topic 1: Family

• there is no real definition of family as every culture and country have different definitions
• a household doesn't always have to be with family but is a group of people who live in one house, they are normally in western society related by marriage or descent
• in contemporary modern societies, households may consist of nuclear families or completely different make ups; couples, friends etc.
• with such a huge variation of household types, it is difficult to say there is a 'typical family type'. However, we can speak about dominant trends; the dominant type of households in different countries
• 'traditional' does not mean nuclear
• 'traditional' societies; pre-industrial revolution.

  family structures did not change as much as they do today (they were very slow). e.g. there were maybe 2 family changes in the 1800s rather now changes happen rapidly. there is a faster change in modern society (mid-1800s there was the making of machines - from small families making things at home to people moving to cities to work in factories)
• pre-industrial families were usually larger than now as family was a work team back then
• the kinship networks; these give way to the nuclear family. dividing into little units - instead of being absorbed into the family team, one goes off on their own with their partner, along with a lot of variety starting to exist in family forms; siblings, gay marriage, blended families.
• the concept of love; more important for people nowadays to marry for love
• the family has moved from being a unit of productive to a unit of consumption; from having a lot of kids for a business to now finding it hard to have many kids because of financial reasons. they were a unit that made money through farming etc, but now it's not automatic that our children will be our helpers and 'employees'
• marital breakdowns are on the increase -> divorces, separations, move out from each other etc.

  reasons; women's rights and not putting up with domestic abuse, women's money is not dependent on the men's anymore, has been legalised, not taboo, people are living longer
• family with time has also lost a lot of functions; even within the family there has been a lot of financial increase in pressure. children may be brought up more by grandparents or childcare providers - this might make family communication strained unlike back in the day when you would be around your kids all the time during work and home life
• domestic abuse can also be referred to for children - back then there was nothing to do about parents using physical discipline but now it is frowned upon legally and socially - counts for people in relationships etc.
• industrialization and modernization; industrialization - the process of developing a country's economy through the use of machinery and technology and family business decreasing
• modernization; a set of principles - the modern ideas. the time where people were coming into the 'present time' by;

  1. increasing urbanisation - moving from villages and countryside into the cities for work. increasing the use of technology
  2. there was a rise of media and communication
  3. science taking over religious beliefs
  4. democratic society - people start to become more engaged in civil affairs with more rights and opinions.
• more change in family types now since there is more sexual freedom, and less taboo towards single mothers, having sex before marriage, having kids and not getting married, same sex marriage, single parents adoption.
• greater rights, freedom and economic independence for women has allowed more change in family types
• pregnancy showing was a sign of vulgarity because back then people would get shamed by the public even if the woman was married - the spread of contraceptives has made it easier to control if/when you have kids
• natural family planning; a family planning method that the church advocated for - instead of using a reliable barrier like a condom, couples would be told to time tihngs according to the cycle
• government policies and laws were seeking to change the traditional ways of life; the one child policy in China being changed, same sex marriage, divorce etc, - these all helped family forms to change
• secularisation: separation of religion and the state.
• nuclear family: people are often brought up in a family of a mother, father and children
• both the functionalists and the new right tend to promote this type of family as the best ideal to fulfil society's functions
• many sociologists have challenged this view - they say that there is a wide range of family patterns, living arrangements, structures and forms. not only within our society but also across the world
• diversity in family patterns; a commune is a system of living mostly in the 1960s in the USA but also seen in other western countries which is a group of people living together in shared living spaces (associated with the hippie movement)
• in a commune, sexual relations were very free and the children were taken care of by everyone. within these groups there were no marriages or little marriage, and barely an idea of monogamy.
• communes tend to be short-lived because;

  1. many communes encourage free sexual relations, there is a problem of when to allow offspring to participate and the consequences of it
  2. new generations fitting into the communal group - it becomes very messy quickly
• Kibbutz (1909): each one ranges from 40 to 1000 members. marriage was monogamous couples who have their own kids and they are all raised collectively. e.g. the parents have their own space while the kids have their own dormitories and learn things all together and raised by childcare and care takers. they share a lot of things but not each other.
• Nayar women could have up to 12 husbands - and a man could claim that they are the father of one of her children by giving vegetables and cloth to the midwife.
• Residential institutions: orphanages, foster homes, systems – where children are all raised communally. Where children are brought up in families who are not biological or by an institution. Fostered children are not adopted fully but fall under the authority and care of the state but they may move from one family to another. Its supposedly meant to be temporary. This and adoption show other ways of children being brought up by people who aren’t biological.
• Families from ethnic minorities: an ethnic minority is the group of people who are part of an ethnicity which isn’t the majority of a country or place. They may have different traditions, values, expectations and domestic arrangements tied to family life.

  Malta is becoming increasingly diverse in ethnicities who bring with them their own ideas of what family looks like. (1/5 of Malta is not Maltese).
• ethnocentrism – to compare cultures by comparing it to your own and then saying which are bad or good. The family values of certain ethnic minorities can be in conflict with that of the host country. Condemning families for having different values such as having many children is going against their ethnicity.
• Despite diversity, many families in modern societies are sharing some family features – following similar patterns like legal monogamy, divorce, etc. serial monogamy; having only one partner at different times. Despite the divorces and affairs, many people still consider monogamy and faithfulness to be important values in our societies.
• relationships across multiple societies are still based on one concept -> love. it isn't necessarily about money or property anymore but about romantic love or effective individualism
• effective individualism; people are united and drawn to each other by attraction and affection individuals are sexually attracted to each other and arranged marriages are declining. however, the idea of love and romance and that we get marriage because of it, has led to greater expectations for marriage.
• kids aren't the most important part of a marriage anymore but apart from that there are bigger aspirations - no violence, gestures, affection, communication etc. higher expectations = higher disappointment
• contemporary - over the past decades there are now new relationships and family trends which were less evident in the past (they were hidden rather than not there)
• contemporary;

  1. less taboo and social stigma
  2. introduction and changes in legislation (e.g. divorce is legal in many countries)
  3. longer life expectancy (people living longer and the way families look have changed)
  4. more freedom of choice - no longer bound to marry someone from the same race, social class etc.
  5. distinct family styles
• distinct family styles; same-sex relationships in a number of countries are more open, even in countries where its illegal or unrecognized, people still live in stable, long-term relationships.
• in Malta; civil unions were introduced in 2014 while marriage in 2017