Sociology Report: Family Structures and Capitalist Society Dynamics

This sociology report examines the role of the family within a capitalist society, highlighting its function as an ideological tool that reinforces capitalist values and its significance as a unit of consumption. It discusses how the definition of family has evolved and its importance in shaping national identity. ...Read More

Running Head: SOCIOLOGY AND SOCIAL SCIENCE
Sociology and social science
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SOCIOLOGY AND SOCIAL SCIENCE 1
Introduction
Family is generally seen as the smallest section of the society which has its own subsection. This
subsection consists of family members which share all kind of emotions with each other like
fright, pain, happiness, stress and so on. The main ingredient in this family section is trust
development right from the earlier childhood until they start their own family (Kellas, 2010). In
addition, they also share change related to various factors by forming a strong relationship bond
between them. As per the study, it can be said that many people usually face difficult while
recognizing the people whom they can label as family member.
Importance of family to understand capitalist society
Capitalist society is usually connected with the economic system which is a character of private
ownership. According to Marxist, family has really served as the important requirement of
capitalism in various ways which has ultimately enhanced the economic system of the society. It
can be said that family act as an ideological gadget which aids in enforcing the conjunction of
believers and ethical followers that eventually advantage capitalism (Schimank, 2015). In any
family, children are growing in the shadow of the parental image which they are taught to follow.
It helps them to learn discipline associated with personal and professional life. This learning not
only benefits their executives when they enter in corporate life but also taught them how to
explore their position and the organization hierarchy in order to enhance the efficacy of the
organization. This efficacy in the meantime works for the benefit of capitalist society. From
Capitalist society point of view, family is seen as the unit of consumption because children
related to particular family use their pester power to buy good which is being promoted by
various goods-producing companies (White and Williams, 2014). It is the family which supports
the culture of consuming the latest products which in last benefits capitalist society by
connecting it with the common pocket of the rich purchaser. This indirectly helps in offering
exact value to workforce efforts which they had put in transform raw materials into finished
product.
Family term used by Bosworth and Brass
From centuries various social scientists suffered various challenges in offering the exact
definition of family due to its multidimensional aspects. This issue is not only connected to

SOCIOLOGY AND SOCIAL SCIENCE 2
social scientists, but even the common individual also gets confused when asked to elaborate
definition of the family. According to various authors, there are two different opinions of the
population about family (Mulder and Lauster, 2010). For some, family is seen as the group of
closest family members or it can be said as a nuclear family while some believe that family
involves all type of members with whom were are connected with some kind of relationships
such as friends, cousins and even pets. One author believes that families can present an obstacle
in front of the nationalism factors which support the homogeneous nation theory. In addition to
this, it was also believed that representation of family is essential to nationalism. Nation itself is
one big family in which each citizen shares some kind of relation with each other in terms of
their mother or fatherland while considering their mother language. Here the nation family
overtakes the individual family in terms of responsibility and strong devotion (Koerner and
Schrodt, 2014). According to another author, family is valued as the centric point of national
identity along with displaying a higher level of homophobia. In addition, the relationship
between the range of national identity and homophobia is much robust. It can be said that
national identity has an indirect impact on the family value and believes both on national as well
as individual level.
Family importance in twenty-first-century societies
The concept of family in twenty-first-century societies has completely transformed into a social
organization. Now, family is been seen as the base for the social institute which varies from
place to place and time to time. As per the study, it can be said that family has actually become a
social network that not only shares localized character but also includes biological and marital
connections (Piketty, 2015). In previous time family was seen as the as a consumer which are
connected with the production and supply chain management but this image is transformed into
next generation which is linked with the co-residence along with alteration of property. Now,
family is considered as social group in which members are specialized in some particular skills,
organized their personal activities and link up with big community units of the nation. In the
twenty-first century family is continuously facing factors that are associated with economic
environment of the world (Savickas et al., 2009). Now family is being seen as a strategic mode
of social change in terms of increasing production, rise in the market economy along with the
rise in income level of the common individual. These changes have taken right of decision

SOCIOLOGY AND SOCIAL SCIENCE 3
making from family towards the common individual by promoting individualism on the social
level. Change in the education pattern in the society has taken the decision connected to the
children from the family towards recognized organizations. In the similarly, manner rise of
employment outside the family working pattern has taken power from family towards formal
companies and organizations (Bianchi and Milkie, 2010). In addition, these changes have also
impacted the working pattern of the common individuals because they have started taking
support from wage based employment for their expenditure instead of working in family farms
even the control over marriage choice has also changed in terms of selection.
Conclusion
Family seems to be one of the most important aspects which decided the growth and
development of a common individual which later supports the development and growth of the
nation. Earlier family was considered as the group of individuals which were seen as the part of
the community that controls bringing up process of each individual but as the time passed, family
is being recognized as important aspects of capitalist society which promotes economic stability
of any nation. Earlier family had full control over the decision associated with its family
members but now it has completely changed its pattern in terms of marriage, employment choice
and even in education.

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References
1. Kellas, J.K. (2010) Narrating family: Introduction to the special issue on narratives and
storytelling in the family. Journal of Family Communication, 10(1), pp.1-6.
2. Mulder, C.H. and Lauster, N.T. (2010) Housing and family: An introduction. Housing
Studies, 25(4), pp.433-440.
3. Koerner, A.F. and Schrodt, P. (2014) An introduction to the special issue on family
communication patterns theory. Journal of Family Communication, 14(1), pp.1-15.
4. Piketty, T. (2015) About capital in the twenty-first century. American Economic
Review, 105(5), pp.48-53.
5. Savickas, M.L., Nota, L., Rossier, J., Dauwalder, J.P., Duarte, M.E., Guichard, J., Soresi,
S., Van Esbroeck, R. and van Vianen, A.E. (2009) Life designing: A paradigm for career
construction in the 21st century. Journal of vocational behavior, 75(3), pp.239-250.
6. Bianchi, S.M. and Milkie, M.A. (2010) Work and family research in the first decade of
the 21st century. Journal of Marriage and Family, 72(3), pp.705-725.
7. Schimank, U. (2015) Modernity as a functionally differentiated capitalist society: A
general theoretical model. European Journal of Social Theory, 18(4), pp.413-430.
8. White, R. and Williams, C. (2014) Anarchist economic practices in a'capitalist'society:
some implications for organisation and the future of work. Ephermera: theory and
politics in organization, 14(4), pp.947-971.