SOC2604
SOCIOLOGY OF FAMILIES AND
SOCIAL P ROBLEMS
1
, Part 1 – Sociology of Families
UNIT 1
Sociology of Families
The discussion in this study unit is mainly in line with Elliot s (1986) viewpoints.
1. DEFINITION OF FAMILY
Sociologists address the family as a social institution that is affected by social change and other
institutions in society such as the economy, polity, judiciary and religion.
In modern Western societies focus on the nuclear family as the family.
According to Elliot (1986:4), the nuclear family is widely thought of as a group based on marriage and
biological parenthood, as sharing a common residence and as united by ties of affection, obligations
of care and support and a sense of a common identity. This belief is questionable in a changing
society since it refers to the conventional idea of what sexual and parental relationships ought to be and
does not include different combinations of family members that lead to a diversity of family types
throughout the world, especially in South Africa with its diversified population.
These days families exist in many different forms and the conventional nuclear family that consists of two
parents who are married to each other and their biological children who live in the same house
is becoming proportionally less common. The family is still the institution that can best provide the
stable, patterned relationships that are necessary to care for and support family members in modern
societies.
In our developing South African society, family structures show great variation - even more so from
one culture to another. We have a problem in defining what really constitutes the family because it is
widely taken for granted that the family is regarded as a nuclear family and is the most dominant family
type in contemporary society. This belief is questionable in modern society where we find so many
different kinds of family structures or combinations of family members. The impact of this general
viewpoint causes other family structures to be regarded as unusual and even deviant (eg long-term
relationships, whether heterosexual or homosexual). To delimit the definition of the family to only
include the nuclear family is problematic, but a universally agreed definition is hard to find. How we
define the family determines the kinds of intimate relationships and living arrangements which we
consider normal or deviant, and what rights and obligations are seen as legally and socially binding).
The abovementioned restricting definition of the family in Western societies does not enable us to
deal with the range of characteristics associated with the modern African family or white families that
we find in South Africa nowadays. It does not make room for the diversity of family structures or
different combinations of family members. Different stages in the family life cycle are also not taken into
account by this limited definition (eg a family might start off as a nuclear family, progress to an extended
family, become a single- parent family and then become a reconstituted family with step-
relationships).
2
SOCIOLOGY OF FAMILIES AND
SOCIAL P ROBLEMS
1
, Part 1 – Sociology of Families
UNIT 1
Sociology of Families
The discussion in this study unit is mainly in line with Elliot s (1986) viewpoints.
1. DEFINITION OF FAMILY
Sociologists address the family as a social institution that is affected by social change and other
institutions in society such as the economy, polity, judiciary and religion.
In modern Western societies focus on the nuclear family as the family.
According to Elliot (1986:4), the nuclear family is widely thought of as a group based on marriage and
biological parenthood, as sharing a common residence and as united by ties of affection, obligations
of care and support and a sense of a common identity. This belief is questionable in a changing
society since it refers to the conventional idea of what sexual and parental relationships ought to be and
does not include different combinations of family members that lead to a diversity of family types
throughout the world, especially in South Africa with its diversified population.
These days families exist in many different forms and the conventional nuclear family that consists of two
parents who are married to each other and their biological children who live in the same house
is becoming proportionally less common. The family is still the institution that can best provide the
stable, patterned relationships that are necessary to care for and support family members in modern
societies.
In our developing South African society, family structures show great variation - even more so from
one culture to another. We have a problem in defining what really constitutes the family because it is
widely taken for granted that the family is regarded as a nuclear family and is the most dominant family
type in contemporary society. This belief is questionable in modern society where we find so many
different kinds of family structures or combinations of family members. The impact of this general
viewpoint causes other family structures to be regarded as unusual and even deviant (eg long-term
relationships, whether heterosexual or homosexual). To delimit the definition of the family to only
include the nuclear family is problematic, but a universally agreed definition is hard to find. How we
define the family determines the kinds of intimate relationships and living arrangements which we
consider normal or deviant, and what rights and obligations are seen as legally and socially binding).
The abovementioned restricting definition of the family in Western societies does not enable us to
deal with the range of characteristics associated with the modern African family or white families that
we find in South Africa nowadays. It does not make room for the diversity of family structures or
different combinations of family members. Different stages in the family life cycle are also not taken into
account by this limited definition (eg a family might start off as a nuclear family, progress to an extended
family, become a single- parent family and then become a reconstituted family with step-
relationships).
2
