In sociological terms, the traditional definition of a ‘Family’ is; a fundamental social group in society typically consisting of two married parents and their children. Although in modern times, there are many accepted variations of families and social groups within the household. I shall be focusing on two traditional families well-known within society: the currently reigning, British royal family and the Simpson’s; a televised, fictional cartoon family. By means of comparison, I will analyse both family groups through a sociologist’s perspective and evaluate my findings accordingly. The British royals are a government-funded extended family.
Chapter 1 Questions 1. Differentiate between nuclear family and extended family. The difference between a nuclear family and an extended family is the family unit. The extended family consists of parents, children and other members of the family such as grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins. The nuclear family consists of a mother, father and at least one child.
According to some, a nuclear family may be viewed as a group to be called a nuclear that consists of, at some time, a father, mother and at least one child. Almost every society has this family structure within it and thus the family is group is viewed and defined by this model. Today there are many nuclear families that do not fit this conventional model which is said to have been most popular during the mid-part of the 20th century. It is also in my opinion, though the conventional family has become part of the norm for family systems today, the perceptions of a traditional family co-exists within the hopes of becoming a reality for the non-conventional family. Of course, my nuclear family weighs on the side of non-conventional in every way.
The History of American Family The usual purpose of family trees is to show family ancestors with documentation of birth, marriage and death dates through parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, as far back as possible. We can also know life stories of individuals of the family; like their education, occupations, medical conditions, military service, residences and so on. Family tree even shows different period of time in history, and how the history of family changed. It is no exaggeration that family tree is significant to many Americans, their ancestors are from different place of the world; family tree obviously shows who they are and where they come from. But as for me, family tree means noting.
(Nowak & Laird, 2010, 3.7) While bilateral descents are relationship passed through both mother and father. Most forager societies like the San, used the bilateral kinship just as we do in the United States. “Nearly 70% of all forager have a bilateral descent.” (Nowak & Laird, 2010, 3.7) Therefore, if resources become low in a community, the San will relocate with another band with a relative. Using this kinship system a San has the ability to find a relative in almost any band they visit. The San culture is to survive off the land.
The distance kin are two or more generations away from one will be called “grandparent” or “grandchild” because they are distant family members who are not considered family members. The main tie in the Kaluli tribe is sib ship. Siblings in the Kaluli tribe are the actual siblings as well as parallel cousins which are the mother’s, sister’s children and father’s brother’s children. The Kaluli tribe marriages are often arranged and usually motioned by the elders of a future grooms longhouse and is managed under the groom’s father. The man and women belong to a different tribe and usually they are reserved for on another.
Tribes were composed of the family from which it originated, extended families, and members who had no blood relation to the tribal family. Tribes would often intermarry which created larger tribes. In ancient Israel, the tribes were more often defined by their geographical location than by blood. The purpose of the tribe was to unite both families and members of society from differing socioeconomic levels without regard for status. The tribe served as the social, political, religious, and military foundation and infrastructure of the Canaanite society.
Family is defined differently depending on the culture one associates the term with. Within in different cultures are different roles for each family member as well. Perhaps some of the proudest family roles come from the Japanese, American, and Mexican cultures. While family roles are similar among these three cultures, the family roles and interpretations are different, due to the evolution of then nuclear family. According to Barbara Miller, the nuclear family defined refers a domestic unit containing one adult couple married or partners, with or without children (2007 p. 218).
What is a Family? A family is generally defined as a structured social group consisting of one or two parents, and their children, where the members are usually related through marriage, blood or adoption. There are several types of family structures recognised by sociologists. The most common types of families are nuclear, extended, reconstituted and single parent. Nuclear families consist of both adult male and female with mutually conceived dependants and is always made up of two generations.
The culture of celebrity is an increasingly pervasive phenomenon that is made even more treacherous in the fact that it touches almost every American’s life. While many hold the conventional belief that celebrity dogma and vicarious living are mere entertainment and thus harmless, the public’s rising propensity towards celebrity worship and mindless ingestion of manipulated and often inaccurate information set forth by the media and popular public figures greatly contributes to the rising anti-intellectualism, anti-rationalism, and overall incompetence in detecting our willful consumption of junk thought. If society is unable to recognize the repercussions celebrity culture will have on our collective ability to distinguish legitimate news from the erroneous and furthermore continues to advocate a general reluctance to transpose our rapturous enthusiasm from Britney Spears to issues far more worthy of our attention, such as war in Afghanistan, the climbing rates of foreclosure and unemployment, and global warming, the consequences will become progressively severe. The current and future implications of this seemingly innocuous movement include debased public discourse and politics, the proliferation of misinformation and erroneous reports relating to health issues and more, a diversion from intellectual endeavors, and an overall rejection of rationality. Celebrity culture and our nation’s infatuation with it is playing a significant role in producing a generation that is increasingly devoid of a defined criterion to assess the precariousness in conforming to the credo of a dumbed-down society where intellectualism and rationalism have far less value than the recklessly enticing ideas set forth by the mouthpieces of junk thought.