pedagogical and psychological difficulties, increased conflict in the relationship between the child and parents, etc.
Elderly family. This is most often a mature married couple living with their children or on their own. At this time, spouses, as a rule, retire. The lifestyle, social status, and status of spouses are changing.
Typical problems in this category seven are associated with deteriorating health, protracted adaptation to a new way of life, pronounced polarization of moods and categorical judgments - from extremely decadent to egocentric, the predominance of retrospective values, etc.
Families by number of children
Childless family. A family in which there are no children for ten years of married life is considered childless.
The main problems of such a family are: dissonance in the relationship between the spouses, a family crisis due to the absence of children, a discrepancy between role expectations and the roles performed, emotional dissatisfaction, lack of promising family goals, etc.
Small family. This is a common category of families. Such families usually consist of a husband, wife and two or, most often, one child.
The most typical problems of a small family include the psychological and pedagogical difficulties associated with raising an only child: the lack of adequate conditions for the development of his social and emotional qualities and the egocentrism that develops on this basis.
The large family. This is a family with three or more children. The following types of large families are distinguished:
Families with conscious large families and love for children. Parents do everything to make their children have a better life;
Families in which parents did not strive to have many children. Children in such families are the result of a lack of family planning. Such families can also arise as a result of the birth of twins or triplets, due to fear of terminating the pregnancy, a medical ban on abortion for health reasons of the mother, refusal of abortion and contraception due to religious beliefs
Families formed as a result of the union of two single-parent families, each of which already had children;
Families in which the birth of a large number of children can be considered a manifestation of trouble. Children here are often a means of receiving various types of benefits, benefits, benefits. In most cases, the appearance of children in such families is a consequence of promiscuous sexual relations under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Typical parental attitude in this case- produce a child.
The main problems of large families include financial difficulties, problems in the field of education and raising children, deviations in the behavior of children due to their lack of control and neglect, low self-esteem of children, inadequate ideas about the importance of their own personality; unequal participation of spouses in family affairs and raising children, disruption of unity in family relationships, etc.
Family typology by composition
Simple family, complex (with several family nuclei) family, single-parent family, maternal family, illegitimate family, remarried family.
Complex family- other relatives are added to the family core, both in the ascending line (grandparents, great-grandparents) and in the collateral lines (various relatives of each spouse). It may also include several married couples, the members of which are related by kinship and joint farming.
Nuclear family- family, families consisting of one married couple with children (usually a family of 3-4 members), in which the parents are engaged in professional activities.
Single-parent family. Single-parent families arise after divorce and breakup of a complete family, on the initiative of single women (“maternal family”), as a result of the death of one of the spouses, or when a child is adopted by a single person.
Typical problems of single-parent families include: financial difficulties, an abundance of psychological problems in the woman-mother (resentment, depression, feelings of inferiority, guilt in front of the children, which causes overprotection towards them), difficulties in the correct gender-role identification of children and etc.
Maternal family(family of a single mother). This is a type of single-parent family. She is initially celibate.
Typical problems of such a family: unsatisfactory financial situation, housing problems, negative attitude from relatives; neuroticization of a woman, deformation of her attitude towards motherhood, disturbances in the formation of the child’s mental functions due to the psychological stress of the mother, abuse of the child due to deformation of maternal behavior, abandonment of the child.
Blended or remarried family. There are three types of such families:
A woman with children marries a man without children;
A man with children marries a woman without children;
Both a man and a woman, when married, have children from previous partners.
Typical problems of such families include: mental tension from previous relationships between spouses, the problem of loss of previously existing family values and the need for their restoration, the problem of mutual understanding between spouses, their mutual adaptation, establishing harmonious relationships with children, achieving their favor, developing family rules, distributing roles, establishing new relationships with the microsociety.
By quality of life
Prosperous, stable, dysfunctional, unstable, problematic and others. Today special attention Specialists in the socio-pedagogical sphere are required by dysfunctional families who, for a certain period of time, are not able to withstand the effects of destabilizing extra-family and intra-family factors. Problem families in need of priority social and pedagogical assistance include families of unemployed citizens, families with children with disabilities, families of refugees and internally displaced persons.
Families of unemployed citizens. Citizens who are: able to work are recognized as unemployed; do not have a job or earnings (income); registered to seek suitable employment; are looking for work and are ready to start it; are not employed within 10 days from the date of their registration in order to find a suitable job. Families of the unemployed include families with one or more unemployed people.
Typical problems of unemployed families are: material, leisure problems, deterioration of the psychological atmosphere in the family, an increase in the number of conflicts, an increase in the number of individual problems of a psychological, somatic, moral nature, problems with raising children, overload and stressful conditions in children, etc.
Refugee families. Refugees are citizens who have arrived or wish to arrive on the territory of a state and do not have its citizenship, who are forced or intend to leave their place of permanent residence in the territory of another state as a result of violence committed against them or persecution in other forms, or a real danger of being subjected to violence on the basis of race or nationality, religion, language, membership in a particular social group or political opinion.
Social problems of refugee families are associated with a forced change of place of residence, a sharp change in social status, loss of housing, work, financial difficulties, and employment in a new environment. These problems affect the behavior of spouses and the nature of their intrafamily relationships. Typical psychosocial problems of such families include: dissatisfaction with expectations associated with the family moving to a new place of residence, weakening the mental resistance of family members to external adversity, psychological difficulties associated with adaptation to traditions, customs, habits common in the new social environment, moral deterioration -psychological atmosphere in the family, decreased family mood, internal discomfort of adult family members (dissatisfaction with the course of life, relationships with the new microenvironment, etc.), transmitted to the whole family, decreased confidence in the family leader, feeling of self-doubt, decreased desire to maintain proper status in the family, weakening of marital motivation, etc.
Refugee families face many challenges raising children. Refugee status is characterized by the categories of “loss” and “cruel deprivation”, which have the most detrimental effect on the psychosocial development of children. The latter, losing their homes, familiar things, their friends, close relatives, experiencing severe hardships due to lack of food, water, medical care, suffer from neuroses and depression. The child's development slows down and his mental capacity, activity weakens, emotional potential is depleted. The child may develop behavioral deviations, manifested in addiction to alcohol, drugs, illegal actions, etc.
Family with a child with disabilities. A family that has a child with anomalies experiences extreme stress. She faces a lot of problems for which she, as a rule, is not ready. These are medical, economic difficulties, problems of raising and caring for a sick child, professional problems (change of place of work and nature of work, taking into account the interests of the sick child).
To the most common psychological problems family raising a child with disabilities, include: a specific way of family life, the need for family members to master new behavioral roles, the problem of forming an attitude towards a sick child (the attitude towards a child can be constructive or destructive: ignoring the child’s pathology or focusing on it). Such families are characterized by low mood, feelings of guilt and inferiority, and conflict. The divorce rate in such families is quite high. Fathers are unable to withstand the ongoing difficulties and leave the family.
Social teacher It is important to have an idea of typologies based on identifying such socio-psychological characteristics of the family that have a direct impact on the formation of the child’s personality and his socialization.
By type of relationship
between spouses
families with cooperative relationships, families with parity relationships, families with competitive relationships, families with competitive relationships, families with antagonistic relationships.
Types of relationships: cooperation; parity; competition; competition; antagonism.
3. Stages, family functions
The family as a social institution goes through a series of stages:
Getting married;
Birth of the first child;
End of childbearing (last child);
- “empty nest” - separation of the last child from the family;
Termination of a family with the death of one of the spouses;
Reproductive and generative.
Family development goes through several stages:
The first stage is the initial formation of a family, more often when newlyweds separate and leave the large family.
The second stage is the birth of a child, the family consists of two generations.
The third stage is a three-generation family, when adult children start a family. They stay with their parents or leave. Parents enter into relationships with their adult children's relatives, lovers, or friends, who may become fictitious relatives as so-called "wives" and "husbands." At this stage, the family either expands or collapses.
The fourth stage is when everything has settled down, the children have settled into separate families, and the parents are retiring. During this period, family solidarity strengthens, children can support their parents.
The fifth stage is the period of caring for family members. The concern falls on the middle generation, since for health reasons they can take care of the children of a divorced daughter, provide shelter for the elderly, help those who have left to study, and take care of those who find themselves without work.
The sixth stage is the final period of the family cycle. With the advent of the new head of the family does not appear new family, the first cell continues, since there is an inextricable link between generations in the family.
Let's denote family functions:
Reproductive, biological reproduction of the population
The function of primary socialization of children and educational;
Household - maintaining the physical condition of the family, caring for children and the elderly;
Economic – obtaining material resources from some family members for others, material support for minors and the elderly;
Social control is the responsibility of family members for the behavior of its members in society, in various fields of activity, this is a responsibility between spouses, parents and children, the older generation for the younger;
Spiritual communication – spiritual enrichment of each family member;
Social status – providing family members with a certain social position in society;
Leisure – organization of rational leisure, development of mutual enrichment of interests of each family member;
Emotional – implementation of psychological protection of each family member, organization of emotional stability of the individual, psychological therapy.
Components of the educational potential of the family:
Family size and structure;
Moral and psychological atmosphere, the nature of intrafamily communication;
Life and professional experience of parents, their level of education and pedagogical culture;
Distribution of responsibilities (including educational ones) in the family;
Material and living conditions of the family;
Organization of family leisure, availability family traditions;
The relationship between the family and school and other social institutions.
It is a natural desire for every person to have a family. This is one of the instincts of a person that forces him to find a mate to continue his family line. All families are completely different; in order for this union to take place, many rules must be fulfilled and observed.
What is family?
This concept can be defined in different ways.
A family is a group of people who live together.
A family is a close-knit group that is united by common interests.
Types of families can be different. They can be classified according to various criteria, so there are dissimilar approaches to this issue.
Family functions
Regardless of the type or type, all families must perform some functions. The main ones include:
- Continuation of the family, and, therefore, reproduction of society.
- Educational. It manifests itself in motherhood and fatherhood, interaction with children and their upbringing.
- Household. At the family level, the material needs of all family members are satisfied - food, drink, clothing, and so on.
- Emotional. Satisfying the needs for respect, love, psychological protection.
- Spiritual communication. Joint work, relaxation with the whole family.
- Primary socialization. The family must ensure that its members comply with social norms.
From these functions it is clear that the traditional type of family has all the signs of social culture. The main ones are the ability to reproduce, division of labor, inheritance and development of cultural values.
Just as every organism is made up of cells, so the whole society is made up of families. Will a person be healthy if his cells are not in order? Similarly, the whole society cannot be called healthy if there are dysfunctional families.
Types of families
Different researchers approach classification in different ways. Most often, to characterize the forms and types of families, the following characteristics are taken as a basis.
- Family size. That is, the number of its members is taken into account.
3. Number of children:
- childless;
- single children;
- small children;
- large families.
4. Form of marriage:
- Monogamous families consisting of two partners.
- Polygamous people have one partner burdened with several marital obligations.
5. By gender of spouses.
- Diverse.
- Same-sex.
6. According to the person’s location.
- Parental family.
- Reproductive. One's own family created by man.
7. Place of residence.
- A patrilocal family lives with the husband's or wife's parents.
- Peololocal lives separately from parents.
If you want, you can also name the types of modern families, but this is already a deviation from the rules.
Forms of marriage
Until recently, it was possible to become a real and recognized family only after registering a marriage. Currently, a lot has changed in people's minds, so today, not only the one concluded in the registry office (church) is considered a marriage. There are several varieties:
- Church. The spouses swear love and fidelity “before God.” Previously, only such a marriage was considered valid; now, most often, immediately after official registration, some couples prefer to get married in a church.
- Civil marriage. It is registered in the registry office; the main types of families arise precisely after its conclusion.
- Actual. Partners simply live together without formalizing their relationship. As a rule, such marriages do not have legal force and are not recognized in many countries.
- Morganatic marriage. Family formation by people of different social levels.
- Temporary union. In some countries, it is quite common and is concluded according to a marriage contract for a certain period.
- Fictitious marriage. Partners, as a rule, do not plan to create a real family; there is only material or legal benefit.
- Polygyny. When a man officially has several wives. In Russia such marriages are prohibited.
- Same-sex marriage. Some countries have passed laws allowing same-sex marriage.
Historical family types
Historically, families have been divided into the following types depending on the distribution of responsibilities and leadership:
Relationships within the family
Types of families may be different, but no one has canceled the relationships between its members. Another famous philosopher Hegel considered several types of relationships in a social unit:
- Between a woman and a man.
- Parents and children.
- Brothers and sisters.
The first type, according to the author, has no humanity, because all relationships are built on the basis of animal instinct, that is, sexual satisfaction. Partners become human in the process of raising children and working for the benefit of their family.
The nuclear family type means the presence of both parents and children. The relationship between them can develop in different ways. It often happens that daughters are more attached to their fathers, and sons, on the contrary, to their mother.
Everything here depends on the parenting style. It is desirable that parents have a common opinion on this issue.
Relationships between brothers and sisters are sometimes difficult. It all depends on the difference in age, the characteristics of upbringing and the attitude of the parents. They often make the mistake of making different demands on their children, thereby contributing to the growth of hostility between them.
Nuclear family
Until recently, it was commonplace for several generations to live under one roof at once. Although such families can still be found today, it is all due to the lack of funds to purchase their own home.
The nuclear type of family began to gradually supplant the patriarchal cell and became the dominant type. This family has some features:
- Small numbers.
- Limited emotional experience.
- More freedom and privacy.
The question arises as to why such families became prevalent. Living together among several generations requires everyone to be able to find a compromise and be willing to carry out instructions from older family members.
On the one hand, in a patriarchal family there are all the prerequisites for the formation of collectivism, but at the same time, individualism is almost completely destroyed.
A nuclear family usually consists of two generations, that is, parents and their children. Often relationships between members are based on democracy, so everyone can have their own personal space.
Despite the prevalence of such families, statistics inexorably show a high number of divorces in them. Relationships without marriage registration have become increasingly common; even the birth of children cannot force some men to take their chosen one to the registry office.
This suggests that personal comfort and convenience are put first, and public opinion does not matter. The desire for freedom and privacy leads to a lack of mutual understanding and support even between members of the same family.
There are increasingly cases where the younger generation prefers to send their elderly parents to a nursing home instead of caring for them. Children are sent to kindergartens and nannies to be raised, but previously this was done by grandparents.
The nuclear family is a reflection of the processes taking place in our society, and this, unfortunately, contributes to the destruction of state traditions.
Partner family
When creating their own family, everyone wants the relationships in it to be equal. This is a natural desire, but in practice this does not always happen.
A partner type family means the following:
If you are planning to have such a family, then everything needs to be discussed in advance so that there are no misunderstandings later.
Pure partner families are quite rare, because there is always an advantage on one side on some issues.
Single-parent families
Based on the number of divorces in our country, it is not difficult to assume that the number of families with one parent will only increase.
As a rule, raising children falls on the shoulders of the mother; in some cases, this process is entrusted to fathers.
Becoming a single mother means finding yourself in a difficult life situation. But this situation also has its advantages:
- Getting rid of a bad marriage.
- The ability to manage your life.
- Emotional uplift from the feeling of freedom and the beginning of a new life.
- Moral satisfaction from work.
- Respect your children for their professional successes.
Despite all the advantages, there are also a lot of problems in single-parent families:
Adoptive families
Not all children are lucky enough to live and be raised in a family with their natural parents. Some end up in foster care, which can be divided into the following types of families:
- Adoption. The child becomes a full-fledged member of the family with all rights and responsibilities. There are cases that throughout his entire life he will never know that he is being raised by adoptive parents.
- Guardianship. A child is taken into the family to be raised. Biological parents are not exempt from the responsibility for its maintenance.
- Patronage. The child is placed in a professional foster family; before this, an agreement is signed between the guardianship authorities, the family and the institution for orphans.
- Adoptive family. Children are placed in a family for a certain period of time, which is specified in the contract.
For some children, a foster family sometimes becomes better than their own, in which the parents lead an immoral lifestyle and are not involved in raising the younger generation.
Dysfunctional families
Such families can be very different from each other. Among them there are two groups:
- Asocial families. In them, parents lead a riotous lifestyle, drink, and engage in drug addiction, so they simply do not have time to raise their children. This also includes parents who deliberately engage in criminal activity.
- Respectable families. Outwardly, they do not differ at all from ordinary families, but family foundations and principles do not allow them to raise a full-fledged citizen and a normal personality. This may include families of sectarians who do not allow their child to go to school for some of their own reasons.
Everyone creates their own family; it is up to you what kind of relationship will develop between children and parents, as well as spouses. Types of families may be different, but respect for each other, mutual assistance, love and compassion are universal human qualities that should be manifested in every cell of society.
From a demographic point of view, families are classified according to three main parameters: the number of children, the completeness of the family, and the family-generation structure.
1. family size (number of its members);
2. type of family (nuclear, complex, complete, incomplete)
Families are also classified according to the following criteria:
number of children in the family:
ü small families - 1-2 children (not enough for natural growth)
ü medium-sized families - 3-4 children (enough for low-expanded reproduction, as well as for the emergence of intra-group dynamics)
ü large families- 5 or more children (much more than is needed to replace generations)
There are several types of family and its organization.
1. Depending on the forms of marriage:
· monogamous family - consisting of two partners
· polygamous family - one of the spouses has several marriage partners
2. Depending on the number of generations in the family:
complex - several generations of relatives live together in them
· simple - one-generation families, primarily married couples with unmarried children (nuclear families). This is the main cell of population reproduction.
Also highlighted:
o Complete family - a family with both spouses; incomplete - if one of the spouses is absent. It is possible to classify families according to the number of persons in the family, including children.
o Egalitarian family - a family based on the equality of spouses
Also, the criteria for family typology are: its composition; length of married life; amount of children; place and type of residence; features of the distribution of roles, dominance and nature of interaction; professional employment and career of spouses; social homogeneity; family value orientation; special conditions of family life; the nature of the sexual relationship. Depending on the composition of the family, nuclear, extended, incomplete and functionally incomplete families are distinguished.
According to anthropology, families are divided into:
§ Consanguinal - the family consists of blood relatives belonging to several generations. The married couple lives with their parents.
§ Conjugal - the family is based on marital rather than kinship relationships. According to the criterion of residence, a conjugal family belongs to a dislocal marriage. This means that the newly created family is separated from the parents and lives away from them
Sociologists divide families into parental ones, i.e. families of the older generation and procreative ones, i.e. created by adult children separated from their parents.
The leadership criterion differentiates families into three groups:
1. Paternal (male dominance).
2. Maternal (female dominance).
3. Egalitarian (equality of roles).
The next criterion for typology of families is their level social development:
v Newly formed families may be at a low level of development; cohabiting families that do not fully fulfill their personal and social functions; families of physically or mentally disabled persons; socially vulnerable families - the unemployed, the homeless, refugees, those returning from prison, elderly pensioners, guardians and orphans, large families, families of alcoholics and drug addicts; conflict families; families consisting of persons with a low level of education, low social status and insufficient cultural development.
v At the average level of group development are those family groups that do not face the problem of increased conflict, which are not threatened by social instability. These are families with more than three to five years of experience, with one or two children, a certain material income, and the necessary living conditions. The presence of a material base makes it possible to strengthen marital and family relations and create in the family the conditions necessary for its members to satisfy their basic needs.
v High level development is available to a relatively small number of families. To reach this level, marriage partners must have considerable life experience behind them and have lived together for at least 10-15 years. There must be mutual understanding and mutual support, friendly and responsible relationships between them.
In social and pedagogical activities, the level of family development is one of the starting points.
The next criterion for differentiating families is the quality of relationships in the family:
Ø A prosperous family - it is characterized by the stability of marital feelings, mutual understanding, and coordination of the actions of the spouses in the implementation of family functions.
Ø Problematic family. Mutual satisfaction in the presence of mutual assistance and compatibility of personal characteristics of partners is reduced due to the presence of objective difficulties (crowded living conditions, financial difficulties, large families, etc.).
Ø Conflict family. It is characterized by interpersonal incompatibility of partners, the presence of negative emotions, misunderstanding, and lack of coordination of actions from the implementation of family functions.
Ø A disintegrating family, where one of the spouses is either no longer in the family or intends to leave it, and social functions are not fully performed by it.
Ø The family is broken up, with spouses living separately and partially fulfilling their parental responsibilities.
Ø Families are socially disadvantaged, disorganized, with inherent social problems - drunkenness, drug addiction, crime, prostitution, a frivolous attitude towards fulfilling marital and parental responsibilities, irresponsible attitude towards others.
For social and pedagogical activities with the family, the homogeneity of the social composition of the family is also important. According to this criterion, families are divided into socially homogeneous (homogeneous) and socially heterogeneous (heterogeneous). This refers to the sociocultural and professional status of the spouses.
The more noticeable the difference in the level of education, the more different are the aspirations, social orientations, beliefs, interests, and needs of people, the more difficult it is to find mutual understanding and solve the problems that have arisen.
The next criterion for classifying families is the national composition of the family. On this basis, families are divided into mononational (homogeneous) and international (mixed).
Related information.
