Essay on Changing Family Patterns – The family as a basic social institution has been undergoing change. The modern family radically differs from that of the traditional one. The family has never been at rest. Both in its structure and functions changes have taken place. Some of these changes may be examined here.
Changes in the Functions of the Family:
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Some of the functions of family have radically changed today while some others have received more attention of the public. A glance at these changes would clarify this point.
1. The Sexual Regulation Function of the family has not changed much. The family through its agent, marriage, still regulates the sexual impulse of the people. Illicit sexual behaviour is fairly uncommon. But it is true that in the Western societies pre-marital and extra-marital sex relations are on the increase.
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2. The Reproductive Function of the family has suffered particularly in the Western societies. In the Western societies, it is said, parents no longer desire more children. Absence of children has become the most glaring feature of the Western families. However, it is impossible to take away this reproductive function of the family. The very survival of the human race is based on reproduction.
3. In the past fifty years the Parental and the Educational Functions of the family have been shifted to certain external agencies like hospitals, out-patient clinics for mothers, maternity homes, the baby clinics, nurseries, kindergartens, etc. “The modern home is not equipped to train children for their adult careers, because the specialised division of labour requires specialised training, which only the specialised agency of the school can supply”. W. Green
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4. The Protective Functions of the family have declined particularly in the West. Families are no more the place of protection for the physically handicapped, mentally retarded, aged, diseased, infirm and insane people. Other agencies have taken over this function. But, for the young children it continues to provide physical and emotional protection.
5. The Economic Function of the family has been disturbed a great deal. The family is no longer the economic unit, neither is it self-sufficient. It is no longer united by shared work, for its members work separately. It is more a consuming unit than a producing centre. However, the family is not completely losing this function, but it is transforming this function to some external agencies.
6. It seems that the Socialisation Function of the family is gaining increased attention particularly in the Western society. An earlier generation knew little about the personality development. We know something today of the role of emotional development, school progress, career success, physical well-being, and practically all other aspects of the good life.
7. The Status-Ascription Function has been weakened since in modern society much emphasis is laid on achieved status. Still, the ethnic, religious, class, residential, nationality and other kinds of statuses are ascribed by the family to the individual at least in the initial stages in some way or other.
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8. The Recreational Function of the family is losing importance. External agencies have taken away this function. Modern recreation is highly commercialised. Movies, dance halls, night clubs, gambling centres have come into being. People leave home to seek these commercialised recreations. But they tend to leave home as single adults or married couples, as adolescents or children, rather than as a family unit. This has affected the cohesion of family.
Functions Lost or Modified?
In spite of the changes that have overtaken the family, its traditional functions have been more modified than lost. If all of the functions described above were in fact totally provided outside the home, it is doubtful that the family could survive. But, certain unique functions remain solely within the family.
The “primary universal function of the family is the creation of new members of society-their reproduction, maintenance, status ascription, and socialisation. As always, reproduction remains, and maintenance and socialisation are still carried on chiefly within the family”—A. W. Green
Some writers have expressed the opinion that at the present rate of change the family may lose its functional importance very shortly. Such a fear is unfounded because, that stage may never be reached. “Over the centuries, no permanent direction of change has ever been maintained. At some time in the future, the present forces of change may reach out in an unforeseen direction permitting family to regain its old strength and renew its old functions.” A. W. Green
Summary:
From our discussion of the family and its functions it is possible to draw at least three conclusions:
(i) The family still enjoys importance as a biological group for procreation and for the physical care of the children,
(ii) There is the considerable decline in what Ogburn calls the “institutional functions’ of the family, economic, recreational, protective and educational,
(iii) the ‘personality function’ (the socialisation function) of the family-“that is, those which provide for the mutual adjustments among husbands, wives, parents and children and for the adaptation of each member of the family to the outside world”