Extended Definition of Family: Exploring the Meaning and Significance

This essay explores the extended definition of family, including its meaning, significance, and role in modern society. It discusses the various forms of family, including blood relations, friends, and communities, and their importance in providing emotional support and care.

Running head: ESSAY 0
introduction to criminology and criminal justice
OCTOBER 31, 2018
student details:

Describing family as a term “family” alone is the influential term, which raises numerous
dissimilar meanings and feelings. How does one put in terms all that describe how people feel
when it is about what family means? Most of the times it can be said that the family involves
the father, mother and kids all residing together under one rooftop. It might be said the family
may be anything, which includes love. It is defined in Webster’s dictionary that family is a
group containing the mother, father and kids living together in the home.” This meaning is
the good initiating point when trying to describe what the family comprise; however, there
are current day definitions that restate what the family is present time. Until now, do these
definitions define what family means to you? What comes to mind when you think of what
family means?
Whether it is mother and father together, the single mother and father with children, or
perhaps your friends that help to fill the void that your biological family was not be capable
to fulfil, the term family is very influential term. These are persons that surround other with
attention, worry, and affection. These are the persons who observe others, who know what
that person is going through and through it all. These people stand by the side affecting others
over the life. However, what in the condition where other do not feel these emotions from the
natural family or others do not have that kind of link with the family? Where do others search
that association, affection, and assistance?
When analysing the extended definition or extended meaning of family, it is found that the
family is not always being connected by blood or even connected at all. The church, the
networks, companions and the close colleagues who have currently become dear helpers can
also be family. In addition, a person cannot forget about the connection with God. Therefore,
whether family is with family where a person born, where a person adopted, where a person
loved, and where that person is selected, the term “family” alone has important and superior
meaning (Ferreira and Avelino, 2018). They may arouse emotions of having place,

connectedness, affection, admiration, and care. It is stated by Michelle Blessing, “Whether
made of blood connections, friend, pet, or the mixture of these, the family may render the
help or assistance, which is needed to prosper.”
Meaning of family is stated by Michelle Blessing in the article that, “various persons consider
friend to be as special as or even more special than extended family or instant family. People
who have lost close family members can make the family unit of friends with the same
interest and objectives to become replacement or improvements to the missing framework of
family. This type of family unit, though unconventional, may be just as near, if not nearer,
than a traditional structure. The person selects Friend; at period, these persons can be more
extraordinary or significant than the family an individual was born with. Additionally, certain
persons who have helpful families also have a wide networking of companions who they
think to be the second family or as addition to the blood relations or legal relations. It has
regularly been supposed that these family groups having the one house adore some benefits
like the great sense of safety and be appropriate because of having the broader group of
people to assist as the sources throughout the crises, and additional role model to help
preserve desired conduct and social morals (O’Connor, et. al, 2015).
Though modern family can be regarded more moveable in general than in history, it is found
by sociologists that it has not fundamentally caused in the dissolution of the network of
extended family. Somewhat, technical assistances like the Internet and social site like
Instagram, Facebook are generally considered in present time to preserve the contacts and
keep these family bonds. Conversely, having the single home may show the difficulty on the
basis of size and numbers of family included, mostly where only the few members carry most
of the accountability to meet expenditures for the fundamental requirements of the family
(Grossman, et. al, 2018).

Further, it might be claimed that the major operations of the families that functionalists reveal
as a positive is in the circumstance disadvantageous to the societies. It is argued by the
functionalists that the more significant thing for personal well-being of person that their
emotional requirements are considered and they get assistance from their special ones.
Activists though will be dangerous of the opinion as they contend it outcomes in the females
becoming sensitive hit bag for the members of family and exposed to the forcefulness or
misuse which must be focused at external manipulation (Arwady, et. al, 2016). In the same
way, it is argued by the Marxists like Zaretsky that the warm bath theory is commonly the
manner of the keeping capitalist powers and honor as it outcomes in the rejection of the
mistreatment handled in the office as it is calmed by the members of family (Taylor, et. al,
2017).
The Capitalism is the economic system characterized by private proprietorship of incomes of
the invention or creation. It is argued by the Marxist that in various manners, the family
serves the requirements of the capitalism in the various manner, eventually advancing the
bourgeoisie and the public continuing worried and misused. It is argued by Engels that the
nuclear families appeared as the direct outcome of the capitalism. Embryonic socialism is the
name provided to the society before capitalism had emerged. There was no private properties
and no families like this (Macho-Fernandez and Brigl, 2015).
It is argued by Marxists that the family may be considered as a philosophical tool, serving to
apply the beliefs and morals eventually advantage capitalism Bachelerie, et. al, 2014). For
instance, the kids are bought up with the parental character that they are learned to follow. It
makes learn them self-control that will advantage the superiors when they join the staff, but
also explains them about grading and that dissimilarity is unavoidable making them less
likely to questions the post as an oppressed proletariat when they go to efforts, again
advantaging the capitalism. Again, suffragettes have assessed the disagreements, because of

the some facts that children are mingled in the concept that the persons in charge or at top of
grading are frequently man again stating that kids are being entertained into gender particular
role in the male-controlled societies (Mittal, Charles and Macias, 2018).
The definition of extended family has significant role in directing the impacts of global
society of recent days.Though industrial development and explosion of concepts of
individuality have led to rise of nuclear family as the unit of many societies, the extended
family continues to have significant role. Provisions related to social well-being made the this
extended definition of family less important for aging in 21st century. Nevertheless,
decreases in government funding for these services can create role of these families take on
great significance again in 21st century. Actually, by the end of the 20th century the part of
these families in USA has been established to be on rise.
As per the above analysis, it can be concluded that extended definition of family and its
traditions are very significant. The term family may be used symbolically to make more
comprehensive types like communities, nationhood, world-wide villages, and humanism. The
main important thing is that the close linking to generation was a logic of the protection.
Undeniably, the family does hold advantages for the members by making the helpful and
affectionate atmosphere for the members,

References
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