Introduction
The paper aims at analyzing the past and current family systems by way of comparison because the present is always the product of the past. The type of change that happens to the institution of the family is gradual that is, various components that constitute the family have amble time of adjusting according. The story of the past offers understanding to the present events happening at various societal levels including the family level.
Through history, therefore we are able to offer coherence to the present world. To arrive at the interjection point between the past and present, a survey was conducted by way of questioning the old. It revealed the changes that have occurred since then to date. Changes occur because of developments in politics, economics, technology and culture. People have developed modern intellectual reasoning that changes the way families are managed.
Production is no longer small subsistence but instead, it has been commercialized posing challenges to the way the family is constituted. Globalization due to expanded technology has brought people close to each other hence affecting the family values in many ways. People in the modern world interact freely while relating to those they want without restriction.
We have the human rights organizations that facilitate equality among all citizens, discrimination based on race, gender and social status is no more. Political awareness has ensured that civil awareness is achieved. The society is governed democratically meaning that autocracy is no longer tolerated. The external forces generated through developments in various societal organizations affect the family unit. As the state is governed democratically, so is the family unit.
Methodology
The correspondent was conducted over the phone, a number of questions were asked to him including mostly those connected to the family values. The correspondent is a village mate and is believed that he has enough knowledge about the lineage of the kinship, which is the custodian of the family values. The old man claimed to have had a troubled background since his parents passed away immediately he was born. It was a big challenge to him living without the support of the parents.
At that time, it was not a problem growing up without parents since the community had a collective responsibility of bringing up children. What he only missed was parental care but not other necessities such as food and clothing since the community provided them. It means that the community was too supportive to its members; someone needed not be around for his/her roles to be performed.
The old man was approached by first informing him how experienced he was in terms of interpreting the society values, he was also informed that the information he could release was confidential and no one could access them. The interviewee accepted to volunteer the information because he noticed that it was only to be utilized academically.
He gave out information for as long as the interview took, the correspondent was co-operative and appreciative. The old man was asked a variety of questions, the questions aimed at obtaining information about the social structure and organization, the socialization processes and agents, lifestyles, norms, source of livelihoods, the roles of various family members and the impact of the larger society to the family.
Results/Outcome of the Survey
Through the interview, it was noticed that many things have changed in the family setting including the way roles are allocated and expectations of individual members. The following themes of patterns were found to have changed.
Social Positions:
At the ancient times, men were considered the heads of families. Women were subordinated in terms of family positions; they were supposed to be homemakers and care takers of the whole family (Humphries 35). They had lesser roles such as upbringing of children, cooking and general cleaning. Women were supposed to respect men always, when men talked women were supposed to listen. Arguing with a man was considered a taboo and amounted to sanctions such as battering and discrimination from the family.
Political positions:
Women were not allowed to contest for any leadership position, leadership was a men’s affair. Selected council, each family being represented by a male member, controlled leadership at the time (Harrop 425). The council was in charge of conflict resolution at the family level. Every clan had its own council whose members were replaced after a specified period. Conflicts at family level were not taken to state courts instead were solved by clan elders, the outcomes of arbitration favored men.
Inheritance and property Acquisition
Women were not allowed to inherit property no matter how much they dominated the family. Boys were automatic heirs to throne in the family. They inherited both property and power. The type of family units were patriarchal, they were male dominated. Children were assumed to belong to the man’s lineage, they were owned by men. Children identified themselves with the father’s side (Edwards 14)
Education and Exposure
Every set of the family members had some form of education; young boys were taken to specific centers to receive training that aided them to cope with the societal norms. Young girls on the other hand were taught how to treat men. Young men after marrying were guided through the procedures that would facilitate happy living.
They were shown to deal with women and children. It is revealed that men received education that is more formal while women received a lot of informal education. Women were only taught on how to suit in the society but men were exposed to formal education. They were taken to school to learn economics power and strategy.
Current Position
It is believed that things have changed greatly; the family is no longer the major agent of socialization in the society. It has lost its position to other agencies mainly the media and the polity (Durkheim 24). The family used to control all aspects of life including production and distribution of goods and services.
The main stratification was based on gender and societal position. The interviewee noted that families do not control their members because members of the family undertake those activities they feel are suitable to them. The positions have since changed too; the female members are being given equal opportunities in the society.
The old man believes that whatever is going on in today is illegal and the society should rise up to the occasion to rectify the situation. The old man though believes that wisdom comes with age, the old should be given the role of leading the community since they will introduce good morals that will change the on going ‘madness’. The old man further alludes that divorce is the biggest challenge of the family institution today (Irwin 101). Being a conservative, he does not believe in change especially political changes.
Conclusion
By way of conclusion, a number of observations were made. The first one was that the family as basic unit of life has lost most of its roles due to the rate at which the world is changing.
The media has taken over the socialization of individuals in the society. The media engages itself in mass awareness about the rights and freedoms of individuals, which has raised civil awareness among women. Women have taken over the roles that were initially thought to be for men such as leadership and providing the basic needs to the unable members of the family.
Jean Bourdieu argues that there exists a social conflict between the old and the young, especially among the ruling class bourgeoisie (Bourdieu 60). The old ruling class are keen in the way they spent their resources, they rarely interact (leave alone relating) with other members of the society.
They hold that their property was obtained in a very difficult way hence no need of spending it haphazardly. The young generation is more learned, and masses interact with them. The type of conflict has extended to the family causing many problems including divorce and juvenile delinquency.
Above all, the family remains the basic unit of both social and political organization. The family needs to diversify its roles for it to remain the major agent of socialization in the society. Divorce should be avoided at all times since it serves to offer a bad example to the new generation. Children should be given proper guiding and counseling to enable them cope with the ever-changing society.
Works Cited
Bourdieu, Piere. Le deracinement, la crise de l’agriculture en Algerie. Paris: Editions de Minuit, 1964.
Edwards, Duncan. Lone Mothers, Paid Work and Gendered Moral Rationalities. Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1999.
Durkheim, Emile. The Elementary Forms of Religious Life: New York: Free Press, 1997.
Harrop, Moss. Trends in parental employment Work, Employment and Society 9.3 (1995): 421-44.
Humphries, Rubery. The legacy for women’s employment: integration, differentiation and polarization’ in Michie. London: London Academic Press, 1992.
Irwin, Bottero. Market returns? Gender and theories of change in employment relations British, Journal of Sociology 51.2 (2000): 261-280.
Lesthaeghe, Rodgers. The Second Demographic Transition in Western Countries: An Interpretation, in Mason, Oppenheim and Jensen, Gender and Family Change in Industrialized Countries. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1995.