Changes in Family Structure: Perspectives from Functionalism, Feminism, Marxism and Interactionism

RUNNING HEADER: Sociology
Sociology
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Introduction
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RUNNING HEADER: Sociology
Generally a family entails a group of two or more people who reside together and they
relate to each other by birth, marriage and adoption. In this article I will explain how family
unit has changed starting from marriage, divorce, separation and child bearing.
There are a lot of changes which have been incurred in family unit (Strong& Cohen, 2013
p.41). To start with, there is huge change in marriage sector in family unit. Some of changes
incurred in family includes;
First there is the aspect of same sex marriages is seen as a change. Many people are not
married even after reaching the appropriate age for marriage. There is change in marriage and
cohabitation which in real sense it has contributed to the increased number of new types of
families in our society. In addition there is increase singletons which has changed the
marriage system in the society (Smith, 2013 p.123).
On other hand there is increased rate of divorce within the family unit. Researchers indicates
that 40% of the marriages end in divorce. This is to suggest that divorce has been identified
as the main factor which has changed the family unit in society. Divorce results from various
reasons. There are a lot of law Acts in different countries which has encouraged divorce.
Countries like Britain has the highest divorce rate due to change in laws. On this issue of
divorce we tend to identify the issue of separation. This aspect has transformed the family
structure in sense that we have different people with different attitudes on family. Separation
is accelerated by different morals in society. Technology and other social cultural beliefs
have facilitated separation in different countries.
Also, a change has been noticed in the child rearing sector. This is to say that nowadays both
men and women are used to rear children. Back in 1980s child rearing was a duty assigned to
the women in society. This has transformed the family unit toextend that new family
structures are now operating.
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RUNNING HEADER: Sociology
Reasons for the changes in the family structure.
Family change results from various reasons. Some of these reasons includes;
First is that there are increased legal separation laws which have been established. This
means that spouse are living separately although the spouse cannot get married to other
people (Gittins, 2017 p.34).
Increased use of mass media has changed the roles in family. What media is advocating for
example change of those roles assigned to men and women? Now women are doing what
men used to do.
Domestic labour on other hand has resulted due to increased level of literacy in the society.
Women are securing big position in companies. This has resulted to change of domestic roles.
Women were believed to do house work but as the society is getting more educated people
you find that domestic labour is changing. Over 40 % of women are in work force.
There is also another reason which has changed the power within the society. Power
relationships in family structure has changed through legislations (Edgell, 2013 p.78). Laws
are advocating for equality in sense that all men and women are equal. We not concentrating
on what we used to think there before- that is fathers are not the heads of families as it was
long time ago but currently both wife and husband have equal rights.
External factors that have driven change in modern society.
These factors include;
Technological influence especially the social media which has both negative and positive
effects to the society (Morgan,2014 p.54).That is negative effects to the children in sense that
social media has changed the mental set up and declining the quality in our lifestyle.
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