Family as a social institution, functions and role of the family as a small group

The family is the most ancient, the first social institution of the society that arose in the conditions of its formation. At the initial stages of the development of society in relations between man and woman, the elders and younger generations, the basic regulation took place with the help of tribal and clan traditions and customs that were based on religious and moral ideas.

With the advent of the state, the regulation of relations in the family acquired a legal character. The legal aspect of registration of marriage imposed certain obligations not only on both spouses, but also on the state that sanctioned their marriage.

Now social control was carried out not only by public opinion, but also by the state.

In this article we will consider what a modern family is like the main social institution of society, the functions and role of the family as a small social group.

CONTENTS

What is the family as a social institution: signs and characteristics

The family, in terms of different sciences and approaches, has several definitionstions. Its main and typical features and features are:

a small social group of people,
unites these people - marriage or blood relationship( parents, children, brothers, sisters),
family, as a social institution performs certain social functions( basic - reproductive, the socialization of children, the maintenance of children), and society therefore gives the family the means to perform these functions. Such a means, for example, is the institution of marriage, and the institution of divorce that arose later.

The family structure is a set of relations between its members, which includes: the structure of kinship, the structure of power and leadership, the structure of roles, the structure of communications.

The main family roles: table

To understand the family as a social institution, the analysis of role relationships in the family is very important.

The family role of is one of the types of social roles of a person in society.

Family roles are determined by the place and functions of the individual in the family group and are divided into( see table):

No.	Family roles
1	matrimonial( wife, husband)
2	parental( mother, father)
3	children( son, daughter, brother,sister)
4	intergenerational and intrasymboled( grandfather, grandmother, older, younger)
5	other

Role relationships in the family can be characterized by role agreement or role conflict.

In the modern family there is a process of weakening the family as a social institution, changing its social functions. The family loses its positions in the socialization of individuals, in the organization of leisure and other functions.

Traditional roles in which a woman gave birth and brought up children, led the economy, and the husband was the owner, the owner of the property, economically provided the family, replaced role play, in which the woman began to play an equal or higher role with a man.

This changed the nature of the family's functioning and led to positive and negative consequences. On the one hand, this helped to promote the equality of women and men, on the other hand, exacerbated conflict situations, and reduced fertility.

Family functions: table

The following basic family functions can be distinguished( see table):

No.	Family functions
1	Reproduction( birth of children)
2	Socialization
3	Household
4	Recreational( wellness)
5	Social status( education of children)

Family types, classification

Separation of types of families and their classification can be carried out for various reasons:

By marriage:

monogamous( marriage of one man with one woman);
polyandry( a woman has several spouses);
polygyny( marriage of one man with two or more of us).

By composition:

nuclear( simple) - consists of a husband, wife and children( complete) or with the absence of one of the parents( incomplete);
complex - include representatives of several generations.

Number of children:

childless;
single-child;
children with few children;
have many children( from three or more children).

On the stages of civilizational evolution:

the patriarchal family of a traditional society with the authoritarian authority of the father, in whose hands the solution of all questions is located;
is egalitarian-democratic, based on equality in the relationship of husband and wife, on mutual respect and social partnership.

The science has developed the tradition of studying the family and as a social institution, and as a small group.

" Social Institute" means a stable set of formal and informal rules, principles, norms, attitudes through which society regulates and controls the activities of people in the most important areas of human life. This is a set of reasonable standards of conduct for certain individuals in specific situations. Standards of conduct are organized in a system of roles and statuses.

In the science of the family, close attention is paid to the analysis of the functions of the family.

Being an essential element of the structure of society, the family reproduces its members and their primary socialization

The family as a small social group: the

signs A small group is a small social group whose members are united by common goals and objectives and are in direct,with each other, which is the basis for the emergence, both emotional relations, and special group values and norms of behavior.

Let's list the main features of a small group:

general goals and a common activity for all members of the group;
personal contact between members of the group;
a certain emotional climate within the group;
special group norms and values;
physical and moral model of a member of the group;
role hierarchy between team members;
relative independence( autonomy) of this group from others;
principles of admission to the group;
group cohesion;
socio-psychological control of the behavior of members of the group;
special forms and ways to manage group activities by group members.

Family functions through the eyes of psychologists

Psychologists most often attribute the following functions to the family.

Birth and education of children.
Preservation, development and transfer to subsequent generations of values and traditions of society, accumulation and implementation of social and educational potential.
Meeting the needs of people in psychological comfort and emotional support, a sense of security, sense of value and the importance of your self, emotional warmth and love.
Creation of conditions for the development of the personality of all members of the family.
Satisfaction of sexually-erotic needs.
Meeting the needs for joint leisure activities.
Organization of joint household management, division of labor in the family, mutual assistance.
Satisfy the person's need to communicate with loved ones, in establishing strong communication with them.
Satisfy individual needs in paternity or motherhood, contacts with children, their upbringing, self-realization in children.
Social control over the behavior of individual family members.
Organization of financial support for the family.
Recreational function - protection of health of family members, organization of their rest, removal from people of stressful conditions.

The family psychotherapist D. Freeman adds his point of view and new points to the list above. He believes that the main functions delegated to family members by its social environment are:

ensuring survival;
protects the family from external damaging factors;
cares for family members about each other;
child rearing;
creation of physical, emotional, social and economic prerequisites for the individual development of family members.

Symbols of the family: the value of

In Russia, the sign of pure love is chamomile. It carries the value of fidelity, tenderness and simplicity - see first the article a miniature image of a chamomile.

White color represents purity, yellow center - home. The petals themselves seem to unite into one whole - a symbol of a strong family.

The camomile flower has become a symbol of Family Day, love and loyalty, which has been celebrated in our country since 2008.It reflects a pure, great feeling. It is advised in the summer to always keep a bouquet of chamomiles in the house, in other seasons it is good to put an ikebana at home, consisting of at least 5 flowers of chamomile.

Also the family designation is open hands, which mean the unity of the family and the warmth that they give to each other.