Family Concepts & Structures

Before examining the global state of the family, it is important to review some of the basic
concepts used to characterize the diversity in family structures and processes. At the
macrosociological level, the family is a social institution present in all human societies. As such
it fulfills different functions in a variety of ways. According to Elaine Leeder (2004), the most
common functions are listed below:

 Procreation
 Socialization
 Regulation of Sexual Behavior
 Division of Labor
 Economic Provision for Members
 Affective and Emotional Needs
 Status-Giving Properties

At the more microsociological level, a family unit is a group of people sharing a relationship
based on biology, marriage or adoption and who fulfill the functions listed above, and who
usually live together (individuals living together, regardless of their relationship or whether they
fulfill common social functions, constitute a household). Individuals usually belong to two types
of families: a family of orientation in which one is born and raised, and a family of
procreation, created by marriage and having or adopting children. Depending on the number of
generations sharing a household, sociologists distinguish between nuclear family – household
composed of parents and children – and extended family – a family unit comprising additional
relatives such as grandparents, siblings or cousins.

Marriage is a usually legally sanctioned, or at least, socially recognized union between two
individuals involving sexual relationships, economic cooperation and childrearing. A marital
relationship also transforms relatives of the bride and groom into kins. Kinship is the social
relationship created by blood, marriage, or adoption.

Because marriage involves social recognition, different social structures generate a variety of
marriage patterns:

Marriage Patterns Variations

  Patriarchy: power of the father
over his children, and of the
husband over his wife; the most
common form
 Matriarchy: power of the
Patterns of power: who
mother /wife; in reality, this pattern
has authority within a
does not exist. The closest form
marriage
involves authority given to the male
relatives of the mother / wife.
 Egalitarian: equal power to both
spouses and/or parents

 Patrilineal: inheritance is passed on

to sons or relatives of the father’s
side; individuals on the father’s side
are relatives; the most common form
Patterns of descent:  Matrilineal: inheritance is passed
how inheritance is on to sons or relatives of the mother;
passed and who is individuals on the mother’s side are
considered a relative relatives
 Bilateral: inheritance is equally
shared among children; individuals
on both sides are relatives

 Patrilocal: the couple resides with

the family of the groom
Patterns of residence:  Matrilocal: the couple resides with
where does the newly- the family of the bride
married couple reside?  Neolocal: the couple creates its own
household

 Endogamy: mates are selected from

within one’s social group (such as
Patterns of mate
caste, tribe, race, or religion)
selection: who can
 Exogamy: mates are selected
marry whom?
outside of one’s social group

Patterns of mate  Monogamy: only one spouse

  Serial monogamy: several spouses
over a lifetime
 Polygamy: more than one spouse;
polygamy comes in two forms
number: how many o Polygyny: one husband,
spouses? several wives, the most
common
o Polyandry: one wife, several
husbands

 Patrifocality: male-headed
Patterns of structural
households with no mother present
dominance: who bears
 Matrifocality: female-headed
the burden of the family
households with no father present
in the absence of the
 Bifocality: both spouses present
other spouse?

Myths About the Family

Ever since the 1950s to this day, common discourse regarding the family, especially in the
United States, has been based on Talcott Parsons’s (Parsons & Bales, 1955) functionalism views.
According to Parsons, the contemporary family form is the nuclear family composed of a
breadwinner husband and a homemaker wife with their children. This particular family form
emerged as a result of modernization and industrialization and displaced the extended family.

This contemporary nuclear family is functional in that the breadwinner provides for the
instrumental needs of the family unit (food and shelter as well as other material needs) whereas
the housewife provides for the expressive needs of the family unit (affective and emotional needs
as well as socialization). As long as individuals perform their instrumental or expressive roles,
the family is a functional unit that contributes to the stability of society as a whole. This
gendered division of labor is therefore viewed as essential for the harmonious and orderly
functioning of society. This view of the family is also called the male breadwinner model.
This theoretical view became the dominant way of examining the family and family life and any
deviation from the male breadwinner model is usually labeled a dysfunctional deviation. This is
especially the case in the United States where Talcott Parsons’s brand of functionalism
dominated social research until the 1960s. Social policies regarding the family are still designed
with an eye to what is now considered the “traditional family,” such as policies encouraging
single mothers to marry in order to get out of poverty through the re-creation of an intact nuclear
family.

Moreover, this model was not only generalized in the United States, it became the prism through
which families around the world were seen as well. This view was especially promoted by
William Goode (1963). In line with modernization theory, Goode postulated that as countries
develop, extended families would be discarded to be replaced by the functional nuclear family,
essential to modern society.

The major problem with these functionalist views is that they are ideologies rather than derived
from observable realities. The so-called traditional family, defined as the male breadwinner
model, was an exceptional occurrence in the Western world after the Second World War, and it
lasted only a few decades. In this sense, it is a socially invented tradition. Moreover, one of the
main functions of ideologies is to maintain the status quo, thereby preserving privileges and
maintaining oppressive social mechanisms. In this case, of course, the functional ideal is based
on relegating women to the domestic sphere while proclaiming at the same time that expressive
roles come more naturally to women and instrument roles more naturally to men. We have
already examined how gender roles are socially constructed in our chapter on gender
stratification. Also, the male breadwinner model of the family was only available to certain
social classes (upper middle and above) as well as to the dominant racial group (whites).

Finally, this ideological view of the family ignores cultural variations in family structures as well
as the impact of changing socio-economic structures. This is what we turn to now.

Family Systems

Further evidence of the misleading and ideological nature of the functionalist the breadwinner
model of the family is revealed by the variations in family structures across the globe. Using
worldwide data, sociologist Goran Therborn (2004) identifies seven family systems, each with
their specific regional social and cultural characteristics. According to Therborn, these different
family systems do not have dynamics of their own but change based on external factors, such as
modernization and globalization. Their inherent characteristics then make them more receptive
or resistant to social change.

 Sub-Saharan Africa

Sub-Saharan Africa (map source) comprises all the countries south of

the Sahara desert and that are not considered part of North Africa. As previously mentioned,
European colonization had a strong impact of African family structures. Nevertheless, the
African family was always strongly based on kinship ties. Depending on the regions, the family
structure may patrilineal or matrilineal but in any cases, male relatives exercise authority.

According to Therborn (2004), a specific African norm is that of substitutability: in the context
of mass polygyny, if a wife does not bear heirs or simply becomes undesirable to the lineage, she
can be easily replaced or substituted by the husband taking another wife. Similarly, if a husband
dies, he can be replaced by his brother.

Another norm that involves fluidity in kinship structure is the mass practice of fostering, lending
and borrowing children among kin when necessity demands it. This practice also underlines the
idea that individuals belong to a wide kinship network and not a narrow-based family structure.

 East Asia
 The East Asian family system (map source) includes Mongolia, China and Japan. The
Chinese society is still dominated by Confucian beliefs. Such beliefs involve a concern for social
order and stability through the subordination of individual wishes to collective and familial
interests.

Central to the Confucian view is the notion of filial piety, that is, the respect for elders as pillars
of childrearing. In other words, the typical Chinese family is a strongly patriarchal and
hierarchical arrangement based on the three rules of obedience: a daughter obeys her father, a
married woman her husband, and a widow her son (Chen and He, 2005).

As part of the collective outlook based on Confucianism, there are still a considerable number of
households comprising three generations based on patrilineality (parents of the husband,
husband and wife, and usually, one child). There is a strong emphasis on family interdependence
which maintains the divorce rate at a low level. These traditional patterns are mixed, and
sometimes conflict, with the Communist regime’s law mandating equality between men and
women as well as with the rapid urbanization and modernization of the Chinese society and the
import of western influence on intimate relationships.

 South Asia

The South Asian family pattern (map source) –

geographically including countries such as India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and
Burma – involves high fertility as well as extended family networks as well as strong religious
influence (Laungani, 2005). Although not all family members live under the same roof, the
Indian family system is extended in the sense that most social relationships and decisions take
place within the network of relatives in the context of mostly Hindu religious norms.
For instance, in India, the sacred nature of marriage creates a low divorce rate based on the
economic and financial dependence of women as well as the strong social stigma associated with
divorce, especially for women. The Indian family system is therefore strongly patriarchal
supported by strong social norms that may cover up dreadful domestic situations. The Indian
family is strictly hierarchical along age and gender lines.

The caste system is still pervasive so that endogamy is still the norm, especially in rural areas
(over 70% of Indians still live in villages). In order to preserve such endogamy, arranged
marriages are still practiced whereby marriages are negotiated between the parents of the
potential husband and wife. As with other family systems, the impact of globalization and the
massive urbanization has strongly impacted the traditional South Asian system.

 West Asia / North Africa

The West Asia – North Africa system (map source) covers countries
such as Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt in Africa, as well as the Middle East in Asia. This
is the area commonly called the Muslim world because this is where Islam seems to exercise the
most influence. In this system as well, collective family interests take precedence over personal
preferences. Moreover, the concept of family honor is particularly strong.
 The behavior of each individual in a
family reflects on the family honor and its standing in the community. It is in this family system
that we find the practice of honor killing: the murder of female family members who are seen as
having shamed the family and tarnished its honor, by being raped for instance or by not
conforming to the dictates of family, tradition or religion.

The fact that the victims of honor killings are women is another indicator of the extreme
patriarchal nature of this family system which is centered on the strict control over the sexuality
of women. This control can take the form of body cover, such as veiling, or of seclusion,
whereby women are not allowed to interact with other men except under very restrictive
conditions. This system also emphasizes high fertility with a strong preference for boys,
especially in rural areas. The value of a woman is often based on her virginity prior to marriage
and her fertility once married.

 Southeast Asia
 The Southeast Asian system (map source) – which includes
countries such as the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, and Malaysia
– enjoys religious diversity that comprises Muslim and Confucian populations whose marital and
sexual norms have been relaxed under Buddhist influence and Malay customs (Therborn, 2004).

For instance, in parts of Indonesia, Muslims do not follow the usual patriarchal family patterns.
On the contrary, they observe matrilinearity. However, the great ethnic diversity of the
Indonesian population generates some degree of extended family-enforced endogamy. Decisions
on who can marry whom are made collectively (Sarwono, 2005).

Similarly, Indonesia has a strong family planning program that emphasizes smaller families and
the health of women through education and improvements in quality of life thanks to
reproductive health clinics. In this sense, the status of Indonesian women is very advanced
compared to other non-western family systems even though Indonesia is a largely Muslim
country.

 Creole America

The Creole American system originated in the European colonization of the Americas and the
Caribbean (which includes countries such as Antigua, Barbados, Jamaica, and Trinidad and
Tobaggo) and the development of the plantation economy largely based on slavery. This estate
system of stratification involved a white European dominant culture with a patriarchal family
system alongside black African, mulatto, and mestizo family patterns. The Creole family pattern
is present throughout the Americas, including African American ghettos in the United States.

According to Jaipaul Roopnarine et al. (2005), the Creole system in the Caribbean is
characterized by a large number of nonmarital unions where fathers and husbands are largely
absent and women assume the most responsibility in childrearing. Such marital patterns come
from the colonial economic system whereby African Caribbean men were forced to leave their
families to work in mines or plantations.
A value system developed whereby African masculinity was based on successive but temporary
sexual relationships and motherhood became the utmost form of femininity. When men and
women live together, it is usually in cohabiting or common law relationships that reproduce the
traditional patriarchal division of labor. This family system is also characterized by child-
shifting, that is, the passing of children to other relatives or acquaintances if the parents find
themselves unable to take care of them. As a result, multiple women are involved in childhood
socialization.

 European And New World Settlements

The Western European system and its New World Settlements (such as the United States and
Canada, as well as some parts of Central and South America) has always been the least
patriarchal of all family systems. Apart from the European monarchies and nobility where
marriage was strictly family-controlled with limited individual choice, this system has been
based on marriage by consent, supported by the Catholic Church (family pressure was not
absent, to be sure, but it was not enshrined into the law). Neolocal pattern has prevented the
practice of child marriage: newlyweds were expected to create their own household, something
that required financial means. As a result, people tended to marry later and to decide on their
own fertility within monogamous arrangements.

The Western system is also the one characterized by dramatic changes over the past centuries,
changes that are still going on today and define the contemporary supposed marriage and family
“crisis.” Before industrialization, as in other parts of the world, marriage and family formation
patterns were patriarchal and fulfilled economic (production) and political (alliance making)
functions. With industrialization, families were stripped of these functions taken over by the
market and the state. What were left to the families were emotional and social functions. This
became known as the love-based male breadwinner model that persisted until the late 1960s.

Since then, cultural and economic factors, such as increased women’s independence and entry
into the workforce have shattered that model to replace it with a more egalitarian one, with a
progressive acceptance of different family forms.

These different family systems are summarized in the table below:

 Family Systems Characteristics
 Patriarchy with some gender autonomy
 Mass polygyny
Sub-Saharan Africa  High fertility
 Authority centered on local chiefs

 Least patriarchal
 Based on marriage by consent
European + New  Neolocal pattern of household formation
World Settlements  Monogamous
 Fertility controlled by couples

 Most explicitly patriarchal

 Confucian filial piety – deference to fathers
and male ancestors
 Fertility geared toward reproducing the
East Asia male bloodline
 Central role of the family as collective
structure in decision-making
 Low religious influence

 Strict patriarchy
 Fertility controlled by patrilineal household
South Asia
 High Islamic influence

 Patriarchy centered on controlling the

sexuality of women, through seclusion or
veiling
West Asia / North
 Patrilocal norms
Africa
 Detailed Islamic control of family matters
stated in legal codes (Sharia law)

Southeast Asia  Less patriarchal

 Less sexually controlled
 Strong parental involvement in marriage
formation
  Bilateral kinship
 Bhuddist relaxed norms

 Patriarchal white ruling class

 Phallocratic culture of informal sexuality,
frequent non-marriage
Creole America  Matrifocal household
 Authority based on racism, and class-based
poverty