THE FAMILY: A Social

Institution
by
Prof. Fernando R. Pedrosa, LL.B., Ph.D.
UST CRS, Sociology-Anthropology
1st Sem., 2009-2010
Basic Foundations of the Family
 Authentic Friendship – mutual self-giving
 Essential requisites of
friendship:
1. Knowledge (Pagkikilala)
2. Respect (Paggalang)
3. Care (Pagaalaga)
4. Responsibility (Pananagutan)
 Friendship: the foundation of love
 Love: total self-giving without any
recompense.
 Kinds of love:
Traditional/Classical:
1. Erotic (eros) – passionate/sensual kind
of love
2. Platonic (Plato) – love of friendship
3. Filial (filia) – love of parents
4. Fraternal (frater) – love of brothers/sisters
5. Agapeic (agape) – spiritual kind of love
 Erotic love – love of concupiscence
 Platonic/Agapeic – love of benevolence
 Contemporary/Modern kind of love:
1. Cliché – superficial kind of love (Erotic)
2. Gut – deeper kind of love (Platonic)
3. Peak – highest kind of love (Agapeic)
 Love: Foundation of marriage
 Marriage – stable union entered into by a man
and a woman without any impediments, for the
purpose of procreation and education of
children, and for mutual support and
helpfulness.
 Primary purpose: procreation/education of
children (procreative).
Secondary purpose: mutual support and
helpfulness (unitive).
 The requisites of valid marriage
(according to the Family Code (Civil
Code):
1. The legal capacity of the contracting
parties (i.e. male/female, 18 yrs. old
over)
2. Marriage license issued by a competent
authority (i.e. civil registrar’s office)
3. Authority of the solemnizing officer (i.e.
judge or priest)
4. Presence of at least two credible
witnesses of legal age.
5. Consent freely given by both parties.
 Stable union – marriage is a permanent
and an indissoluble contract.
Obstacles to stable union:
1. Legal separation
2. Annulment of marriage
3. Divorce
 Annulment of marriage – declaration by the court of the
nullity ab initio of marriage; grounds for annulment
happened even before the administration/celebration of
marriage.
 Grounds for annulment: Based on -
1. Legal capacity of the contracting
parties:
- legal age
- consent freely given
- unrelated up to the 4th civil degree
- absence of existing marriage of one or
both parties
2. Authority of the solemnizing officer
- unauthorized to solemnize marriage
3. Physical capacity
- impotence on the part of the male
- frigidity on the part of the female
4. Psychological capacity
- insanity
- homosexuality/lesbianism
- other sexual perversions
 After annulment:
- if the couple have a child, the child
remains to be legitimate.
- the couple can remarry.
- if they are Catholics and have received
the sacrament of matrimony, they still
have to file for another annulment before
the ecclesiastical tribunal
 Legal separation – declaration by the court
of the separation from bed and board of
the couple, but the marital bond (tie) still
exists; the conjugal partnership property
(community property) is dissolved.
 The grounds for legal separation
happened after the celebration of
marriage.
 Grounds for legal separation:
1. abandonment by one party of the family
2. cruelty (physical / psychological abuse)
3. adultery on the part of the wife
4. concubinage on the part of husband
 After legal separation:
- the couple start to live separately from
each other, but they cannot contract
another marriage to other partners.
- conjugal partnership property
(community property) is dissolved and is
divided equally.
 Divorce – is like annulment of marriage,
but it is not recognized in the Philippines;
there is no law yet to that effect.
 As of now, Philippine Congress cannot
enact law on divorce because doing so will
be tantamount to violating the
constitutional provision (i.e. Art. II, Sec.
12).
 Art. II. Section 11. “The State values the
dignity of every human person and guarantees
full respect for human rights.”
 Art. II. Section 12. “The State recognizes the
sanctity of family life and shall protect and
strengthen the family as a basic autonomous
social institution. It shall protect the life of the
mother and the life of the unborn from
conception. The natural and primary right and
duty of the parents in the rearing of the youth
for civic efficiency and the development of
moral character shall receive the support of the
Government.”
 Sec. 12 categorically emphasizes the
strengthening of the family as a basic social
institution. Therefore, the government may
not enact any law or initiate measures that
would break up or weaken the family as a
social unit, or in the guise of protecting the
family, interfere in purely internal family
matters which do not involve the social
order or any public policy.
 OurCivil Code (i.e. Articles 216-222; Arts.
56-60, 68, 149-151, Family Code) lays
down certain general principles which
sustain the solidarity of the family not only
for the guidance of the courts and
administrative officials, but also for their
wholesome influence upon members of
every family.
 Marriage: the foundation of the family
 Family
- for thousand of years, ever since human
beings began their existence, families
have provided their basic food and
shelter and emotional comfort for their
members.
- it is regarded as one of the oldest human
institutions of the world.
 Family – a social unit composed of two or
more people who live together and are
related by blood, marriage, and adoption.
 It includes adults of both sexes, who
maintain socially approved sexual
relationships, and one or more children,
owned or adopted.
 For George Murdock, “the family is a
social group characterized by common
residence, economic cooperation, and
reproduction. It includes adults of both
sexes, at least two of whom maintain a
socially approved sexual relationship, and
one or more children, owned or adopted,
of the sexually cohabiting adults.”
 Other sociologists and anthropologists
define the family as “a group of people
who are united by ties of marriage,
ancestry, or adoption, and who are
recognized by the community as
constituting a single household and as
having responsibility for rearing children.”
 The role of the family
- Families perform three functions:
1. Sexual regulation
- family regulates the sexual behavior
of people in any given society.
2. Biological reproduction
- all societies need to reproduce their
members for survival.
3. Economic activity
- organizing production and
consumption.
- to survive, all societies must meet
the subsistence need of their
members’ food, shelter, and warmth.
 4. Socialization
- socializing children
- providing emotional intimacy and
support
- providing care and attention
- providing social status
- providing mechanism for social
control
- family serves as the individual’s first
and foremost school where every
child learns the basic lesson in life.
- providing maintenance of order.
- providing placement of members in
the larger society.
- maintaining motivation and morale.
 Classification of the family
1. According to organization, structure, and
membership:
a. Nuclear family
1) Family of orientation
2) Family of procreation
b. Extended family
1) Conjugal family
2) Consaguineal family
2. According to place of residence:
a. Patrilocal
b. Matrilocal
c. Bilocal
d. Neolocal
e. Avunlocal
3. According to descent:
a. Patrilineal descent
b. Matrilineal descent
c. Bilateral descent
4. According to authority:
a. Patriarchal
b. Matriarchal
c. Equalitarian
d. Matricentric
5. According to terms of marriage:
a. Monogamy
b. Polygamy
1) polygyny
2) polyandry
3) group marriage
c. Levirate
d. Sororate
 The Art of Parenting
 Adequate parenting skills in terms of
seven tactics:
1. Notice what the child is doing.
2. Keep track of the child’s behavior over
a long period of time.
3. Act in ways you want the child to act
(and not act in ways you do not want the
child to act).
4. Clearly state the rule the child is
expected to obey.
5. Consistently apply the same
punishment for violations of the rules.
6. Consistently reward conformity.
7. Negotiate disagreements so that they
get settled rather than escalate.
 Kinship System
 Every society has a kinship system which
provides the individual with a circle of
socially defined relatives.
- Kinship is an arrangement which enables
individuals to cooperate with one another
in an orderly social life.
 Basis of kinship:
1. Common ancestry – this refers to
people coming from the same or
common biological origin.
- Blood relationship characterizes these
people.
2. Common ancestry – is supplemented by
other recognized ties such as adoption,
and marriage, or affinal ties.
3. Pseudo kinship – may also be
considered as a source of relationships.
This may be illustrated through any of
the following:
a. Figurative – stressing a particular
quality associated with kin or within a
special context. (Ex. Lolo/lola to
express seniority)
b. Fictive or artificial kinship – one is
given the status of kin by attribution
rather than birth. (Ex. Son for son-
in-law)
c. Ritual kinship – characterized by
kinlike ties through ceremonial
association. (Ex. Compadre or
ritual co-parenthood)
 Modernization of the Family
 Urbanization and industrialization
consequently affect the family. Consider
the following:
1. More favorable attitude towards working
wives and mothers.
2. Changing role structure of the family.
3. Decline in the authority of husband and
father.
4. Decline in the family’s influence on the
individual.
5. More permissive norms and behavior.
6. Breakdown of the consaguineal family
as a functional unit.
 Changing Marital Roles
The rise of working wives and mothers has
given rise to different roles of the husband
or father, or even of other members of the
family. Here are four basic factor affecting
marital roles in general: (Duvall)
1. Historical setting or the social and
economic situation at a particular time
2. The socio-economic status of the family
3. Unforeseen situations and special
circumstances
4. Personal aspirations
 The New Family Code:
Amendments
1. The husband and wife now jointly fix the
family domicile (Art. 69).
2. The husband and wife are jointly responsible
for the support and management of the family
and household (Art. 70-71).
3. The administration and enjoyment of the
communal property or the conjugal
partnership property belong to the spouses
jointly (Arts. 96-124).
 Likewise, both spouses jointly exercise
legal guardianship over the property of their
unemancipated common children (Art.
225).
4. The husband and wife may exercise any
legitimate profession, occupation, business,
or activity without the consent of the other
(Art. 73).
5. The grounds for legal separation such as
sexual infidelity or perversion may be
applied or be invoked equally by either
spouse (Art. 55).
6.The husband and the wife jointly exercise
parental authority over the person of their
common children, although in case of
disagreement, the husband’s decision
prevails; in the absence or death of either
spouse, the other one continues exercising
parental authority; the remarriage of the
surviving spouse does not affect the
parental authority over the children (Arts.
211-212).
Child Rearing in the Philippines
1. Goals of socialization
2. Child care practices
3. Child-rearing techniques
(Pls. read p. 323)