Family as the main social institution. Family as a social institution: types, functions

A family is a primary community of people connected by marriage or blood relationship, within which the upbringing of children is ensured and other socially significant needs are satisfied. For sociologists, the family is, first of all, a social institution that regulates human reproduction through a special system of roles, norms and organizational forms.

The initial basis of family relationships is Marriage is a socially determined form of relationship between a woman and a man, through which society regulates and sanctions their sexual relations, and also establishes marital and kinship roles. Marriage is considered the only acceptable, socially approved and legally established form of sexual relations between spouses. It includes in its structure both norms and a set of customs regulating marital relations between a man and a woman (betrothal, wedding ceremony, honeymoon, etc.).

Currently, in Western societies, marriage is associated with monogamy, when one man can be married to no more than one woman at a time. At the same time, monogamy is not the most common form of marriage on a global scale. American anthropologist George Murdoch, who conducted a comparative study of 565 different societies, found that polygamy(that is, a form of marriage in which a man or woman can have more than one spouse) is allowed in 80% of them. There are two types of polygamy: polygyny, in which a man can be married to more than one woman at the same time; and less common polyandry, in which a woman is simultaneously in two or more marital unions with different men (as a rule, this form of marriage gives rise to a situation where the biological father of a child born in such a marriage is unknown).

From the point of view of the scope of choosing a spouse, marriages are divided into endogamous(prisoners within their own community) and exogamous(concluded between representatives of different groups). This results in two types of family: socially homogeneous (homogeneous), in which spouses and their parents belong to the same social groups, strata and classes, and socially heterogeneous (diverse).

The categories “marriage” and “family” are closely interrelated, although they also have many differences. Unlike marriage, which is only a relationship between spouses, the family is also a social organization that affects both marital and parental relationships. Individuals who get married become relatives to each other, while their marriage obligations are bound by family ties

a much wider circle of people (blood relatives of one side become relatives of the opposite side).

The structure of the family includes the following groups of relationships, which together create the family as a special social phenomenon:

• natural-biological, that is, sexual (sexual) and consanguineous;
• economic, based on housekeeping, organization of everyday life and family property;
• spiritual-psychological and moral-aesthetic, associated with feelings of marital and parental love, with raising children, with caring for elderly parents, with moral standards of behavior.

Today, according to a number of researchers, several main functions of the family can be distinguished:

• - reproductive, i.e. biological reproduction of the population on a social level and meeting the needs for children on a personal level;
• - educational - socialization of the younger generation, maintaining the cultural reproduction of society;
• - economic - obtaining material resources from some family members for others, economic support for minors and disabled members of society;
• - the sphere of primary social control - moral regulation of the behavior of family members in various spheres of life, as well as regulation of responsibilities and obligations in relations between spouses, parents and children, representatives of the older generation;
• - social status - providing a certain social status to family members, reproduction of the social structure;
• - leisure - organization of rational leisure for all family members;
• - emotional - receiving psychological protection, emotional support, emotional stabilization of individuals;

There are two main forms of family organization:

• related("or extended) family, characteristic of traditional societies, based not only on the marital relationship of two people, but also on the blood relationship of a large number of relatives (in fact, a clan of relatives along with spouses and children).
• nuclear (from lat. nucleus- core,) or married family, characteristic of modern societies (where children have the opportunity to live separately from their parents after marriage); the basis of such a family is a couple of people connected by marriage (husband and wife), as well as their children, forming

who are the biological, social and economic center of the family, all other relatives belong to the periphery of the family;

Family life, its historical types and structure depend on the general trends in the socio-economic development of society. During the transition from a traditional society to a modern one, the family changes significantly. As the household ceases to be the primary productive unit, home and work are separated, and there is a shift from the extended family, consisting of several generations dominated by elders, to decentralized nuclear families that place marital ties above family ties. A one-child family is replacing a large family.

In relation to the individual, families are divided into parental and reproductive. TO parent families include those in which a person is born, to reproductive - those that a person forms when he becomes an adult, and within which he raises a new generation of children. At the same time, depending on the place of residence, families are distinguished matrilocal(when the spouses live with the wife’s parents), patrilocal(when a married couple moves in with the husband's parents), or separate(when spouses live separately from the parents of the wife and husband and run a separate household).

There is a transition from a family based on sociocultural prescriptions to interpersonal preferences. In turn, the family influences all aspects of society. It is a kind of micromodel of society, all its social connections.

In modern Westernized post-industrial society, “non-traditional family” model, based on same-sex marriage. The most important role in its legalization was played by the UN Cairo Conference on Population and Development in 1994, which established, in principle 9 of the Program of Action for Population Regulation, the equality and equivalence of different types of sexual unions, including same-sex ones. Currently, same-sex marriage (as well as same-sex partnerships) is legalized in a number of EU countries, Canada, some US states and South Africa.

The complex nature of the family as a social entity requires different methodological approaches to its sociological analysis. Modern sociology views the family, first of all, as a system of social and gender roles.

Gender roles represent one type of social role, a set of expected behavior patterns (or norms) for men and women. A role in social psychology is defined as a set of norms that determine how people in a given social position should behave. Each person performs a number of different roles, for example, wife, mother, student, daughter, girlfriend, etc. Sometimes these roles do not combine, which leads to role conflict (for example, between the role of a businesswoman and the role of a spouse).

In industrial society, there was a so-called “patriarchal” hierarchy of gender system roles, based on a gender contract "housewives"(English - housewife) for a woman and a “breadwinner” (English - breadwinner)- sponsor of family life for a man.

In post-industrial society, the gender contract of the “housewife” is being replaced contracts of “equal status”(English - equal status), according to which the hierarchy of patriarchy is replaced by equalization of the position, rights and opportunities of men and women both in the public (politics, education, career, cultural life) and in the private sphere (housekeeping, raising children, sexuality, etc. .). Changes in gender contracts are due to transformations that occurred in late modern society: the emergence of the welfare state, mass consumer society, the feminization of men and the masculinization of women influenced a radical change in the traditional gender order.

The problem of divorce is closely related to the change in the type of relationships in the modern family: new family models give rise to their own forms of breaking these relationships. In a traditional marriage, divorce is understood as a break in relations in legal, economic, and psychological terms, while the modern form of family relationships brings the psychological problems of separation to the fore. Partners, most often, do not find common ground in personal interaction; and in this case, psychological peace becomes more preferable for them than, for example, economic difficulties.

Among the main factors predetermining divorce today are the following:

• - industrialization;
• - urbanization;
• - population migration;
• - emancipation of women.

These factors reduce the level of social control, make people's lives largely autonomous and anonymous, and the sense of responsibility, affection, and mutual care is greatly reduced.

The most common causes of immediate divorce between spouses are:

• 1. Domestic problems (housing instability, financial insecurity, etc.)
• 2. Interpersonal conflicts (loss of love, respect, affection; jealousy of one of the spouses; different views on life in economic, social, spiritual terms)
• 3. External factors (betrayal, interference in the relationship of third parties, for example, parents of spouses, the beginning of a new relationship, etc.)

“Marriage today has ceased to be a connection aimed at transferring property and status to another generation. As women gain economic independence, marriage is less and less a consequence of the need for economic partnership... In all likelihood, the increase in the number of divorces is not associated with deep disappointment in marriage as such, but with an increasing desire to turn it into a full-blooded union that brings satisfaction.”

E. Giddens "Sociology"

The nature of the connections between people who marry has changed over the past few decades. Political, economic, and social changes in the modern world have contributed to the fact that public opinion has become more tolerant of different models of family life. And yet, the situation of divorce is a critically acute experience in the life of an individual, which does not have a one-time nature, but develops over a long time.

The beginning of the 20th century is a period not only of revolutionary activity, active modernization, feminization, numerous social changes in public life, but also a stage of drastic changes in marriage and family relations. Changes in family structure throughout the world in the twentieth century allow us to talk about the transition to an era of small children, an increase in divorces and a fall in the number of registered marriages, the alienation of the individual and his autonomy.

Gradually, there is a transition to a specific model of marriage: late marriage - either after achieving economic independence from parents, or after completing education and acquiring a profession.

The crisis of the modern family is largely due to significant changes in social life as a whole. What are the manifestations of crises in the family? First of all, its instability. In large cities, over 50% of marriages break up (in some places the divorce rate reaches 70%). Moreover, for more than a third of disintegrating families, their life together lasted from several weeks to 4 years, i.e. not very long. Family instability leads to the growth of single-parent families, reduces parental authority, and affects the possibilities of forming new families and the health of adults and children.

To the instability of the family one should add its disorganization, i.e. an increase in the number of so-called conflict families, where raising children in an atmosphere of quarrels and scandals leaves much to be desired. This has a very negative impact on both adults and children. It is in such families that the sources of alcoholism, drug addiction, neuroses and delinquency are discovered.

The difficult economic and social situation requires serious stress from modern people, which often causes stress and depression, which have already become an integral part of our daily lives. That is why today there is a particularly acute need for a “safe haven”, a place of spiritual comfort, a similar place should be a family - stability against the backdrop of widespread variability. However, despite such a clear need, the institution of the family is currently experiencing a rather acute crisis: its very existence, which has been unchanged for many centuries, is under threat.

“In world science, there are various points of view on the state of the family in modern society, which can be ordered on a continuum that resembles a battlefield. On one front there is a position asserting that the family is deteriorating, experiencing a deep crisis, the causes of which lie in social cataclysms, ideological or moral and ethical transformations, and this destruction of the family harms both society and the individual. On the other there is a diametrically opposite point of view. The social changes that have taken place over the past two hundred years (and in our context also the rapid changes of the last decades) have exposed the fact that the family as an institution is outdated and, in such an old-fashioned form as it exists now, must either disappear or undergo a radical remodeling. ...Between these radical points of view, there is a more moderate position, shared perhaps by the majority of scientists, that the family, although in a state of crisis, turns out to be a very adaptive and strong entity that can withstand the blows of fate. As we have already mentioned, this is a kind of battlefield for the monopoly of social control over the individual. Need I say that the spearheads of all three divisions are directed against each other, at the enemy’s known vulnerable spots? The balance of the ammunition, as well as the tempting, apparent accessibility of the object of their claims, convinces us that the end of the battle is still far away.”

Yarskaya-Smirnova E.R. “Sociocultural analysis of non-typicality”

• Murdock G. (1949) Social Structure. New York: The Mac Millan Company.
• See, for example, Antonov A.I. Sociology of the family M., 2010; Zritnsva E.I. Sociology of the family M., 2006; Chernyak E.M. Sociology of the family M., 2004, etc.
• See: Zritneva E.I. Sociology of the family. M: Humanitarian. Ed. VLADOS Center, 2006.

Family -- a small social group of society based on marital union and family ties (husband and wife, parents and children, other relatives), on joint management of a common household and mutual moral responsibility.

Family life is characterized by material and spiritual processes. Generations of people change through the family, a person is born into it, and the family continues through it. The family, its forms and functions directly depend on social relations as a whole, as well as on the level of cultural development of society. Naturally, the higher the culture of society, therefore, the higher the culture of the family.

The concept of family should not be confused with the concept of marriage. The family is a more complex system of relationships than marriage, because... it unites not only spouses, but also their children and other relatives.

Currently there are 40 million families in Russia. Approximately 69% of families consist of spouses with children. During the period between the censuses from 1970 to 1979, approximately 23 million marriages were concluded in the USSR and about 7 million divorces were issued. In the 80s 2.7 million marriages were concluded annually and at the same time 900 thousand marriages were dissolved. Every year, approximately 300 thousand children are left without a father. One feature of Soviet families should be noted: if in 1959 10% of all families were ethnically mixed, then in 1979 there were already 15%.

Intrafamily relationships can be both personal (relationships between mother and son) and group (between parents and children or between married couples in large families).

The essence of a family is reflected in its functions, structure and role behavior of its members.

The most important functions of the family are: reproductive, economic and consumer, educational and restorative.

Reproductive function includes the reproduction of the number of parents in children, i.e. takes part in quantitative and

quality reproduction of the population.

The reproductive function of the family is negatively affected by divorce, so society cannot be indifferent to this phenomenon. Great importance is attached to the health of the spouses and their ability to reproduce themselves. Statistics show that up to 15% of families suffer from infertility, and 40% of them are due to the infertility of the husband. At the same time, the increase in two- and three-child families is constrained not only by the personal aspirations of the spouses, but also by economic conditions and legal provisions. It was the latter factors that were the reason why in 1997 the mortality rate exceeded the birth rate in Russia.

Today, a significant part of young people either do not receive information at all about the family, about this complex side of relationships, or receive it very little, which negatively affects both the functioning of the family and the stability of marriages. Unfortunately, preparation for marriage comes down to only theoretical expositions of some dogmas of family life. However, this course also requires emotional, psychological readiness, a culture of interpersonal relationships, which the family must establish. Such emotional preparedness is the basis of the ability to love, be careful, attentive, and sensitive to one’s neighbor, try to understand others and correctly evaluate one’s behavior.

Of course, one family is not able to optimize the process of self-determination of young people in the sphere of personal life. This is a task that the entire educational system is called upon to solve, including art, mass information, public opinion, and public organizations.

Concerning economic and consumer functions of the family, then it covers such aspects of family relations as housekeeping and a single budget. Among the various aspects of this function, we can especially highlight the problem of “family power” and the socialization of the child in preparing him for a future independent life.

The trend towards establishing equality in the family is inherently positive. At the same time, the bias towards the feminization of family management due to the increased economic independence of women and her decisive role in raising children leads to a violation of psychological comfort.

The family as the primary unit is the educational cradle of humanity. The family mainly raises children. In the family, the child receives his first labor skills. He develops the ability to appreciate and respect the work of people, there he gains experience in caring for parents, relatives and friends, learns the reasonable consumption of various material goods, and accumulates experience in dealing with money.

The best example is the example of parents. In most cases, children are a reflection of their parents. Of course, the educational function does not end there. We can also talk about self-education in the family.

If we talk about a child, then in the family he receives his first labor skills: he is engaged in self-care, provides help around the house, gains experience in caring for parents, brothers and sisters, and most importantly, learns the reasonable consumption of material and spiritual goods.

The effectiveness of family education depends, on the one hand, on the socio-economic potential of the family, on the other hand, on the moral and psychological climate. family marriage social institution

The family influences a person’s entire life, but its most significant role is at the very beginning of life’s journey, when the moral, psychological, and emotional foundations of the individual are laid. Like no other social group, the family has a huge range of educational influence. This is a particularly trusting moral and emotional atmosphere between its members, a clear example of parents in fulfilling social and family responsibilities, joint work, conversations with children on topics that interest them, and finally, the authority of parents in solving a number of complex and important problems for a child and adolescent, etc. d.

The family most easily and effectively carries out an individual approach to a person, notices mistakes in educational activities in a timely manner, actively stimulates positive qualities that appear (sometimes very early) and fights against negative character traits. Moreover, if we take into account that in the first years of a child’s life there are a number of important “sensitive peaks” of development (emotions, cognitive activity, character), then the importance of family education turns out to be an almost irreplaceable component among other social institutions. That is why, by missing out on opportunities to influence a child in the preschool years, the family is often deprived of them altogether.

Of course, every family, every adult has its own forms and limits of possibilities for working with children. This depends not only on the economic basis of the family, the education and general culture of its members, and not even always on the pedagogical abilities of one or another parent (they can also be aimed at nurturing sanctimonious and selfish qualities). These possibilities are determined by the totality of the spiritual and moral traits of each of the spouses and family members, its moral and psychological atmosphere.

True authority is gained not simply by didactic instructions (as they try to do in the family, and especially at school), but by one’s way of life and behavior. Usually such authority is not subject to any inflation. The authority of force, dependence, and fear easily turns into its opposite as soon as it is deprived of its supports. For example, a teenager gains physical strength, and parents are no longer able to punish him. Or: a young man begins to earn money by any means, sometimes dishonest, and his parents cannot, as before with their “handouts,” force him to respect himself and listen to their opinion. The problem of moral authority within the family is very important and relevant, since its solution goes far beyond the boundaries of the family and school.

Real upbringing in a family is a lot of work: both physical, when the mother takes care of the baby, and mental, when it comes to his spiritual development. Unfortunately, this requirement is not adequately recognized by society (education is not sufficiently stimulated financially, and the moral and social value of the work of a mother-educator is not equated either in public opinion or in labor legislation with professional work), and even by the family itself, which often educates

(sometimes not bad) only by its “being”.

Restorative function family consists of maintaining health, vitality, organizing leisure and recreation, the family becomes a healthy environment where any family member has the right to rely on the caring attitude of relatives and friends. This requires not only moral and psychological preparation, but also compliance with the work and rest schedule, diet, etc.

Leisure activities play a big role in recovery. Leisure serves as a means of restoring a person’s physical and spiritual strength. Leisure often happens differently for everyone. Someone watches TV, listens to music, etc. this is passive relaxation. A person needs active recreation - traveling, walking. This brings more health to the family as a whole and each of its members.

The structure of a family is understood as the totality of relations between its members, including, in addition to kinship relations, a system of spiritual, moral relations, including relations of power, authority, etc. They distinguish an authoritarian structure, where families are divided into authoritarian and democratic. An analogue to this is the division into patriarchal, matriarchal and egalitarian families. Egalitarian families currently occupy a leading position in developed countries.

Role interaction in a family is a set of norms and patterns of behavior of some family members in relation to others. Traditional roles, when a woman ran a household and raised children, and the husband was the owner, owner of property and ensured the economic independence of the family, have changed. Today, the overwhelming number of women are involved in production activities and economic support for the family. On the one hand, this contributed to the development of women as individuals and the equality of spouses, but on the other hand, it led to a decrease in the birth rate and an increase in the number of divorces. The basis of modern marriage is not the economic or status, but the emotional aspects of interpersonal relationships.

The family is the oldest, the very first social institution, and it arose during the formation of society. At the first stages of the development of society, relations between women and men, older and younger generations were regulated by tribal and clan traditions and customs, which were based on religious and moral ideas. With the emergence of the state, the regulation of family relations acquired a legal nature. Legal registration of marriage imposed certain obligations not only on the spouses, but also on the state that sanctioned their union. From now on, social control was exercised not only by public opinion, but also by the state. Family has several definitions from the point of view of different sciences and approaches. Its typical and most important features are:

small group of people

unites these people - marriage or consanguinity (parents, children, brothers, sisters),

The family, as a social institution, performs certain social functions (the main ones are reproductive, socialization of children, child support), and society therefore provides the family with the means to perform these functions. Such a means, for example, is the institution of marriage, and the institution of divorce that arose later.

The structure of a family is a set of relationships between its members, which includes: the structure of kinship, the structure of power and leadership, the structure of roles, the structure of communications.

To understand the family as a social institution, the analysis of role relationships in the family is of great importance. Family role is one of the types of social roles of a person in society. Family roles are determined by the place and functions of the individual in the family group and are divided into marital (wife, husband), parental (mother, father), children (son, daughter, brother, sister), intergenerational and intragenerational (grandfather, grandmother, elder, younger) etc. Role relationships in a family can be characterized by role agreement or role conflict. In the modern family, there is a process of weakening of the family as a social institution, a change in its social functions. The family is losing its position in the socialization of individuals, in organizing leisure time and other functions. Traditional roles, in which a woman gave birth and raised children, ran a household, and the husband was the owner, owner of property, and economically provided for the family, were replaced by role ones, in which a woman began to play an equal or higher role with a man. This changed the way the family functioned and had positive and negative consequences. On the one hand, this contributed to the establishment of equality between women and men, on the other hand, it aggravated conflict situations and reduced the birth rate.

The role and functions of the family in society

a) educational - socialization of the younger generation, maintaining the cultural reproduction of society;

b) household - maintaining the physical health of members of society, caring for children and elderly family members;

c) economic - obtaining material resources from some family members for others, economic support for minors and disabled members of society;

d) the sphere of primary social control - moral regulation of the behavior of family members in various spheres of life, as well as regulation of responsibilities and obligations in relations between spouses, parents and children, representatives of the older and middle generations;

e) spiritual communication - personal development of family members, spiritual mutual enrichment;

f) social status - providing a certain social status to family members, reproduction of the social structure;

g) leisure - organization of rational leisure, mutual enrichment of interests;

h) emotional - receiving psychological protection, emotional support, emotional stabilization of individuals and their psychological therapy

The identification of types of families and their classification can be carried out on various grounds:

1) according to the form of marriage:

a) monogamous (marriage of one man with one woman);

b) polyandry (a woman has several spouses);

c) polygyny (marriage of one man with two or more of us);

2) by composition:

a) nuclear (simple) - consisting of a husband, wife and children (complete) or with the absence of one of the parents (incomplete);

b) complex - include representatives of several generations;

3) according to the number of children:

a) childless;

b) single children;

c) small children;

d) large families (three or more children);

4) by stages of civilizational evolution:

a) a patriarchal family of a traditional society with the authoritarian power of the father, in whose hands is the solution to all issues;

b) egalitarian-democratic, based on equality in the relationship between husband and wife, on mutual respect and social partnership.

Modern researchers identify four main characteristics families: small social group; an important form of organizing personal life; a social institution based on marriage; multilateral relations of spouses with relatives. A family can be defined as a community based on both marriage and blood relationship. This is an association of people connected, as a rule, by a common life, as well as mutual responsibility and mutual assistance. Marriage is a historically changing social form of relations between the sexes, through which society regulates and sanctions sexual life and establishes parental rights and responsibilities. The family is thus a more complex entity than just a marriage group. The family is considered as a social institution, determined by a system of connections and relationships of individuals, with a stable structured organization, which has a significant impact on the social structure of society, population reproduction and the socialization of new generations.

Characterizing the institution of family, we point to its functions:1) population reproduction, 2) economic-economic, 3) educational, 4) recreational, 5) social control. At the same time, it is believed that the family is a proven social institution, which is only engaged in passing on everything valuable from social experience that has been accumulated by previous generations. We can and should agree with this. But, on the other hand, fulfilling its function of transmitting social experience, the institution of family is not limited only to that experience that is acceptable from the point of view of the interests of society. The family, as a social institution, performs the function of accumulating all social experience, including that which cannot in any way be called socially necessary from the point of view of tomorrow; it also performs a selective function - selection, assimilation, processing of this experience, based on the interests and needs of specific people. In addition, the family performs the function of adapting the social experience accumulated by previous generations to new conditions. On the other hand, habits such as alcohol abuse, smoking, other negative habits, lack of physical education, immorality, as research shows, are largely within the family that form the basis of people’s system of value orientations. Childbirth, for example, is the most important function of the family. However, the family simultaneously takes an active part in the process of increasing the pathological load in the population; women with primary education, as statistics show, give birth per thousand people twice as much as women with higher education; the time a woman spends on household duties does not leave her the opportunity to develop her professional qualities, inhibits social, professional and qualification growth, etc. Understanding the family as a social institution involves studying the interaction of the family with other institutions of society (political, economic, education) . The family is considered as a small social group when it comes to internal connections in the family. Such consideration makes it possible to resolve questions about the motives and causes of marriage and divorce, the dynamics of marital relations, etc. In sociology, various bases for distinguishing family types are accepted. Depending on the form of marriage, the following are distinguished: types family organizations:

1. Monogamy(a type of marriage in which a man and a woman enter into, but they are not allowed to enter into more than one marriage at a time).

2. Polygamy(a form of marriage that involves the presence of more than one partner in a marriage) historically appears in two forms: polygyny (polygyny) and polyandry (one wife has several husbands).

Depending on the structure of family ties (family structure is understood as the totality of relationships between its elements), various types of families:

1) nuclear (simple) family (it consists of parents with unmarried children);

2) extended or related (complex) family (with parents or relatives of one of the spouses).

Types of families by the presence of spouses: complete and incomplete.

Types of families by presence and number of children: large, medium-sized, one-child, childless. From the point of view of hierarchy, prestige, and power structure in the family, they are distinguished: traditional (with such historical types as patriarchal and matriarchal) and modern.

Well-known domestic researcher A.G. Kharchev identified the following main family functions :

- reproductive(biological reproduction of the population on a social level and meeting the need for children on a personal level);

- educational(socialization of the younger generation, maintaining the continuity of culture in society);

- household(maintaining the physical health of members of society);

- spiritual communication(development of personal qualities of family members);

-social status(reproduction of social structure);

- economic(receipt of material resources by some family members from others);

-sphere of primary social control(regulation of the behavior of family members in various spheres of life);

- leisure(organization of joint recreation);

- emotional(receiving mental protection and support);

- sexy(sexual control, satisfaction of sexual needs).

The functions of the family are historical and related to the socio-economic conditions in society, therefore, over time, both the nature of the functions and their hierarchy change.

The field of study of family sociology includes the living conditions of the family, its way of life, family ideology, problems of the success of marriage and family relations, and stages of the family life cycle. It is customary to consider the following periods: stages of family life:

Premarital,

· creating a family,

· formation of a young family,

· birth of a child (children),

· upbringing,

· family functioning,

· regulation of interpersonal relationships,

· family breakdown or transformation (divorce, death of a spouse).

A considerable part of marriages are arranged marriages. In most cases, the calculation is material, often selfish. Such calculations can be more mundane (registration, car, etc.) and more sophisticated. There is a calculation that is not material, but moral, when people get married out of fear of loneliness, the desire to have children, out of a feeling of gratitude. Such marriages can also turn out to be successful, especially when mutual understanding and love replace calculation.

It is impossible not to mention that one of the scientific trends in the sociology of the family - the paradigm of the crisis of the family as a social institution - gives grounds for gloomy forecasts about the prospects of the family. There is an opinion that its social potential has been exhausted. Indeed, statistics in recent years record an increase in the number of marriages, but in parallel the number of divorces continues to increase, which accordingly increases the number of incomplete marriages, the so-called. fragment families (parent plus child). The one-child family remains the most popular family model. Only officially a huge “army” of street children (about 2 million) is registered in Russia. The conclusions are disappointing: the family as a social institution fails to cope with the basic functions of reproduction and socialization of new generations.

As already mentioned, the modern family has a variety of forms and types. In each typology, the predominant type of family can be identified. Model modern Russian family looks something like this:

· by number of children– often with one child or no children at all;

· by number of family roles– incomplete (with one parent);

· at the place of residence– forced patri- or matrilocal (respectively – expanded), less often – unilocal (nuclear);

· based on a registered marriage or cohabitation without marriage;

· by the way power is distributed in the family;

· according to the social status of the spouses – homogeneous(socially homogeneous);

· according to the nationality of the spouses– single-national or international.

There are also such phenomena as same-sex- homosexual families.

The picture is motley, often not corresponding to the generally accepted definition of a family. It seems that the performance of certain family functions is “assigned” to a certain type of family: for example, the reproduction function is for single-parent families, the economic support function is for one-child complete families or childless ones, since it has been proven that the birth of each subsequent child negatively affects the material well-being of the members families. At the same time, the functions of socialization and continuity of family generations can be performed by different types of families, but on condition: they must be prosperous.

Assessing the prospects for the functioning of the social institution of the family, we can highlight two, in our opinion, important aspects of the problem: firstly, the ability of the family to perform the functions assigned to it, aimed at meeting the needs of society; secondly, the functions of the family in the future, in accordance with the changing needs of society. For example, the need for reproduction, so relevant today, may lose its significance - it is possible that in the near future humanity will learn to produce its own kind without the participation of the family.

A family is a social group within which there is a certain connection. This could be by blood, marriage or adoption. All its members have a common budget, everyday life, presence and responsibility for each other. There are also between them, which lead to biological connections, rules of law, responsibility, etc. The family is the most important social institution. Many experts are concerned about this topic, so they diligently research it. Later in the article we will consider this definition in more detail, we will find out the functions and goals outlined by the state in front of the “unit of society”. The classification and characteristics of the main types will also be given below. Let us also consider the basic elements of family and group in society.

Divorces. Statistical data

A family is a small social group connected by many factors, for example, marriage. But, unfortunately, in our time, according to statistics, the number of divorces is steadily growing, and Russia has recently taken a leading place in this list. Previously, it was always overtaken by the United States. Although, of course, many new unions are being created. Every year 2 million marriages are registered in our country.

Needs of humanity

The family as a social group and social institution arose a long time ago, before religion, the army, or the state. Another American Abraham Maslow, who diligently studied psychology, created a model that shows what exactly a person desires in the first place. The concept of family as a social group includes:

1. Sexual and physiological needs.

2. Confidence in the safety of existence.

3. Communication with other people.

4. Needs to be recognized as an individual in society.

5. Self-realization.

Thanks to the combination of these needs, the entire family structure is formed. There are several categories of it. Based on the number of children, families are divided into childless, small and large families. There is a classification according to how long the spouses have lived together: newlyweds, middle-aged couples, elderly couples. There are also rural and urban, authoritarian and egalitarian families (based on who is the head of the family).

Historical facts

The family, as the most important social institution, creates the history of all mankind. After all, even in ancient times there were groups of people who were united by something in common. By the way, there are still some primitive societies, for example, among the peoples of the North or the tribes of Central Africa, where the institution of marriage is almost the only one that functions stably. There are no specific laws, the police and the court are not responsible. But any such unions, nevertheless, have a social group. For example, which includes a husband, wife and their children. If there are still relatives - grandparents, grandchildren, cousins, etc. - then this will already be an extended family. But unfortunately, nowadays, most people do not really keep in touch with other relatives, so the nuclear family is a social institution that is more common today. Which is very bad, because in any life circumstances one could get help from relatives, if one does not forget that they exist.

Forms of marriage

The concept of family as a social group includes the traditional concept. It all starts with a relationship between a man and a woman, which develops into something more. And it doesn’t matter whether this union has children or not, they can unite their destinies together. Subsequently, it may break up as a result of divorce or the death of one of the spouses. Such a family, in which a child is raised by one parent, is called incomplete in the sociological literature. There is also such a thing as exogamy. It lies in the fact that the choice of a partner is limited to a specific group of people.

After all, for example, it is prohibited according to legal and moral norms to marry one’s own brother - one’s own brother or one’s cousin. Some societies prohibit the choice of a future spouse within one's clan or tribe. It also happens that a union is impossible between persons of different races and different strata of society. More popular in the West is monogamy, which involves marriage between two people of the opposite sex. Although there are peoples who prefer polygamy (a union where there is more than one person in a marriage). There are even non-standard relationships when several girls and several men unite into a family. And it also happens that one woman has several husbands. This phenomenon is called polyandry. But among non-standard marriages, polygamy is the most popular. Thus, the family, as the most important social institution, must comply with the laws adopted where it was formed.

Prevalence of divorces, their causes

Sociologists have noticed that since 1970, the number of divorces began to increase, and now they are so common that, according to statistics, half of Russians who form families will certainly get divorced after some time. By the way, it has been proven that when there is an economic downturn in a country, the number of divorces increases, and when there is calm in the economy, then there are fewer of them. Probably, if a person feels the financial stability that gives him and other factors return to normal, he feels satisfied. The family as a social group and social institution directly depends on society and its instability. Many countries try to prevent divorce by making it almost impossible, or give privileges to one of the spouses. For example, in Italy until the twentieth century. the task of dissolving the marriage was impossible. Only later did the government take pity on those whose unions were unsuccessful and allowed divorces. But in most countries, if a husband leaves his wife, then he must provide for her life at the level at which she was during the marriage. In this case, the man loses his financial condition. In Russia, people share property. If children stay with their mother (this is mostly what happens), then the father must provide for them financially. There are many different nuances in the legislation of each country.

Human characteristics

In one country or another, a social institution - the family (whose functions are supported by marriage) - acquires special features, its own nature. It has been scientifically proven that not any creature, but only people can conceive a child at their desired period. After all, many animals reproduce only at a certain time, but a person does not have such restrictions; intimacy between a woman and a man can occur on any day. Another difference is that a newborn baby is in a helpless state for a long time. He needs care and concern, which his mother can give, and his father, in turn, must provide for him economically, namely, give him everything he needs: food, clothing, etc. Even in ancient times, when society was just beginning to develop , the mother looked after the baby, prepared food, and took care of her relatives. At the same time, the father, in turn, provided them with protection and food. A man has always been a hunter, a breadwinner, and did hard work. People of opposite sexes entered into relationships, offspring developed, and children appeared. No one carried out the tasks of the other, this was considered wrong, because everyone had their own responsibilities. This is inherent in the human body by nature and is passed on genetically from generation to generation.

Heir Advantage

As for agriculture and production, we can say that the family plays a very important role here. Thanks to continuity, material resources appeared. All property was transferred to the heir, thus, parents were confident in the state of the future of their children, among whom property, status, and privileges were subsequently distributed and redistributed. This, one might say, is the replacement of some people in a certain place by others, and this chain will never stop. The family is the main social institution that performs this function, determines the advantages of generations, the role of father and mother. After all, everything that parents had was passed on to their children. This ensured not only the heirs’ confidence in the future, but also the continuation of one or another production. And this is important for the whole society, because without a mechanism that will always replace some people with others, it will not exist. On the other hand, for example, some important production for the city will not be lost, because it will be taken over by the heir when his father is no longer able to manage the business or dies.

Status

A child receives a stable position when born into a legal family. Everything that the parents have will be passed on to him as an inheritance, but moreover, this also applies to social status, religion, etc. None of this will be lost, everything will go to the heir. In general, human relationships are structured in such a way that one can find out the relatives of a particular person, her condition, and status. The family is a social institution that shows a person’s position in society, largely determined by his origin. Although in the modern world you can earn some kind of status through your own efforts. For example, a father, working in some company in an important position, will not be able to inherit it to his son. In order for the latter to receive it, he must achieve it himself. But a lot of things that are transferable have also been preserved: property (after all, inheritance can be transferred), the social status of an individual, etc. Each country dictates its own rules, so different nations have different laws that relate to marriage, divorce, and inheritance. But in general, the family is a social institution of society, which has its own rules and nuances.

The importance of proper parenting

From childhood, the mother teaches the child lessons in social life, he learns from the examples of his parents to live on. It is very important to provide a good emotional life for your offspring, because in this case there is a direct connection: how he is raised in the family, so he will be in life. Of course, a person’s character depends on genes, but family upbringing also makes a big contribution to it. Much depends on the feelings and mood that the father or mother gives. It is the close people who must prevent the emergence of aggressive qualities in a developing teenager, give him a sense of security, and share his emotions.

From birth, a person is formed as a person, because with every minute he lives, he learns something new, feels something that he has never felt before. All this leaves an imprint on the future character, on individuality. They say that, for example, what kind of relationship between father and mother their son will observe, this is how he will treat women in the future, what feelings his parents will give him, the same way he will treat those around him.

Suicides due to relationships that didn't work out

E. Durkheim studied statistics regarding suicide. And it has been observed that those who are single or divorced are more likely to commit suicide than those who are married, as are those who do not have children, although they are married. This means that the happier the spouses, the less likely they are to attempt suicide. According to statistics, 30% of murders are committed within the family. Sometimes even a social system can upset the balance of a social unit.

How to save a relationship?

Many spouses make a plan of sorts. The family as a social group in this case receives certain tasks and goals. Together we find ways to achieve them. Spouses must preserve their hearth, provide their children with a good upbringing and living conditions, and direct the child’s development in the right direction from childhood. These foundations of the family structure, laid down in ancient generations, still exist. The problems of the family as a social institution should be considered by all relatives. Together they must preserve and pass on to their heirs ideas about the fundamentals of the structure of society, which so influence the preservation of the family, regardless of political regimes. The family is an intermediary between the individual and society. It is she who helps a person find himself in this world, realize his qualities and talents, gives him protection, helps him stand out from the crowd, and be individual. This is the most important task of the family. And if she doesn’t do all this, then she won’t fulfill her functions. A person who does not have a family will feel more and more his own inferiority with each passing year. At the same time, he may appear and develop some negative qualities. These are very important nuances that you should pay attention to when raising a child. After all, the formation of his personality begins from the first days.

Development of the individuality of each person

The family as a social group and social institution plays an important role. After all, it is she who raises an individual who can live in society. On the other hand, it protects from external factors and supports in difficult times. No one in the world worries or worries about anyone as much as he does about his relative. And, without hesitation, he helps loved ones. It is in the family that one can find comfort, sympathy, consolation, and protection. When this institution falls apart, a person loses the support he had before.

Meaning

The family is a small social group, but it is very important for the whole society. With changes in politics and economics, its structures and functions also change. The emergence of a modernized, urbanized and industrial society had a huge impact on the modern unit of society. The level of mobility of its members began to increase. In other words, situations have become commonplace when one of the family members has to move to another city, where he was offered a job or promotion, leaving his relatives. And since the majority of members of modern society give preference to material well-being, success, and career growth, the proposed options are no longer considered unacceptable for them. And if this happens, then, from a social point of view, in this case the internal relationships of family members also change, because the social status of one of them changes, his financial situation, his views, aspirations. All this leads to the fact that the ties that bind relatives gradually become weak, and then disappear altogether.

Conclusion

Nowadays, especially for city residents, it is increasingly difficult to maintain connections between generations. By and large, the structure is extremely weakened. Basically, all the care of its members is aimed only at caring for children, their treatment and education. Other relatives - especially older ones - are often left behind. Misunderstandings and material instability that arise on this basis contribute to the destruction of relationships between a man and a woman, the emergence of quarrels, and often even lead to separation. Problems of spiritual intimacy between spouses are important, but more important are those issues that need to be resolved with all family members. The family as a social group and social institution will function and achieve success only when each of its members understands that his achievements, his merits influence it, and the origin of the individual and his social position play a very small role. Now personal merit has an undeniable advantage over obligations. After all, with their help a person will decide where to live and what to do. Unfortunately, the nuclear system is more vulnerable and dependent on external factors (illness, death, financial losses) than the patriarchal system, in which everyone supports each other, helps each other, and if any problem happens, everyone can solve it together. Today, all actions and thoughts of our state and society are aimed at creating conditions for the harmonious development of the family in Russia, at preserving its spiritual value, socio-cultural character, and connections between relatives.