Nuclear Vs Joint Family Essay

Improved Essays
The term “family” and its definition is a commonly argued subject. A frequent way individuals define the family unit is any sexually expressive, parent-child, or other kin relationship in which related people form an economic or practical unit and care for any children or other dependents and consider their identity to be significantly attached to the group (Lamanna, et al. 4). Families offer a wide variety of benefits such as providing economic support and offering emotional security. There are two types of family systems, joint and nuclear, which differ in size. Although joint family systems are more common in countries in the western hemisphere, they are still widely seen in the United States as well. Joint family systems are more beneficial for family members than nuclear family systems because they offer a more stable economic foundation, stronger support system, and superior health qualities in family members. To understand the …show more content…
Joint families were more predominant in the preindustrial era due to the flourishing of family owned land and property. This family owned property caused families to stick together and share the land. Typically, in countries like India, the son would not separate himself from the parents after marriage, instead, he would reside in his childhood household and continue to assist in the upkeep of their property, while also reproducing and adding more members to the family unit (Gruber et al.). Nuclear families began emerging as the world advanced. As the world entered into the industrial era, families started to separate and move into cities. Cities provided a large amount of new work for the leaders of the household. Many families began to transition to city life because of the growing opportunities outside of the family property, only bringing along immediate family

Related Documents

  • Superior Essays

    There is an image in America of what a family should look like: one mother, one father, a couple of children and perhaps the family dog. The reality of what makes a family, however, is much more complex. In the book Plainsong by Kent Haruf, the reader discovers a variety of families, that are made up in a multitude of different ways. While some of these families are defined by blood relation, almost all of them differ in some way from the traditional conception of the family unit. The reasons that these family groupings come about are as varied as the families that they create, but in the end, they fulfill the needs of the family members regardless of the existence, or lack, of blood ties.…

    • 1393 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In conclusion, it can be said that marriage is not the only event, which will help gather family, but there are many other as…

    • 865 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    This meant more jobs became available in the cities. During this time as industry became more in demand more people had to move to the cities to take up the jobs. Many women had to take the place…

    • 931 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Traditionally, family members were defined as someone who was born into the family, adopted into the family, or united by marriage. Today’s family members have a broader spectrum which includes committed family households beyond legally married heterosexual couples and their children (McGoldrick & Carter, 2010). The complexities within each type of family structure were brought about by marriage, interracial coupling, foster parenting, informal kinship adoptions, social class position, and more. Therefore, family definition must go beyond traditional thinking to include people who choose to spend their lives together in a kinship relationship despite the lack of legal recognition or bloodlines. Family therapy took shape circa 1950s.…

    • 286 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    This was the first issue to question and threaten the traditional definition of a family that can be described as a nuclear family. A nuclear family includes two married parents of the opposite sex and their biological children living under the same roof. However, in today’s society, the term “nuclear family” can represent different types of definitions of a family. A nuclear family can signify families of single, non-married, same sex, foster and mixed parents. Even though Mary Jo Bane, Associate director of the Center for Research in Women at Wellesley and author of “Here to Stay: American Families in the Twentieth Century, claims the definition of family has not changed, I think, because of the acceptance of interracial marriages, LBGT parental rights, single parent rights, and foster families, that the definition of family should be a group of people that share a mutual love, trust and respect for…

    • 1569 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Family Systems Families are systems that have created their own strategies on how they deal with tasks on a daily bases. They are the people who “have shared a sense of history, share emotional ties to one another, and devise strategies for meeting the needs of individual family members and the group as a whole” (Anderson and Sabatelli 2010:6). A family’s historical background, ethnicity, culture and religion can all contribute to its uniqueness from other families.…

    • 1385 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Defining the word family can encompass many origins, perspectives, and purposes. In the last few decades, the American family has changed significantly. New combinations of family households are more common than ever: the increase in divorce and remarriage, adoption, foster parenting, single parenthood, kinship care, and same-sex relationships. However, the African American family seems to have not only maintained its stagnated structure, but its function as a unit is vanishing from society. According to Ghanaian scholar Gyekye, the role of the African American family refers to one that is centered upon communal values and includes not only the biological relatives, but those in the extended family and fictive kin.…

    • 1320 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the U.S., the biggest changes in the family are in its structure and changing priorities. In the past century, and particularly in recent decades, the definition of the family has widened to be inclusive of a spectrum of family structures, not just nuclear or traditional families. Less people are getting married and the divorce rate has increased, as have single parent homes and cohabitation, while birth rates have decreased. Ideas about gender roles in families have also been challenged with the women’s rights movement and the legalization of same sex marriage. There has also been an increase in interracial and interreligious marriages.…

    • 2359 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Family is a diverse and complicated concept in which many researchers have come up with different conclusions. Family definition is not complete without the incorporation of race and ethnicity. Race and ethnicity complete the full definition of family. This is done by the incorporation of everyone’s history. In order to fully understand family focus should be placed in society as a whole, instead of section.…

    • 1017 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family: Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one. ”-Jane Howard. Like many other families, my family is often dysfunctional or rambunctious at times; however, it is those moments that allow you to see the beauty in complexity. The family structure is the single most important institution in every individual’s life.…

    • 746 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    When thinking of the “typical” American family or the “Nuclear Family”, what is the first thing that comes to mind? Most of the time it is one mother, one father, and both parent two children around the same age. The “Nuclear Family” is exactly that. It is a family that consists of only one mother, one father and children. Nonetheless, in the twenty first century there is no longer the presence of the nuclear family.…

    • 1903 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Sociology Of Family Essay

    • 1210 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Plus cohabitation is more normal. Families are changing and becoming more tolerant of situations that stray from the norm. Three sociological concepts I can relate to are the family unit, marriage – and its alternatives, and after divorce. A family unit for some is easy to define and for others it can be a little more complicated. The easiest and most common way to define someone’s family unit is the group of people related to them by…

    • 1210 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Analyzing Kinship in a Cross Cultural Context In the Western world, there are common ideologies on what is considered a “normal” family. The idea of the Nuclear family with one mom and one dad raising their own kids is still considered to be the ideal family. However, in many societies, such as the Nandi people in Kenya and the Andean people in Ayacucho Peru, kinship is more important than biology. In Toronto, social organizations still only cater to the Western ideologies of who is best to raise children.…

    • 1583 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Family of Origin Introduction Families are a social system that is governed by rules and power structures, in which members become emotionally connected and interdependent (Collins, Jordan, & Coleman, 2012). Families tend to be the responsible agent in shaping the environment where individuals grow and develop. Each member in the family is different, and each contributes to the functionality of the family in a distinctive way. To be able to understand an individual’s behavior within a family, the family context and environment must be understood (Collins, Jordan, & Coleman, 2012).…

    • 1169 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    The family is considered to an important part of society by most sociologists. The family is said to be a close domestic group comprised of people related to one another by bonds of blood, sexual mating, or legal ties. The family has adapted over time and there are many different forms of families. The patriarchal family is one of the many types of families that exist in society today. It is a form of the family ‘where the male figure is considered the head’.…

    • 1692 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays

Related Topics