There is an opinion that the institution of the family has recently outlived its usefulness, and this is evidenced by the large number of divorces, the unwillingness of young people to enter into an official marriage, etc. But, nevertheless, people continue to unite in pairs and give birth to children. This means that families still continue to be created. It's just that the concept of a family at the present time does not quite correspond to the old ideas about what it should be.
Family functions
Modern sociology defines the family as a small group created by people to perform certain functions:
- birth and upbringing of children;
- running a common household, mutual economic support of family members;
- development of spiritual and moral qualities of family members, regulation of their behavior in relation to each other;
- mutual development and enrichment of the interests of family members, organization of joint pastime;
- provision of psychological and moral help and support;
- providing a certain social status and creating conditions for the fulfillment of the social roles of spouses, parents, children.
Typology of family relations
It is customary to distinguish such forms of marriage as monogamous and polygamous. A monogamous family refers to the union of one man and one woman. The polygamous form of a family union is subdivided into such types as
- group marriage, in which several men and women are in a matrimonial relationship at once (officially preserved in the Marquesas Islands);
- polyandry or polyandry (currently found in Tibet and in some areas in southern India);
- polygyny or polygamy (officially exists in Muslim countries).
According to the structure of family ties, families are divided into nuclear, consisting of parents and their children living with them, and extended, including representatives of more than two generations.
Depending on which of the spouses is the leader in the family, it is customary to divide family unions into patriarchal, in which the man dominates, into matriarchal, in which the leading position belongs to the woman, and into democratic or egalitarian. In the latter, spouses on equal rights make decisions regarding the implementation and division of family functions.
Informal forms of marriage
In addition to officially recognized forms of family relations, non-traditional types of families have emerged recently. They do not have an officially recognized status by the state, but, nevertheless, they exist and are not so rare:
- guest marriage, when spouses in an officially registered marriage do not live together, do not run a common household and have a shared income;
- trial marriage, common in most cases among young people, when partners decide to live together for a while to make sure that they really fit together;
- konkubinat or long-term relationship of an officially married man and an unmarried woman, who can have officially recognized children from him and receive material and other support;
- open marriage, in which partners recognize each other the right to have extramarital relations, as well as independently determine their own life priorities, regardless of how the partner relates to this.
