Functions of the Family
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Functions of the Family
It is always common to us that the occurrence of change at one point may result to change prospectively in other places and functionalists have their ways of explaining such effects (Henslin, 2014). On the issue of high rate of divorce and the changing families, I will rank the explanations on the traditional functions of families and importance today. In my thinking, I can classify as (1), economic production, (2), recreation, (3), socialization of children, (4) sexual control of family members, (5) reproduction, (6) care of the sick and injured and lastly (7) care for the aged. Families still see economic production as primary target even in the modern industrialized world, and even if they do not amass wealth as a unit, each one is thinking of working to build on more money than anything else. Due to the increase in disposable incomes and the rise in economic status, recreation ranks top and each time a person has a period of work, the focus would be on entertainment or getting to go on a holiday.
Children socialization takes the third place with more children other than attending schools, which they do alone, get time to attend social functions together with their families. Other than that, families through home theaters and screens also utilize home entertainment. Even though lately it is hard to monitor the sexual activity of the family members, the control of sexuality still falls a priority family function with parents limiting as much as possible the sexual activities of the minors. Moreover, much as we may have options for controlling reproduction, families still stand to value reproduction though not much as it used to be in the past. Couples still get and bring up children in the modern society. Care for the sick and the aged, however, do not receive much attention to the families in terms of time as the functions are passed to caregivers who are paid for their services. The care has shifted from being a family affair to involve professionals as care for the aged become government obligation (Henslin, 2014).