What is a complete family definition? What is a family for? What is a family: definition

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This article is about the sociological, demographic and psychological aspects of the concept of family. On the legal, cultural side of the issue, on the marriage union, see Marriage union.

The family belongs to the most important social values. According to some scientific theories, it was the form of the family that could determine the general direction of the evolution of macrosocial systems for many centuries. Each member of society, in addition to social status, ethnicity, property and financial status, from the moment of birth to the end of life has such a characteristic as family and marital status.

Definition of family

According to the classic definition of one of the leading English sociologists, Anthony Giddens, a family is understood as “a group of people connected by direct family relationships, the adult members of which assume responsibilities for caring for children.” In the context this definition family relationships are considered to be relationships that arise through marriage (that is, a sexual union of two adults that has received recognition and approval from society) or that are a consequence of a blood connection between individuals. Family is a small group based on marriage or consanguinity, whose members are bound by a common life, mutual assistance, moral and legal responsibility.

According to traditional ideas, the family develops around a heterosexual union of a man and a woman, however, sociocultural changes taking place in society are also legalizing same-sex family unions. The family changes with the development of society.

A family can also mean a parent couple or one parent with at least one child.

In law, family is understood as a legal family under the protection of the state. Typically, a “complete family” in the legal sense consists of a father, mother and child (or children); “Incomplete family” - a father with a child (or children) or a mother with a child (or children). In Russian family law, a family is defined as a circle of persons bound by personal non-property and property rights and obligations arising from marriage, kinship, and adoption.

The genealogical definition of family represents it as a collection of people related by blood or property. This definition, on the one hand, is broader than the legal definition of a family; on the other hand, it excludes adoptive parents and children from the list of family members.

Psychological approach to the family (this approach, in particular, is adhered to by Klaus Schneewind (German). Klaus Schneewind )) understands a family as a certain collection of individuals that meets four criteria:

• Mental, spiritual and emotional intimacy of its members.
• Spatial and temporal limitations.
• Closedness, interpersonal intimacy.
• The duration of the relationship, responsibility for each other, duty to each other.

Family aspects

Sociologists identify several functions of the family:

• Reproductive: birth of offspring.
• Educational: raising children, self-realization of parental feelings.
• Household: meeting the material needs of family members.
• Recreational: restoration of physical and intellectual strength.
• Emotional: satisfying the needs for sympathy, respect, recognition, support, emotional protection.
• Spiritual: joint leisure activities and spiritual enrichment.
• Social: Social control, socialization and enculturation.
• Sexual-erotic: satisfaction of sexual-erotic needs.

Story

Scientific study of shapes family life began in the 19th century and is associated with the works of I. Bachofen, L. Morgan, M. M. Kovalevsky. In particular, it was shown that the type of family highly determined the nature of the further evolution of the corresponding society.

Social and psychological attitudes towards fertility have also changed. Representatives of older than younger generations agree much more often with the judgment that “every woman’s duty to become a mother” and “every man’s duty to raise children.” The shifts in women's attitudes are especially noticeable. To the question “Should every woman become a mother?” among those surveyed in the late 1990s. Only 20% of St. Petersburg women aged 18 to 29 answered affirmatively, and among 30-39 year olds - only 17%. This means that motherhood, which religious morality has always considered the main hypostasis of a woman, becomes only one of her social identities. In Russians’ ideas about the fair distribution of family functions and the responsibilities of mother and father, traditionalist attitudes compete with egalitarian ones, accompanied by harsh mutual accusations between men and women.

Signs of family transformation began to appear in developed European countries already in the mid-1960s, and in others European countries- from the late 1980s - early 1990s. The list of the most important changes in the state of the family was briefly formulated by Dirk van de Kaa:

Family cycle

From the standpoint of population reproduction, a very important criterion for constructing a demographic typology of families is the stage of the family life cycle. The family cycle is determined by the following stages of parenthood:

• pre-parenthood - the period from marriage to the birth of the first child
• reproductive parenthood - the period between the births of the first and last children
• socialization parenting - the period from the birth of the first child to the separation of the last child from the family (most often through marriage) (in the case of one child in the family, it coincides with the previous stage)
• primogeniture - the period from the birth of the first grandchild to the death of one of the grandparents

Family structure in demographic statistics

Family structure, like marriage, is a momentary indicator recorded during censuses or special population surveys. Therefore, it is possible to give an idea of ​​the family structure of the population only from census or survey data. At the same time, the practice of demographic statistics distinguishes families according to the following characteristics:

• family size(number of its members);
• family type(nuclear, complex, complete, incomplete)
  • Nuclear families nuclear family) - families consisting of one married couple with children
  • Complex family - other relatives are added to the family core, both in the ascending line (grandparents, great-grandparents) and in the collateral lines (various relatives of each spouse). It may also include several married couples, the members of which are related by kinship and joint farming.
• number of children in the family
  • small families - 1-2 children (not enough for natural growth)
  • medium-sized families - 3-4 children (enough for low-expanded reproduction, as well as for the emergence of intra-group dynamics)
  • large families - 5 or more children (much more than is needed to replace generations)

It is noteworthy that in Russia, until 1992, only mothers who raised 5 or more children were considered to have large families (awards were awarded for demographic achievements: Medal "Motherhood Medal" II and I degrees - awarded to mothers who raised 5 and 6 children; Order "Maternal Glory" III , II, I degrees - awarded to mothers who raised 7, 8 and 9 children, respectively, the Order of “Mother Heroine” was awarded to mothers who raised 10 or more children). Today, officially, “large families” start from three children, that is, a family of average children is considered to have many children. It is precisely this number of children that today is the most optimal family, comfortable for the state, and enjoying comprehensive social support, in accordance with Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of May 5, 1992 N 431 “On measures for social support of large families.”

Types of family and its organization

In a comprehensive study of family structure, they are considered in complex combination. From a demographic point of view, there are several types of family and its organization [ unreputable source?] .

Depending on the form of marriage:

• monogamous family - consisting of two partners
• polygamous family - one of the spouses has several marriage partners
  • Polygyny is the simultaneous state of a man being married to several women. Moreover, marriage is concluded by a man with each of the women separately. For example, in Sharia there is a limit on the number of wives - no more than four
  • Polyandry is the simultaneous condition of a woman being married to several men. It is rare, for example, among the peoples of Tibet and the Hawaiian Islands.

Depending on the gender of the spouses:

• same-sex family - two men or two women jointly raising adopted children, artificially conceived or children from previous (heterosexual) contacts.
• heterosexual family

Depending on the number of children:

• childless or infertile family;
• one-child family;
• small family;
• average family;

Depending on the composition:

• simple or nuclear family - consists of one generation, represented by parents (parent) with or without children. Nuclear family in modern society received the greatest distribution. She may be:
  • elementary - a family of three members: husband, wife and child. Such a family can, in turn:
    • complete - includes both parents and at least one child
    • incomplete - a family of only one parent with children, or a family consisting only of parents without children
  • composite - a complete nuclear family in which several children are raised. A compound nuclear family, where there are several children, should be considered as a conjunction of several elementary
• complex family or patriarchal family - a large family of several generations. This may include grandparents, brothers and their wives, sisters and their husbands, nephews and nieces.

Depending on a person’s place in the family:

• parental is the family into which a person is born
• reproductive - a family that a person creates himself

Depending on where the family lives:

• matrilocal - a young family living with the wife’s parents,
• patrilocal - a family living together with the husband's parents;
• neolocal - the family moves to a home remote from the place of residence of the parents.

Paternal inheritance means that children take their father's surname (in Russia also a patronymic) and property usually passes through the male line. Such families are called patrilineal. Inheritance through the female line means matrilineality families.

Torokhtiy V.S. dealt with the issues of classification of modern families.

Each of the categories of families is characterized by the socio-psychological phenomena and processes occurring in it, its inherent marital and family relations, including the psychological aspects of objective and practical activity, the circle of communication and its content, the characteristics of emotional contacts of family members, the socio-psychological goals of the family and individual psychological needs of its members.

Social functions of the family

Researchers are unanimous that the functions reflect the historical nature of the connection between family and society, the dynamics of family changes at different historical stages. The modern family has lost many of the functions that cemented it in the past: production, security, education, etc. family function one should understand the external manifestations of the properties of any subject in a given system of relations (family), certain actions to realize needs. The function reflects the connection of the family group with society, as well as the direction of its activities. However, some functions are resistant to change, in this sense they can be called traditional. These include the following functions:

A) reproductive- in any family the most important problem is childbirth. The integrity of the sexual need, which ensures procreation, and love as the highest feeling makes it impossible to separate one from the other. Marital love largely depends on the nature of the satisfaction of sexual needs, the characteristics of their regulation and the attitude of the spouses to the problem of childbirth and to the children themselves;

b) economic- includes feeding the family, purchasing and maintaining household property, clothing, shoes, home improvement, creating home comfort, organizing family life and everyday life, forming and spending a household budget;

V) regenerative- (Latin regeneratio - revival, renewal). Means inheritance of status, surname, property, social status. This also includes the transfer of some family jewelry;

It is not at all necessary to literally understand “jewelry” as jewelry, they can be given to any stranger, but such a treasure as an album with photographs cannot be given to a stranger - only to your own, dear

G) educational- (socialization). Consists of satisfying the needs for fatherhood and motherhood, contacts with children, their upbringing, self-realization in children;

Family and public education are interconnected, complement each other and can, within certain limits, even replace each other, but in general they are unequal and under no circumstances can they become so. Family upbringing is more emotional in nature than any other upbringing, because its “conductor” is parental love for children, which evokes reciprocal feelings in children for their parents;

d) sphere of initial social control- moral regulation of the behavior of family members in various spheres of life, as well as regulation of responsibilities and obligations in relations between spouses, parents and children, representatives of the older and middle generations;

e) recreational- (lat. recreatio - restoration). Associated with rest, organization of leisure, care for the health and well-being of family members.

and) spiritual communication- personal development of family members, spiritual mutual enrichment;

h) social status- providing a certain social status to family members, reproduction social structure;

And) psychotherapeutic- allows family members to satisfy the needs for sympathy, respect, recognition, emotional support, and psychological protection.

While traditional functions began to sharply weaken, this new, previously unknown psychotherapeutic function arose.

A marriage is successful or not depending on the activation of this function, that is, at present, family existence largely depends on the stability of close emotional relationships.

Family psychology

The family as a complex formation becomes the object of attention of various sections of psychology: social, developmental, clinical, pedagogical, etc. The subject of study becomes the family as a social institution, a small group and an open self-organizing system.

Psychological climate of the family

In the scientific literature, synonyms for the concept of “family psychological climate” are “family psychological atmosphere”, “family emotional climate”, “family socio-psychological climate”. It should be noted that there is no strict definition of these concepts. For example, O. A. Dobrynina understands the socio-psychological climate of a family as its generalized, integrative characteristic, which reflects the degree of satisfaction of the spouses with the main aspects of the family’s life, the general tone and style of communication.

The psychological climate in the family determines the stability of intrafamily relationships and has a decisive influence on the development of both children and adults. It is not something immutable, given once and for all. It is created by members of each family and it depends on their efforts whether it will be favorable or unfavorable and how long the marriage will last. Thus, a favorable psychological climate is characterized by the following features: cohesion, the possibility of comprehensive development of the personality of each member, high benevolent demands of family members towards each other, a sense of security and emotional satisfaction, pride in belonging to one’s family, responsibility. In a family with a favorable psychological climate, each member treats the others with love, respect and trust, also with respect for parents, and with readiness to help the weaker at any moment. Important indicators of a favorable psychological climate of a family are the desire of its members to spend free time in the home circle, talk about topics that interest everyone, do homework together, and emphasize the virtues and good deeds of everyone. Such a climate promotes harmony, reduces the severity of emerging conflicts, relieves stress, increases the assessment of one’s own social significance and realizes the personal potential of each family member. The initial basis for a favorable family climate is marital relationships. Living together requires spouses to be willing to compromise, to be able to take into account the needs of their partner, to give in to each other, and to develop such qualities as mutual respect, trust, and mutual understanding.

When family members experience anxiety, emotional discomfort, and alienation, in this case they speak of an unfavorable psychological climate in the family. All this prevents the family from fulfilling one of its main functions - psychotherapeutic, relieving stress and fatigue, and also leads to depression, quarrels, mental tension, and a lack of positive emotions. If family members do not strive to change this situation for the better, then the very existence of the family becomes problematic.

Psychological climate can be defined as a more or less stable emotional mood characteristic of a particular family, which is a consequence of family communication, that is, it arises as a result of the totality of the mood of family members, their emotional experiences and worries, attitudes towards each other, towards other people, towards work, to surrounding events. It is worth noting that the emotional atmosphere of the family is an important factor in the effectiveness of the family’s vital functions and the state of its health in general; it determines the stability of the marriage.

Many Western researchers believe that in modern society the family is losing its traditional functions, becoming an institution of emotional contact, a kind of “psychological refuge.” Domestic scientists also emphasize the increasing role of emotional factors in family functioning.

V. S. Torokhtiy speaks about the psychological health of the family and that this is “an integral indicator of the dynamics of vital functions for it, expressing the qualitative side of the socio-psychological processes occurring in it and, in particular, the ability of the family to withstand the undesirable influences of the social environment,” is not identical to the concept of “socio-psychological climate”, which is more applicable for groups (including small ones) of heterogeneous composition, which often unite their members on the basis of professional activities and the availability of ample opportunities for them to leave the group, etc. For small a group that has family ties that ensure stable and long-term psychological interdependence, where the closeness of interpersonal intimate experiences is preserved, where the similarity of value orientations is especially significant, where not one, but a number of family goals are simultaneously highlighted, and the flexibility of their priority and targeting is maintained, where the main condition for it is existence is integrity - the term “psychological health of the family” is more acceptable.

Psychological health - this is a state of mental and psychological well-being of a family, ensuring regulation of the behavior and activities of all family members that is adequate to their living conditions. To the main criteria for family psychological health B.C. Torokhtiy attributes the similarities family values, functional-role consistency, social-role adequacy in the family, emotional satisfaction, adaptability in microsocial relationships, commitment to family longevity. These criteria for family psychological health create a common psychological picture of a modern family and, above all, characterize the degree of its well-being.

Family traditions

Family traditions are the usual norms, behavior patterns, customs and views accepted in the family that are passed on from generation to generation. Family traditions and rituals are, on the one hand, one of the important signs of a healthy (as defined by V. Satir) or functional (as defined by E. G. Eidemiller and other researchers) family, and, on the other hand, the presence of family traditions is one of the most important mechanisms for transmitting the laws of intrafamily interaction to the next generations of the family: the distribution of roles in all spheres of family life, the rules of intrafamily communication, including ways to resolve conflicts and overcome emerging problems. Family traditions and rituals are based on social, religious and historical traditions and rituals, but are creatively transformed and supplemented by their own, so they are unique to each family.

Ethnocultural marriage and family traditions were one way or another persecuted and supplanted by unified requirements. Changing in accordance with the requirements of a higher order environment, the family preserves family traditions as one of the main ways of education and continuation of oneself. Family traditions bring all relatives closer together, making a family a family, and not just a community of relatives by blood. Home customs and rituals can become a kind of vaccination against the alienation of children from their parents and their mutual misunderstanding. Today, the only family tradition we have left is family vacations.

see also

Notes

1. , With. 9
2. , With. 275
3. Bim-Bad B.M. , Gavrov S.N. Family as a sociocultural phenomenon // . - M.: Intellectual book, New chronograph, 2010. - P. 27-53. - ISBN 978-5-94881-139-0
4. Korotaev A.V. Family in the socio-economic structure of pre-capitalist class formations // History and philology of the ancient and medieval East / Responsible. ed. Vasiliev, D. D., and Volkov, S. V. M.: Nauka, 1987, pp. 3-11.
5. , With. 20
6. // Big Encyclopedic Dictionary, 2000
7. Family- article from the Great Soviet Encyclopedia
8. , With. 25
9. Familie - article in the explanatory dictionary of the German language "Duden".
10. // Legal Dictionary, 2000
11. , With. 10
12. , With. 10-11
13. , With. 26-27
14. Engels F. Origin of the family, private property and the state. - St. Petersburg: Azbuka, 2009. - 256 p. - ISBN 978-5-9985-0470-9
15. Marinova, M.A. The main social and economic approaches to housekeeping study // RUDN University Bulletin: Sociology series. - 2004. - No. 6-7.. - P. 202-211.
16. Chayanov, A. V. Organization of peasant farming // Selected works. - M.: Mosk.rabochiy, 1989. - 366 p. - ISBN 5-239-00639-3
17. Is the family at the center of socio-demographic policy? // Independent Institute for Social Policy: Sat.. - M., 2009. - No. 1. - P. 192.
18. Demographic forecast until 2030
19. Statistical collection “Family in Russia”
20. Brief results of the pilot survey “Family and Fertility”
21. Family // Max Vasmer. Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language (unavailable link)
22. Family // P. Ya. Chernykh. Historical and etymological dictionary of modern Russian language (unavailable link)
23. Kolesov V.V. Ancient Rus': heritage in the word. Human world. St. Petersburg, 2000. P. 40.
24. Morgan in the book “Ancient Society” () identifies a number of historical stages in the evolution of family and marriage, which, however, later, in particular, Yuri Semyonov ( Origin of marriage and family), was found to be incorrect.
25. See, for example: Korotaev A.V. Family in the socio-economic structure of pre-capitalist class formations // Vasiliev, D. D., and Volkov, S. V., eds., History and philology of the ancient and medieval East. M.: Nauka, 1987, pp. 3-11.
26. Kohn, I.S. Child and society. - M.: Academy, 2003. - 336 p. - ISBN 5-7695-1420-5
27. Van de Kaa D.J. Europe’s Second Demographic Transition // Population Bulletin, Vol. 42, No. 1. Population Reference Bureau, Washington D.C., 1987
28. cit. By Mitrikas, A. Family as a value: state and prospects for changes in value choice in European countries // Sociological research. - 2004. - No. 5. - P. 102-183.
29. Williams Brian Marriages, Families & Intimate Relationships. - Boston, MA: Pearson, 2005. - ISBN 0-205-36674-0
30. Article w:en:Family (family) on the English-language Wikipedia site
31. Wikipedia in Spanish, article w:es:Familia (family)
32. About the subject and methods of demography (.doc format)
33. Torokhtiy V.S. Psychology of social work with families. - M.: EKSMO Press, 1996. - T. 3. - P. 224. - 500 p. - ISBN 5-900578-03-8
34. Ryabova G. B. Family studies. Tutorial. - Tomsk: TMCDO, 2004. - 171 pages.
35. Schneider L. B. Functional-role structure of family relations // Psychology of family relations. Lecture course . - M.: April-Press, EKSMO-Press Publishing House, 2000. - P. 132-133. - 512 s. -

a community of people based on a single family activity, connected by the bonds of marriage, parenthood, kinship, and thereby carrying out the reproduction of the population and the continuity of family generations, as well as the socialization of children and the maintenance of the existence of family members.

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Family

an association of people based on blood relationship, marriage or adoption, connected by a common life and mutual responsibility for raising children. A specific social institution with its own system of norms, sanctions, rights and obligations, the function of which is to regulate relations between spouses, parents and children.

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FAMILY

English family; German Family 1. Social an institution characterized by certain social norms, sanctions, patterns of behavior, rights and responsibilities governing relations between spouses, parents and children. The main functions of the family: population reproduction and socialization. 2. A small group based on marriage or consanguinity, the members of which are connected by a common life, mutual responsibility and mutual assistance.

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Family

A group of individuals related by blood, marriage, or adoption. These people run a common household, and adults are responsible for raising children. All societies have the institution of family, although the nature of family relationships in each of them is very different. Although the nuclear family is the main form in modern societies, there are also many varieties of extended family.

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FAMILY

the main demographic community with the reproductive function as the main one, and also performing other social functions: educational (family education), economic (household, personal subsidiary plot). A family is a group of people living together who are related by kinship, property and a common budget. In a number of developed countries, families of parents and their married children are considered as separate families. Moreover, in some countries, unmarried men or women over 20 years of age are counted as a separate one-person “family” in the census. Families are monogamous (prevail) and polygamous (polygyny - polygamy, polyandry - polyandry); simple (nuclear) and complex; complete and incomplete; single-national and mixed. A feature of modern marriage in developed countries is the increase in the number of unregistered family unions, so-called consensual marriages.

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Family

family), a group of people related by kinship. S. usually has several. functions: provision of housing, clothing and food; raising and education of children; caring for the elderly members of the family. The child perceives the way of behavior and thoughts in the family from an early age, the relationships between its members are determined by his psychologist, development, therefore family conflicts can lead to severe mental illness. consequences. Domestic violence, incl. Child abuse is one of the unseemly aspects of family life. In decomposition S.'s communities vary greatly in size, structure, and role of family ties. For example, a simple (nuclear) family usually consists of parents (parent) and their children, natural or adopted. Extended, or complex, family life may include more than two generations of relatives, who live together (household members) and maintain a common household or form an extensive group connected by social relationships. Relations between departments members of the extended S. are determined by the traditions of the society. In Western countries, in recent years there has been an increase in the number of S. with one parent (incomplete S.) - either with an unmarried mother, or with a father or mother left without a partner after his death or divorce. This is often an intermediate stage before the formation of a new family. Just like society, each family goes through its own life cycle, and most individuals experience many changes in family roles. S. plays an important role in society, is a constant object of attention of the state, and regulates the functions of S. through family law and family policy.

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FAMILY

1) A multifaceted social institution, a kind of basic subsystem of society, performing specific functions for the birth, education and socialization of new generations. Socialism is a means and condition for socio-economic reproduction and a factor in social development as a whole. It functions as a form of individual life activity of people, but is the most important component of socio-economic progress, moral and political culture of society. Family life is woven into all social reality and is closely connected with the processes occurring in social psychology people, spiritual and material spheres. The main functions of S. are: reproductive, protection and protection of the weakest members, and the function of socialization.

(2) From a legal point of view, S. is defined through inclusion in legal relations, as a result of which mutual rights and obligations of family members, spouses, parents and children, and other relatives specified in Family Law arise. However, the definition of S. only through the concepts of “marriage,” “paternity,” and “maternity” today cannot be complete. The change in the institution of socialism, the emergence of its various forms leads to the need to consider socialism as a social group, the relationships in which are built on consanguinity, marriage, parenthood, cohabitation, or mutual affection, the members of which lead a joint household, provide support to each other, and are connected with each other. moral and spiritual bonds.

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FAMILY

family) - a group of people related by kinship or similar close ties, in which adults take responsibility for the care and education of their real or adopted children.

Historically, there have been numerous varieties in family form. To analyze them, sociologists used the key concepts of the extended family and the nuclear family. The first refers to a group of related people where more than two generations of relatives live together (or in very close proximity), usually as household members. The second includes simply parents (or parent) and children dependent on them. According to sociologists, the nuclear family form (that is, the nucleus of the family) developed as a concomitant of industrialization (although other claims have recently emerged that previous individualist structures may have contributed to the emergence of industrialism) and, as the geographic and social mobility typically associated with industrial development increased, it became socially and geographically isolated from wider kinship networks, becoming a privatized nuclear family.

The variety of forms depends on social and cultural norms. For example, extended families vary according to kinship structures, including polygamous family forms. Likewise, the number of children in a nuclear family varies significantly. For example, in the UK there is a trend towards having fewer children, and in China, married couples are prohibited from having more than one child.

As with differences between societies, every family goes through a life cycle, and most individuals experience many changes in family roles during their own lifetime (see Family of origin or orientation; Family of generation).

Recent changes in family life patterns in England and many Western societies include:

(a) the redominance of the importance of personal qualities instead of economic considerations;

(b) an increase in the percentage of stable reproductive relationships and cohabitation that exist outside standard marriage models;

(c) increasing rates of divorce and remarriage;

(d) an increase in the number of families with one parent, especially without a father.

In addition, due to the aging of the population, an increasing number of nuclear families are caring for dependent relatives (see Communal Care).

See also Sociology of the Family; Socialization; Marriage; Divorce.

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FAMILY

The most popular definition of family in Soviet sociology belongs to A. Kharchev: “A family is a historically specific system of relationships between spouses, between parents and children; it is a small social group, the members of which are connected by marriage or parental relationships, a common life and mutual moral responsibility and social the need for which is determined by the need of society for the physical and spiritual reproduction of the population." (Kharchev A.G. Marriage and family in the USSR. M.: Mysl, 1979).

A similar definition is contained in the Encyclopedic Sociological Dictionary: “The family is a social mechanism for human reproduction, the relationship between husband and wife, parents and children, a small group based on these relationships, whose members are connected by a common life, mutual moral responsibility and mutual assistance.” (Encyclopedic Sociological Dictionary. General editor: Osipova G.V. M.: ISPI RAS, 1995, pp. 663-665).

Until recently, it was recognized that the basis of the family was the legally formalized (often lifelong) union of a man and a woman, created for the purpose of giving birth and raising children. In this case, the category of families does not include legally married spouses without children, persons in a civil marriage with children together, single parents with children, elderly spouses with adult children living separately, same-sex partners living together, etc.

Taking into account modern realities in the development of the family institution, the English sociologist Anthony Giddens defines the family as a unit of society consisting of people who support each other in one or more ways, for example, socially, economically or psychologically (love, care, affection), or whose members are identified with each other as a supporting cell (Quoted from Thompson J.L., Priestley J. Sociology. M.: AST, 1998, p. 162).

Giddens's approach reflects the diversity of existing lifestyles and at the same time raises the question of which lifestyles can be classified as “real families.” This issue is most relevant in the implementation of state family policy. The trend of the last two decades is that the state is gradually expanding social guarantees for unregistered spouses and their children.

Notable Feature recent years– separation of parenthood and marriage. Currently, a single idea of ​​the family in general is increasingly blurred. Instead, various concepts of the family are formed that meet the needs of specific practice (in particular, in the scientific substantiation of social policy regarding the family, social work and empirical research).

Thus, today it is appropriate to talk not about “family” in general, but about different types of families. The answer to the question of what a family is can consist either in narrowing the scope of the concept (for example, to consider as a family only those communities where there are dependent members - minors, disabled or elderly), or in highlighting various types families as a special kind of small groups. (For more details, see T.A. Gurko. Transformation of the institution of the modern family // Sociological Research, 1995, No. 10, pp. 95 – 99).

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FAMILY

- a small social group created on the basis of official or civil marriage or consanguinity, the members of which are united by common residence and housekeeping, the performance of family functions, emotional ties and mutual legal and moral obligations towards each other, family traditions. The modern family performs the following functions: reproductive, sexual, educational, regulatory, household, economic, primary socialization of the child. Taken together, they determine the completeness of family life, but each of them has its own characteristics. In new social conditions, family functions acquire new meaning or different manifestations. The sexual function of the family is realized in the characteristics of intimate life and sexual satisfaction of partners. Under the influence of the media, changes in value orientations in behavior and mass consciousness, as a result of increased state attention to the problems of family planning, characteristics of the sexual behavior of young people, sexual deviations, the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, the implementation of policies regarding their prevention, it ceases to be a closed topic for discussion in families and society. The reproductive function of the family is revealed in the natural need to continue the race through the birth of children - heirs. The most reproductive period of a family is the first five years of family life. For the population to fully reproduce itself, each family needs to give birth to and raise at least two children. However, most modern young parents are focused on one child, explaining such attitudes by financial difficulties, social instability and deterioration in general and reproductive health. The educational function of the family is to create such a moral and psychological climate that is most favorable for full-fledged, physical, intellectual, moral, emotional, aesthetic, social development children, in accordance with their age capabilities and individual needs and problems. The difficulties of modern family education are largely associated with the lack of a general and age-specific strategy for raising a child in the family, a low level of pedagogical culture, and insufficient readiness for motherhood and fatherhood. The recreational function is to provide material, physical, and psychological mutual assistance, to organize a healthy lifestyle and good rest for the family, to provide emotional protection and a sense of security for each family member. The household function is associated with providing the family and its individual members with the conditions necessary for a full life and relaxation at home. First of all, nutrition, material needs and the creation of everyday comfort. This function has characteristic features in rural and urban families, in families with different levels of material capabilities and the direction of value orientations. The economic function is associated with the processes of division and consumption material goods and services, the possibilities of the family budget and its rational use. The communicative function of the family is to satisfy the needs of its members for communication and mutual understanding. It is directly dependent on the nature of intrafamily communication, on the moral and psychological climate of the family and on the psychological attitudes of its individual members. The regulatory function of each family depends on its characteristic moral norms and principles, the ability to exercise social control over its members, in particular children, by their parents. The specifics of its implementation depend on the type of power and authority, and therefore it assumes its own implementation mechanism for each family. This function is practically not controlled by society, with the exception of some emergency situations. The function of primary socialization of children is, first of all, to become familiar with the cultural traditions and values ​​of society, behavioral patterns, social roles and characteristics of different social positions that are embedded in the family’s lifestyle and the behavior of parents. Family stability is largely determined by family traditions / family holidays (folk and religious calendar, memorable family dates and birthdays of family members), traditional models of behavior and communication in the family (respect and authority of older family members, care for smaller and weaker ones, support kinship relations, protection of family members and clan), collective housekeeping and responsibility in fulfilling the social roles of father and mother, husband and wife, children, brothers and sisters, etc.

Excellent definition

Incomplete definition ↓

FAMILY

one of the first historical forms of social community of people and social relations, an element of the structure of society, its “cell”. / Modern sociological definition of S. below. - S.B./ Difficulty scientific definition With how social education is due to its many-thousand-year history, insufficient scientific research into human communities and the stages of their development in different parts of our planet, and numerous scientific approaches to its study. S., as the oldest human system, has a historically determined and changing form of relations between spouses, between parents and children, and relatives. A general macrotheory of socialism in its strict understanding does not exist precisely because of the extreme complexity and versatility of this social object. There are different directions and approaches to its analysis. Some famous thinkers and scientists viewed S. from a biologizing position (Plato, Aristotle, Kant, Fichte, etc.), others - from an evolutionist one [J. Bachofen, J. McLennan, L. Morgan, F. Engels, M. Kovalevsky, S. Shpilevsky, L. Sternberg, etc.]. Among the most famous approaches to the study of culture are: cultural studies - K. Zimmerman, M. Mead; structural-functional - E. Durkheim, W. Ogborn, T. Parsons; interactionist - F. Le Play, E. Burgess, C. Cooley, F. Znaniecki, J. Piaget, Z. Freud, J.G. Mead et al.; conflictological - K. Marx, F. Engels, Hartmann, Sofilios-Rothschild, etc.; institutional and group - A.G. Kharchev, M.S. Matskovsky, N.G. Yurkevich et al. Each of the approaches has its own flaws and limitations. The problem of understanding S. as an integral phenomenon lies in the adequacy of the concepts and terminology used. It is necessary to have such conceptual structures that are capable of fixing the nature and degree of implementation of social functions at the macro level, depending on the intra-group interaction of members of the group, who simultaneously strive to satisfy their personal needs (A.I. Antonov, V.M. Medkov). A systematic approach may correspond to this (M.S. Matskovsky, A.I. Antonov, V.M. Medkov). Consideration of systems as a system presupposes its analysis at the macro and micro levels in the spatial and temporal continuum. However, this is a promising goal, extremely complex and feasible only through the joint efforts of many specialists and scientists, to achieve which it is necessary to solve many methodological and methodological problems.

Parenthood and kinship are a specific form of relationship inherent in S., and have both a biological and social basis. The connection that arises as a result of the birth of a new person is biological in nature and is natural. But if biological-genetic connections between people exist regardless of whether people know about them or not, then social-kinship connections exist only because they pass through people’s consciousness. (Yu.I. Semenov). Thus, the presence of rights and obligations between relatives indicates the social nature of their relationship, conditioned by its socio-economic relations. Biological and social parenthood, both paternity and maternity, are duplicated only in societies with monogamous marriage. In early societies, group marriage saw a separation of biological and social motherhood. Children born from different women, but belonging to the same clan, were fed and raised by all women together, who acted in this case as public mothers. The mother was the natural nurse. Social relations regarding the maintenance of children by the mother were biologically determined. And the concept of a mother arose as the concept of a nurse (Yu.I. Semenov). W. Rivers, who studied the dual-clan organization, came to the conclusion that kinship, which is studied by ethnographers, is a social relationship and should not be confused with biological kinship. The concept of the father also arose as the concept of the breadwinner of children. The concept of "father" coincided with the concept of "mother's husband", but not as her sexual partner, but with the one who supported her economically. Biological paternity, or so-called procreation, was not taken into account by society and therefore had no social significance (Yu.I. Semenov). According to research by P.A. Lavrovsky in 1869, in all Indo-European languages, the original meaning of words denoting father was not the begetter, but the breadwinner (Yu.I. Semenov). Society could not fully develop if only women took care of the offspring. Yu.I. Semenov points out that in many modern societies there is a linear relationship, and therefore lines of descent that connect a person with both parents and their relatives. Biological paternity began to act as a social paternity only when the man became the sole breadwinner of S. This was associated with the emergence and spread of monogamous marriage. The need to support offspring has led to a man's desire to know for sure that he is the biological father of each child, for whom he must bear social responsibility. Children born out of wedlock were not supported by men.

Since both marriage and parenthood are regulated socially, they receive state and public support, S. acts as a social institution. How institutionalized public education S. has the entire complex of social functions and roles for which society creates, protects and supports this institution. As a small socio-psychological group, S. assumes direct communication between its members, emotionality, small numbers, common life, mutual moral responsibility and mutual assistance.

Specialists who consider the issues of marriage and marriage from different positions (lawyers, demographers, economists, teachers, etc.) do not have a common definition of marriage. But not only because the manifestations of marriage are many-sided and family relationships are characterized by great complexity and versatility , but also because there are many criteria that can be used as the basis for this concept (social purpose, quality of connections, structure, principle of organization, etc.); Many definitions given by experts suffer from one-sidedness, because only some of its forms and aspects are taken into account. The most complete definitions are those of sociologists who consider socialism in a social context.

Socialism is a social institution (by the nature of social influence on marriage and family relations) and at the same time, a small social group with a historically determined organization, whose members are connected by marriage or kinship relationships, a common life, and mutual responsibility, which is determined by the social need for reproduction of the human race, both physical and spiritual renewal of society. This is one of the variations of the most common definition of socialism in Russian literature, the authors of which are famous Russian sociologists A.G. Kharchev and M.S. Matskovsky.

S. can be based on marriage, close (blood) relationship, and on the fact of adoption. The last reason is an exception to the general rule of the emergence of S. on the basis of marriage or close relationship. S. may or may not include a married couple. In the second half of the 20th century. Incomplete marriages, which arose as a result of divorces and out-of-wedlock births, became widespread, and the presence of a married couple ceased to be an obligatory component of marriage. The difference between marriage and marriage lies not only in the number of subjects of the relationship, but also in the quality of these relationships. As a social organization, marriage differs from marriage in that these relationships are multilateral and multi-vector in nature. They are aimed at satisfying the diverse needs of members of the community and at performing many social and individual functions. S. can also be called a husband and wife if their relationship is broader than marriage. In other words, when dividing the concepts of marriage and marriage, one cannot limit oneself only to quantitative characteristics; it is necessary to take into account the qualitative difference between them.

As a social and legal institution, S. is protected by law. Legal regulation of marriage and family relations is important both for citizens and for the state. Citizens receive protection from the state in the event of a violation of their rights (for example, a mother’s request through the court for child support from a dissolved marriage from a father who is evading his obligation to provide financially for the children). The state, with the help of legal norms, establishes the rights and obligations of persons performing responsible social functions (primarily the birth and upbringing of children), thereby exercising control in the field of marriage and family life. Nuclear and extended families are distinguished by form. By nuclear we mean a family consisting from the core - two generations: parents and children. Extended is a multi-generation family that includes, in addition to a married couple, their children and other relatives. The social essence of society is determined by two main functions that it performs in society: reproductive and primary socialization of the new generation, which is carried out in the most intimate form from the very birth of a person. S. is the only group that grows due to the birth of children, and not due to the admission of new members (adoption is an exception). S.'s social purpose is due to the fact that she maintains the biological continuity of society by fulfilling parental aspirations; ensures the satisfaction of the primary, biological needs of its members for food, warmth, integrity of the body and organism, etc., necessary for their social activities; as well as secondary, social - satisfies the emotional needs of its members and maintains their emotional and psychological stability; passes on the cultural heritage to the new generation and forms in them the norms of living together in society; exercises primary social control over the behavior of its members; predetermines the social status of children. All this indicates the necessity of the existence of S. for the normal functioning of society. In accordance with the needs that are satisfied in S., its functions are distinguished: reproductive, socialization, economic, household, recreational, emotional, communication, sexual, primary social control, etc. It can be argued that the value of S. as a certain community of people is enduring. Different requirements for S. are put forward at different times, but the need for it always remains. As stated in time immemorial Apostle Paul, only rare people are able to lead an independent life. The vast majority needs support from close people, S. Nature has endowed a person with a certain set of psychological needs, which are realized to the greatest extent only in S. S. is designed to prevent the disintegration of the individual, and is a shock absorber between society and the individual. In S. there are three main types of relationships: marriage, parenthood, kinship. Members of the S. usually live under the same roof and run a common joint household. Relations between family members are determined by their feelings for each other, family roles, traditions, legal norms, and religion.

S. and society are interconnected. The evolution of society as a social institution is determined by the development of society and the specifics of socio-economic and socio-political processes. At the same time, marriage and family relations have relative independence, since in addition to objective, external factors, marriage is influenced by a number of other circumstances, in particular, the moral and psychological characteristics of individuals. Due to the fact that many people today associate family life primarily with a community of close people, the moral, psychological and emotional aspects of family life are becoming increasingly important. In this case, S. can be perceived by individuals in two meanings. Firstly, when two or more people have created a warm, intimate living environment for themselves, which they consider as a family group. This is the environment with which they usually share a common living space, responsibilities, performing various roles and functions. S. in this case is associated with the concepts of warmth and intimacy according to the “here and now” principle. In another meaning, S. is perceived as a group of relatives connected by blood ties vertically and horizontally, i.e. this is the kinship of generations and the totality of all relatives - both living and dead. The presence of such a S., the awareness of his involvement in her, is extremely important for a person psychologically, regardless of whether he maintains a close relationship with her or not. The importance of this is connected with the need to know one’s roots, one’s origins, and to feel involved in the future. This interpretation of family life absorbs both the normative, traditional model (marriage, parental, and kinship ties) and deviations from it, for example, incomplete, binuclear, bicareer families. In modern societies, the performance of the most important functions of traditional family life—childbirth and raising the younger generation—can move on to other forms of C.

Since the 1970s, in European industrial and post-industrial countries, there has been a growing number of people who are able, on the basis of a highly productive economy and a highly developed market for services and goods, to ensure the reproduction of the population without getting married and creating a family in its usual sense. This is further evidence that family forms change throughout history. A family form that suits one generation may not suit another. The transition from one family structure to another is associated with bringing it into line with new social circumstances and the needs of family members and a given society, therefore the emergence of new family forms and their diversity does not mean pathology. Moreover, the frozen form and stability of S. as criteria for its evaluation are very doubtful, since constant movement and variability are more inherent in S. as a living organism than stability and immobility. All processes occurring in society affect society and its structure. Today S. is more subject to the requirements of social production than before. Caring for the individual and his personal potential, she is under the pressure of the demands of market relations and must take them into account. As a social institution, society must create and shape individuals who meet existing social expectations and are able to actively participate in public life. In addition, in the light of new approaches to understanding the development of human potential (feminist, gender, etc.), a new idea of ​​men and women, their purpose in society and society, is being updated, i.e. S. should be the environment that helps boys and girls, women and men to realize themselves more fully, become more perfect and through them make society more harmonious.

The state of modern S. is characterized by a number of contradictory trends. Among them are a decrease in the strength of marital and family relationships (which is confirmed by divorce statistics and an increase in tension in relations between parents and children), a decrease in the birth rate, an increase in the number of single-parent (single-parent) families, out-of-wedlock births, and a weakening of the role of families in socialization. younger generation(increase among teenagers in suicide, crime, drug addiction, alcoholism, etc.). This is on the one hand. On the other hand, there are changes of a different order. The economic and social independence of women and their spiritual emancipation are growing as a result of involvement in social and professional activity outside the house. Women's labor activity, on the one hand, increases S.'s well-being, and on the other hand, causes greater demands on marriage and family relations and greater decisiveness in divorce, thereby making S. less stable. This is an inevitable phenomenon associated with the formation of new relationships. The traditional type of patriarchal family with a rigid distribution of family roles and responsibilities is gradually being replaced by equal family relationships between men and women, between adults and children. These processes are accompanied by changes in marriage and family ideology, the views of men and women on family life, the distribution of roles in marriage, marital fidelity, and the nature of relations between generations.

So, global social changes are giving rise to new types of family relationships. Reflecting social impact, the influence of new technologies, family structures for different people at different times can be both normal and deviant from the norm. The structure of S. follows the functions that it performs at a given time. In different societies, S. can have different forms. The history of modernization can be considered as a history of the loss of some functions and the acquisition of others. S. shows its vitality at all times, including today, adapting and creatively transforming its internal content in the face of rapid changes in the industrial and post-industrial world. The inviolability of S. as the main form of human life seems undeniable, because no matter what transformations this institution may experience, the majority of the adult population around the world today prefers to live in S.

Excellent definition

Incomplete definition ↓

FAMILY

FAMILY, an association of people based on marriage or consanguinity, connected by a common life and mutual responsibility. Being a necessary component of the social structure of any society and performing many things. social functions, S. plays an important role in societies. development ´ Public order, - wrote F. Engels, - under which people of a certain historical era and a certain country live, are determined ... by the stage of development, on the one hand - of labor, on the other - of the family´ (Marx K., Engels F., Works, 2 ed., vol. 21, p. 26) Generations of people change through S., in it “the production of the person himself, the continuation of the family” takes place (ibid., p. 26). In S., primary socialization and upbringing of children takes place until they reach civil maturity, and also means. In part, the obligation to take care of old disabled members of society is realized. S. is also a unit of organization of everyday life and an important consumer unit. In addition, S. acts as one of the main. objects of demographic policy. The first of the tasks of effective demographic policies specified in the decisions of the 26th Congress of the CPSU - “to promote the strengthening of the family as the most important unit of socialist society” (Materials of the 26th Congress of the CPSU, M. 1981, p. 136)

The basis of marriage is the marriage union between a man and a woman in one form or another, sanctioned by society. It is not, however, reduced to the relationship between a man and a woman, even legally formalized, but represents the relationship between husband and wife, parents and children. ´(Marx K., Engels F., Soch., 2nd ed., vol. 3, p. 27), which gives it the character of the most important social institution. This is determined primarily by the fact that society owes its emergence, existence, and development primarily to societies. needs, norms and sanctions requiring spouses to care for their children. At the same time, S. is considered as a small group based on marriage or consanguinity, the members of which are connected by a common life, mutual moral responsibility and mutual assistance.

Family is expressed through such concepts as family functions, its structure, and the role behavior of family members. Family functions reflect the system of interaction between family and society, on the one hand, and family and individual, on the other. Depending on the evolution of society and the changes in the requirements it places on society as a social institution designed to satisfy the definition. social needs, both the content and significance of its social functions changed. The most important functions of the family have always been the birth and upbringing of children. An important function of the family in the past was providing definition. social status to all its members - became less significant as personal abilities, education, and skills began to matter more than family connections and origin. In pre-capitalist and capitalistic societies of one of the main S.'s functions are the inheritance of private property. With the socialization of labor and industrial development, such functions of socialism as economics also changed. security, joint ownership of property. The set of functions that modern S. performs can be reduced to the following - reproductive, educational, household. econ. recreational (mutual assistance, maintaining health, organizing leisure and recreation), communicative and regulatory (including primary social control and the implementation of power and authority in socialism).

The structure of a family is understood as the entire set of relations between its members, including, in addition to kinship relations, a system of spiritual, moral relations , including relations of power, authority, etc. The so-called authoritarian structure and, in connection with this, authoritarian families, which are characterized by strict subordination of the wife to her husband and, as a rule, strict discipline in the relationship between parents and children. Democratic families are based on the distribution of roles in accordance not with traditions, but with the personal qualities and abilities of the spouses, on the equal participation of each of them in decision-making, the voluntary distribution of responsibilities and raising children, on consciousness, not coercion. An important role in modern times. Marriage and family relations are played by legal relations regulating those enshrined in legal documents. norms of mutual rights and obligations of spouses, parents and children to each other. Role interaction in a community is a set of norms and patterns of behavior that characterize one member of the community in his relationships with other members. Basic role relationships in S. - husband and wife, father (mother) and children, brothers and sisters, as well as father-in-law (mother-in-law), father-in-law (mother-in-law) and daughter-in-law (son-in-law), etc. are characterized by various features of relationships that differ significantly in traditional and in modern S. Traditional roles in which the woman ran the house, farmstead, gave birth and raised children, and the husband was the owner, often the sole owner of the land and property, and provided the economy. S.'s independence was replaced by roles in which the vast majority of women in some countries and a significant part of them in others began to participate in production. activities, economics ensuring S. and take equal participation in family decisions. This influenced all aspects of the functioning of S. and the characteristics of marriage and family relations, contributed to the liberation and development of the personality of a woman-mother, equality of marital relations, but at the same time influenced the demographics. behavior, leading to a decrease in the birth rate and an increase in the divorce rate. For modern families are characterized by an orientation towards personal, rather than status, characteristics of individuals in a situation of marriage choice. If in the past marriages by agreement of parents were common, now the overwhelming majority are marriages in which young people independently decide to marry and choose marriage partners themselves. There is a process of complication of relationships between the older and middle generations in the family and at the same time the number of nuclear families is growing. The relationship between parents and children changes. First of all, traditional. norms and values, largely supported by tradition. family, become less significant compared to the norms and patterns of behavior established in the process of interpersonal communication in the department. families. Secondly, there is a change in the structure of leadership in the family and the nature of the relationship between spouses and between parents and children. Finally, the basis of modern marriages are becoming uneconomical. or status, but emotional aspects of interpersonal relationships.

In the bourgeoisie Literary ideas are widespread about the possibility of replacing existing marriage and family relations with new forms of family, about their collapse and “death” S. Marxist-Leninist sociology convincingly proves that the current alarming trends in the development of marriage and family relations (declining birth rates, increasing divorce rates , an increase in the number of single-parent families, an increase in the number of singles) are characterized not by their collapse, but by the complexities of the socially determined transformation of the institution of family life and its functions and its formation as a small social group.

Socialism, as the most important social unit, is the object of study by many. society sciences - sociology, economics, law, ethnography, psychology, pedagogy, demography. Each of the sciences, in accordance with its subject, is attracted specifically. aspects of the functioning and development of the household. The focus of the economy is the household, or household, as an economic, ch. arr. consumer, cell; sociology focuses on the analysis of society as a social institution, mainly. on marriage and fulfilling the definition. social functions; ethnographic Research is related to the study of the characteristics of the way of life and everyday life of families with different. ethnic characteristics; for demography basic. Of interest is the role of the family and the family structure of us. in population reproduction. Depending on the aspect of study, the definitions of S. may differ slightly and certain of its features may be emphasized. Thus, for demography, the presence of a legally formalized relationship between spouses is not of decisive importance, while for jurisprudence it is the focus of attention; For pedagogy, the study of a family without children is meaningless, although for sociology it represents a definition. interest, etc. At the same time, studying various. sides of the same object - S., all these sciences interact and mutually enrich each other. Despite the fact that each science has its own. approach to the typology of families, certain general principles have been formed for identifying types of family organization and types of families. Depending on the form of marriage, types of family organizations are distinguished: monogamy and polygamy. Monogamy is a form of marriage in which one man can be married to only one woman at a time. In the 20th century In all economically developed societies, monogamy is a mandatory norm of socially recognized marriage. In those countries of Asia and Africa where social and legal. norms do not prescribe monogamy; it is also the most common type of marital relationship. Polygamy is a marriage in which it is allowed for one person to have two or more at the same time. marriage partners; Polygyny is more common.

Depending on the structure of family ties, various types are distinguished. types of families. The most common type is the simple or nuclear family, which is a married couple with unmarried children. If some of the children in S. are married, another type of family is formed - an extended or complex family. It includes more generations or two or more nuclear families living together and connected by a common household, regardless of whether they belong to the same family or different families. generations. An important basis for the typology of families, in particular nuclear ones, is the presence of both spouses forming the core of the family. Depending on this, a complete family is distinguished (the structure includes both spouses) and an incomplete family, where one of the spouses is absent. To characterize families in history. perspective, as well as for the analysis of families living in certain countries of Africa and Asia, other divisions of types of family organization are used. A patriarchal family is distinguished, in which the father is the formal head of the family and exercises power in it. Matriarchal S. is a form of family organization, in which the formal head of S. is the mother. This type of S. is quite rare and among anthropologists there is no single point of view as to whether societies existed in which purely matriarchal S. prevailed.

From the point of view of ethnography, the most significant division of families by ethnicity. signs. In the USSR, the most significant differences are between the families of peoples of Turkic origin, on the one hand, and the peoples inhabiting Europe. part of the country, on the other. These differences are manifested in the composition of the family, the number of children in it, the divorce rate, the proportion of single people of marriageable age, etc.

In demography, S. is studied as a cell of human reproduction, in connection with which its reproductive function comes to the fore, and is considered in close connection with other social functions of S. At the same time, the object of study is the process of education and family development, or demographic. development of S. At the same time, changes in the composition of S. that have a direct impact are considered. influence on reproduction. marriage, birth of children, divorce or death of a person. from the members of S., the emergence of a young S. Developing, S. goes through a number of stages, the sequence of which develops into a family cycle, or the life cycle of a family. A different number of phases of this cycle are distinguished: S.'s education - entry into first marriage; the beginning of childbearing - the birth of the first child; the end of childbearing - the birth of the last child; “empty nest” - marriage (and separation from the family) of the last child; the cessation of S.'s existence is the death of one of the spouses. At each stage, S. has a specific social and economic characteristics. The life cycle of S., which is sometimes called the S. model or the model of S.’s development, is usually studied on the scale of the age of the spouses (or one of them) or the age of the S., which refers to the duration of the marriage of the couple forming the core of the S. The normal sequence of phases of the family cycle may be disrupted due to the death of someone. from members of the S., separation or reunification of relatives or termination of marriage. In these cases, the time and reason for ending the marriage (death of a spouse or divorce), entering into a second marriage, etc. become important. The frequency and reasons for such changes, as well as their impact on the further development of S., have been little studied. Throughout family life, each member of the family consistently changes his family status, being first a child (see Children), then a spouse, the spouse’s parent, and sometimes a grandparent, and therefore his social roles in the family change, and accordingly. his place in the family structure of us. A change in family status is often associated with a transition to another family. The transition of a family from one stage to another changes its demographics. composition, by which we mean the distribution of the members of the S. according to certain characteristics that are significant from the point of view of our reproduction. Highest value have such characteristics of the composition of the family as the presence of a married couple or only one of the spouses, their age, the number and age of children, etc. Thus, demographic. The composition of families determines their demographics. types characterizing the stage of the family cycle, and demographic prospects. development of S. The transition from one stage to another is associated, although not always, with a change in the type of S. (for example, the entry of an older child into marriage changes the type of S., but the birth of another child does not change it).

Demography is not studied by the department. S., and their totality. Since the process of formation and development of S., their transition from one stage to another occurs continuously, we. always consists of S., located at different stages of the life cycle. The distribution of these families according to types corresponding to different stages, and their members according to family status, forms the family composition of the population. At any given moment, it corresponds to the age, sex and marriage structures of us, formed under the influence of demographic factors. processes in the past, and is directly under. the impact of marriage and termination of marriage, fertility and mortality. The number of newly concluded marriages, and therefore. The extent of newly formed S. depends on how much is in us. people who can get married, at what age they are, as well as on the level of marriage and on whether the newlyweds remain with one or another of their parents or become independent. C. The termination of marriages due to divorce or widowhood, as well as the separation of adult children from parental families, change the composition of families and some families cease to exist. Fertility and mortality play a similar role, increasing some and decreasing others. families. The continuous process of formation and decay of S. is closely related to other demographics. processes, which sometimes gives reason to consider reproduction. how to reproduce families. In modern In demography, these connections have been studied insufficiently.

Most demographic events, in particular births, occur in families and are differentiated depending on marital and, apparently, also on family status (for example, the mortality rate of those who are married is lower than those who have never been married, widowed or divorced) and therefore family composition serves one of the factors in our reproduction. Thus, the number of S., their size and composition are considered in demography, on the one hand, as a prerequisite for certain demographics. events, on the other hand, as their result. Demographic behavior directly depends on the conditions and lifestyle of the S., and therefore the determination and demographic factors. processes are usually studied at the micro level, i.e. at the departmental level. C. However, demographic they acquire meaning when taken as a whole of families. Therefore, quality. analysis of these factors in theoretical terms. aspect must be organically interconnected with quantities. analysis of the frequency of their occurrence in different groups of us, which can also indicate patterns that do not appear at the level of departments. families. Thus, demographic the development of families requires statistical research.

Basic The source of data on S. are population censuses and sample demographics. surveys and empirical sociological. research. In historical demography, information is obtained from parish or parish registers using the family history reconstruction method (VIS). For delimitation during a census or survey of us. one S. from another important has a definition of S. as a unit of accounting. The most common definition of society is as a group of people related by kinship, living together and having a common budget; it is recommended by the UN and is used in the censuses of most countries that take into account S., including the USSR. Usually S. is considered in relation to the permanent population; in the USSR, during censuses as part of S., only those who lived in a given place for at least 6 months are taken into account (or were absent for no more than this period, with the exception of students living at the place of study and persons passing conscript service in the army, which were not included in the S.). People living outside the family are considered single or (in the USSR) separately living members of the family. Those living outside the family should be distinguished from those who are not married as a category of marital status. In the censuses of some countries, the unit of accounting is not the social unit, but the household, as it is primarily an economic unit. a unit consisting of persons living together and leading a common household; the household may also include non-relatives. According to the UN definition, a household can consist of several S. or one or several. S. together with one or more unrelated persons. Within a household, a household is defined as a unit whose members are related to each other by blood, adoption, or marriage, sometimes in a narrower sense - as the core of the household. In most economically developed countries, households and households coincide and the majority of households consist of one For example, in the USA (1976) only 3.5% of households included unrelated persons. S. (and the corresponding household) as a unit of accounting, due to the ambiguity of the term, is sometimes called statistical. S., or census S. Sometimes, to emphasize social economics. the nature of the connections, the term “family household” is used.

Strict statistical system. There are no S. indicators. Most often the family composition of us. characterized by the distribution of S. by size, by type, by the number of S. nuclei, sometimes in combination with the distribution of family members according to one or another social demographic. characteristics (age, marital status, marital status, etc.). A common indicator is the average size of the family (the quotient of the number of members of all families divided by the number of families); sometimes the inverse value is used - the family coefficient. For economical characteristics of a family, the family load indicator is used - the number of dependents per average member of a family who has an occupation or an independent source of livelihood.

It is difficult to judge the evolution of the family over a fairly long period due to the lack of mass census data. (households and families began to be counted in censuses of Western European countries only in the mid-19th century) and changes in definitions from census to census. As studies show, the general trend in changes in the size and composition of S. means. degree predetermined changes in the nature of our reproduction. during the demographic revolution; at the same time, each of its stages corresponded to a definition. family structure and type (see demographic transition). At the stage of decreasing mortality, while the birth rate remained high, there was a moderate increase in the share of large families and a decrease in the share of small families. stability in the share of simple families, an increase in the share of single families with a slight increase in the average value of families. At the stage of declining fertility, the share of small families increases and the share of large families decreases, the share of simple families increases and the share of complex families decreases, and the average value of families decreases. According to American research. demographer N. Ryder, cf. the value of S. before the start of demographic transition is 3.15, during the transition period - 4.67, after its completion - 3.37. On the change in the average size of households (households) since the last third of the 19th century. in the department countries provide the following information. data.

The tendency to reduce S.'s value manifests itself simultaneously with a reduction in the birth rate or with a certain lag. A significant role in reducing the size of S. is played by the process of nuclearization of S. associated with industrialization and urbanization, leading to the predominance of us in the family structure. simple C. In developing countries of Asia and Lat. America, a decrease in mortality, not accompanied by a decrease in fertility, led to an increase in the average value of C.

Forms and composition of families (and households) in different countries are different and depend on socio-economic. conditions, as well as the prevalence of various. forms of marriage and family relations. In economically developed countries, simple families, consisting of a married couple with children, predominate; in developing countries, there are relatively many complex families, which reflects the influence of the traditions of patriarchal families. The distribution of families by type and size is also affected by differences in the nature of demographics. processes. In developing countries of Asia, Africa and Latvia. In America, where the birth rate is high and complex families are common, there are relatively many large families. In foreign European countries, Northern. America (except Mexico), as well as in Japan, where the birth rate is low and nuclear families predominate, there are relatively few large families (Table 1). According to UN forecasts, the noted differences in the distribution of families by size in groups of countries will remain at least until the end. 20th century If family nuclei are distinguished within families, then they can be grouped into those consisting of one family nucleus or several. cores.

Basic Some families in most countries (Table 2) are simple, containing only one family nucleus [India stands out, notable for its unique structure of households (families)].

In the USSR, according to the census of us. 1979, there were 66.3 million families, of which 42.4 million were in the cities. settlements and 23.9 million in villages. terrain.

During the period 1959-78, the total number of families in the USSR grew by 16 million, or increased by an average of 800 thousand families per year, and the number of families grew faster than the number. of us., which reflects the tendency towards isolation of young families and a reduction in the size of the village, both in the cities and in the villages. us. (Table 3). Wed. family size varies across the Union republics: from 3.1 in the mountains. us. Latv. SSR and Est. SSR up to 6.6 in villages. us. Taj. SSR (1979). In the distribution of soils by size, three large regions can be distinguished: the first, with a predominance of small regions, includes Latvia, Estonia, Ukraine, and most of the RSFSR; the second, with a predominance of middle S., - Belarus, Lithuania, Georgia, Moldova; the third, with a predominance of large S., is the republic of Wed. Asia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, as well as author. republics of the RSFSR. The differences between these regions are explained mainly by the different number of children in S. and the unequal prevalence of complex families.

In changes in the value of S. (Table 4), there is a tendency towards an increase in the number of small (2-3 people) and large families (7 or more people). The share of large S. is small, but their absolute number was 3.2 million in 1979, they included approx. 27 million hours

In addition to families, during the census of us. persons who are not part of any family (single family members) and persons permanently living separately from the family but maintaining a material connection with it (separately living family members) were taken into account. These categories include: students living without parents at the place of study; chronic hospital patients; those living in nursing homes; conscripted into the Soviet Union Army; pensioners without families and other people living alone. In 1959-78 persons of these categories increased and by 1979 amounted to approx. 30 million people (11% of population). These are either young people who have not yet started a family, or older people who do not have a family or live separately from their children. There are much more young men among both singles and those living separately. The elderly in these categories are the main ones. widows and divorced women who did not have children or lived separately from them.

According to the 1979 census, simple families predominate in the USSR, consisting of a married couple with children (of any age) or without them. Families of this type account for 52.6 million (approx. 80%) families, of which approximately 1/3 consist of one married couple with children, and 1/5 also includes one of the parents of the spouses and other relatives.

In 1979 there were 2.9 million families consisting of two or more married couples, or 4.3% of all families. These are mainly families in which married children live with both parents, and less often, married brothers and sisters. The percentage of families of this type is higher in republics with high birth rates, since, due to earlier marriage, spouses there are on average younger. Families with three or more married couples are extremely rare - according to an approximate estimate, 0.02% of all families. Families with married couples (simple and complex) make up 83.7% of all families in the country and cover almost 9/10 of all persons living in families . The category of S., which does not include a married couple, is quite significant. It includes 9 million single-parent families consisting of women (less often men) with children (of any age). Approximately 1/8 of them includes one of the parents of a woman or a man, but not much. some - also other relatives. In addition, they do not include a married couple of approx. 1.8 million t. other families, consisting, for example, of two sisters, a grandmother and a granddaughter, etc. Single-parent and other families in 1979 made up 16.3% of all families and included 29 million people, i.e. a little more than 10 % us.

Ethnic processes. assimilation and consolidation of nations lead to the formation of the number of ethnically mixed S., uniting people of different nations. They are formed as a result of an ethnically mixed marriage in the first or second generation and unite mainly people from peoples with similar cultural and lifestyle characteristics. In 1959 there were 10.2% of such families, in 1970 - 13.5%, in 1979 - 14.9%. In the mountains settlements where there are more international opportunities. communication, the share of mixed families (1979) was greater: 18.1% versus 9.2% in villages. terrain.

The average value of the S. of indigenous nationalities of the Union republics varies quite significantly across the republics: in villages. localities, for example, S. Tajiks are on average almost twice as large as Latvians. Means much less. differences in the average value of Russian S., as a rule, cf. size rus. C is greater in those union republics where the value of C. of indigenous nationality is greater.

In the 80s S.'s formation begins at a relatively earlier age and is not always associated with the achievement of complete independence by young spouses. At the same time, a simple family consisting of parents and children is becoming more common, reflecting the desire for separate living of the older and younger generations.

One of the creatures. factors in the dynamics of family composition and the reduction in family size is the decline in the birth rate. Caused by deep social transformations that took place in the country, this process began back in the 30s. and gradually embraced wide layers of us. The massive involvement of women in public production, which was not always supported by the effective work of child care institutions and the public service system, had a great influence on the birth rate. However, the main factor in the transition to a small family as a result of a change in the type of birth rate itself was a radical change in the position of women in society and in the family and the associated revolution in public consciousness.

All this indicates deep qualities. changes that have occurred in the social functions of the family. S. in means. has lost its production to a large extent. function while remaining predominant. cell of consumption and organization of household life. Modern welfare family is no longer directly related to the number of its members and depends more on the personal labor of everyone outside the family than on joint labor in family farming. At the same time, the role of S. in organizing the leisure of its members and in creating specific activities has grown enormously. atmosphere of home, spiritual closeness, care and mutual assistance. Serious changes have also occurred in tradition. S.’s functions in raising children and transferring labor skills to them, which S. now increasingly shares with specialists. society institutions.

The structure of the S. has also changed: to replace the authoritarian S., main. on unquestioning submission to the head (breadwinner), on inequality, lack of rights, comes new type S. is an equal community of spiritually close people, free from material dependence and coercion, bound by respect, sympathy and mutual assistance.

Generally progressive changes in socio-demographic. functions of S., like any developing society. The phenomenon is characterized by certain developmental contradictions - insufficient preparedness of young people for marriage and family life, instability of some families, especially young ones, and sometimes excessive workload borne by working mothers raising children. The growth of needs and, in particular, the increase in the demands made by parents on the conditions for raising and maintaining children, encourages some Ss to limit themselves to a smaller number of children than the parents would like to have. All this can sometimes lead to unfavorable social and demographic factors. effects. That is why the broad program of social events planned by the 26th Congress of the CPSU includes both organically. an integral part of the demographic measure. policies aimed at strengthening S.

The implementation of this program will provide the necessary social prerequisites for the rationalization of our reproduction. in the interests of both each S. and the whole society. At the same time, further development of scientific and technical revolution in the USSR, organic. its combination with the advantages of socialism will be accompanied by a gradual overcoming of the noted difficulties, and, consequently, stabilization of socialism. S. as a form of individual life activity of people and the most important moral, social and economic factor. progress of society.

Marx K., Capital, Marx K. and Engels F., Works, 2nd ed., vol. 23; his, Draft Law on Divorce, ibid., vol. 1; Engels F., Origin of the family, private property and the state, ibid., vol. 21; his, Ludwig Feuerbach and the end of classical German philosophy, ibid.; Marx K. and Engels F., German Ideology, ibid., vol. 3; Lenin V.I., On the right of nations to self-determination, Complete. collection cit., 5th ed., vol. 25; his, On the caricature of Marxism and “imperialist economism,” ibid., vol. 30; him, On the meaning of militant materialism, ibid., vol. 45; Materials of the XXVI Congress of the CPSU, M. 1981; Kovalevsky M. Essay on the origin and development of family and property, St. Petersburg, 1895; Morgan L., Primitive Society, trans. from English, M. 1900; Kvitkin O. A., The main lines of development of the 1926 family census, in the book: All-Union Population Census of 1926, vol. 56, v. 1, M.-L., 1931; All-Union Population Census of 1926, vol. 55 - 56, century. 1-3, M.-L., 1931-33; Wolfson S. Ya., Family and marriage in their historical development, M. 1937; Results of the All-Union Population Census of 1959, USSR (consolidated volume), M. 1962; Kosven M. O., Seed community and patronymy, M. 1963; Zetkin K., Iz notebook, in the book: Memoirs of V.I. Lenin, vol. 5, M. 1970; Yurkevich N. G., Soviet family, Mn., 1970; Darsky L. E., Family formation, M. 1972; Results of the All-Union Population Census of 1970, vol. 7, M. 1973; Semenov Yu. I., The origin of marriage and family, M. 1974; Marriage and family. Demographic aspect, M. 1975; Chuyako L.V., Marriages and divorces, M. 1975; Vasilyeva E.K., Family and its functions, M. 1975; Gerasimova I. A., Family structure, M. 1976; Marriage rate, birth rate, mortality rate in Russia and the USSR, M. 1977; Kharchev A. G., Matskovsky M. S., Modern family and its problems, M. 1978; Demographic problems of the family, M. 1978; Marriage rate, birth rate, family for three centuries, M. 1979; Demographic development of the family, M. 1979; Kharchev A.T., Marriage and family in the USSR, 2nd ed., M. 1979; Khomenko A.P., Family and population reproduction, M. 1980; The size and composition of the population of the USSR according to the All-Union Population Census of 1979, M. 1984; Golod S.I., Family stability: sociological and demographic aspects, Leningrad, 1984; Murdock G P., Social structure, N Y, 1949; Sussman M. V., Sourcebook in marriage and the family, 3 ed., N. Y., 1968; Bell R., Marriage and family interaction, 3 ed., Homewood (III), 1971; Aldous J., Hill R., International bibliography of research in marriage and the family, 1900-64, Minneapolis, 1967; Household and family in past time, Camb., 1972; Demographic yearbook, 1976, 1982, N.Y., 1977-84.

Excellent definition

Incomplete definition ↓

This term is studied by a variety of sciences, and each gives its own interpretation.

In sociology, the concept refers to several people who are united by blood or marriage.

In the legal sense, these are people living together and connected with each other by legal relations that arose after the official registration of marriage.

The law of the Russian Federation interprets the surname as organized group people connected by common life and moral responsibility.

Psychologists base the concept on personal relationships, noting the important role of upbringing and the continuity of traditions from elders to younger ones.

The term “family” has many definitions and concepts, but in general it is a unit of society that binds two people through a common life and relationships formalized by law.

How the family came to be: an excursion into history

At the dawn of evolution, people lived in communities or alone. According to scientists, the first unions began to emerge when ancient women stopped choosing alpha males and switched their attention to male breadwinners who were more faithful.

The change in priorities occurred for practical reasons - a reliable man could provide food for a woman and children throughout her life. It was calmer with him.

While the alpha males fought for women, the breadwinners brought meat and skins to their chosen ones and set up a home. Therefore, representatives of the fairer sex quickly figured out who was more profitable to live with.

Historians interpret meaning a little differently than lawyers or sociologists. In their opinion, a group of people who have a common ancestor can safely be called a cell of society.

Each cell has several components.

• The basis. Marriage plays this role. The conclusion of a formal union ensures that both parties have established marital rights and responsibilities.
• System of relations. This includes not only relationships between spouses, but also family ties - children, brothers, mothers-in-law, and so on. There are about 70% of these in Russia.
• Compound. Legislative legal acts list in detail the circle of persons forming one genus. IN different types codes - labor, civil or any other, the composition of this cell is different.

Features and functions

We were able to define the concept of a modern family, now let’s talk about its features and functions:

Any social unit is determined by the presence of the following characteristics:

• officially registered marriage;
• maintaining a common household, living together;
• acquisition of material assets;
• the presence of close, intimate relationships;
• the presence of one or more children.

Functions:

• Continuation of the family. The reproductive function is the most important, it is inherent in us by nature. And thanks to the traditions that have developed in society, the purpose of marriage is to give birth and raise children.
• Creation and accumulation of common material assets, joint farming.
• Upbringing. The goal is to educate and educate your children, instill in them moral values, norms of behavior in society, and also adapt them to normal life in it.
• Preservation of traditions and values. They help strengthen and preserve connections, ensure continuity of generations and shape the history of the family. Unions that have their own family traditions are more closely connected, because different generations of people interact more with each other.

Family structure

As a result of the development of society, scientists have identified several types of unions.

• By the number of partners - monogamous and polygamous. The former represent a union of one woman and one man, the latter allow living with several partners at the same time. Most families are monogamous. Religion often contributes to this. In the Orthodox tradition, the love of one man and one woman is sealed by marriage.
• According to the structure of family ties - simple and nuclear. In simple ones, parents and their children live together, and in nuclear ones, several generations lead a common household.
• By the number of children - childless, small children and large families.
• By type of accommodation. If the newlyweds live with the wife's parents, it is matrilocal; if they live with the husband's parents, it is patrilocal. Separately living spouses belong to the neolocal type.
• According to the form of government - matriarchy, patriarchy, democracy. In a matriarchal system, the woman dominates. She takes most of the responsibility and makes most of the decisions. In a patriarchal system, all power is concentrated in the hands of men. In a democracy, both spouses bear equal responsibility and make decisions jointly.
• By social status– young, adopted, established.
• In terms of moral and psychological state – prosperous, unfavorable.
• According to financial status - wealthy or poor.

Family resources and their types

This term means all property material values, sources of income of husband and wife.

Resources can be divided into several categories.

• Material. These include real estate, cars, household appliances, valuables, and jewelry. Each clan strives to acquire certain resources, as they ensure comfortable living for its members.
• Labor. All relatives do some kind of housework: cooking, cleaning, repairs, etc. All this put together is called labor resources.
• Financial – cash, bank accounts, securities, shares, deposits. Financial resources make it possible to purchase material ones.
• Informational. They are also called technological, since they represent the technology for doing some household chores. For example, a mother prepares food and teaches her daughter or son to cook in the same way. In different cells of society technological processes pass differently, therefore the resources differ. The peculiarity of these processes is that they often develop into traditions.

Resources are an important component that allows us to solve various everyday problems, achieve desired goals and satisfy people’s needs.

Why is a family necessary?

Human psychology is such that he cannot do it alone; he definitely needs close people who love him and whom he loves.

The family, as already mentioned above, is the unit of society, its structural unit. Its role is to satisfy human needs, not only in the material and physical planes, but also in the spiritual.

When forming a new couple, the spiritual component comes first, since two people are in love, they like to spend time with each other, share their thoughts and experiences. In such a union, a person receives love, understanding, support, without which it is difficult to live in society.

The emotional component of a social unit consists of feelings. For some, love and mutual understanding predominate, for others, negative emotions predominate - reproaches, resentments, anger, etc.

It is believed that all unions go through different stages of their existence - falling in love, getting used to it, the stage of tolerance. Mature couples who have lived together for many years and survived all stages come to true love. Many fall apart during the grinding-in stages, when many conflicts arise.

What is a modern family and what is its significance?

Unlike the times of the USSR, modern unions are autonomous and closed to society. Intervention in their affairs occurs only in extreme cases, when this cell becomes destructive. IN Soviet times it was more open to the state. Supervisory authorities monitored the development of every officially formalized relationship between citizens. When conflicts and divorces arose, they intervened and tried to influence, took possible steps to resolve quarrels and save the marriage.

Distinctive features: the uniqueness of modern unions

Today, it is impossible to define a family unambiguously due to the different types - Swedish, adopted, open, and so on. The essence of relations between the sexes has long gone beyond the classical formula: one woman, one man and children. IN Russian Federation Same-sex and Swedish marriages are prohibited, but in some foreign countries they are recognized by law, and this phenomenon is considered the norm.

Let us note some features that characterize the unions of our country over the past 25 years:

• Increase in the number of legal marriages. Young couples increasingly prefer to formalize their relationship at the registry office, although the institution of civil marriage still remains.
• Increasing the age of marriage. Average age newlyweds are 22 years old, while 30-40 years ago newlyweds barely crossed the line of majority, and 50 years ago our grandparents got married even earlier: at 15-16 years old. The growing up of newlyweds is associated with the need to receive higher education and the need for home improvement. Modern youth in most cases think about a career and preparing the ground for marriage.
• Later birth of children after the formalization of the relationship. According to statistics, the birth of the first child occurs in the 3-5th year of marriage.
• The desire to live separately from parents. WITH Tsarist Russia and the Soviet Union, several generations lived in one house. After the wedding, the newlyweds did not strive to separate and lived with the parents of the wife or husband, leading a common life and even a budget. Modern couples strive to start living separately as quickly as possible.
• Showing interest in traditions. Modern youth are increasingly thinking about their roots, origins and ancestors. It has become popular to compile your own family tree, pedigree. This surge of interest is normal. At a certain period in the life of the country, it was not customary to talk about origin, especially to those whose ancestors were not peasants, but princes, landowners and merchants. You can preserve your traditions and strengthen your family ties by creating a family tree. The House of Genealogy will help with this. The company’s specialists will find information about ancestors and relatives in the archives and prepare a genealogical book, which can become not only a good gift, but also a real heirloom.

The state in the 21st century pays more attention to the development of the family institution, improving its quality, and developing spiritual values. Today, marriage is a sign of a person’s well-being, his support and support. Times change, but the basic principles of building relationships between a man and a woman remain unchanged: love, mutual respect, trust and care.

The role of family in human life

It has a huge impact on the children who live in it. It helps you determine your moral guidelines. Despite the fact that in kindergartens, schools, sections and circles, teachers strive to convey to the little person basic knowledge, skills, moral truths, the experience of mom and dad, their attitude towards each other plays main role in the formation of the child’s personality.

Parents and grandparents lay down:

• ability to love;
• understanding your traditions;
• attitude towards people, including the opposite sex;
• the ability to appreciate help and provide it yourself;
• line of behavior in society and the ability to live harmoniously in it.

Only among loved ones and relatives does a person feel protected. He feels needed and this gives a person self-confidence. Helps him overcome difficulties and cope with failures.

The family is the beginning of everything, it is the connection between past generations and current ones. Every cell of society has characteristic features: presence of marriage, children, running a common household. It is where a person, his views, skills, and spiritual values ​​are formed. And our task is to do everything to preserve it.

Every year at the beginning of July our country celebrates a holiday - the Day of Family, Love and Fidelity. It is dedicated to Saints Peter and Fevronier, who created a strong married couple. In search of an answer to the question “what is a family,” many immediately recall the meaning of this word, known from school: “a family is a unit of society.” Indeed, every person lives in society according to certain rules of his country and environment. But in any part of the world a person lives in a family.

Family composition

The word “family” itself implies a group of people, a “cell”, which is created by a man and a woman who have entered into a marriage relationship. The family grows as children are born. It includes parents and children, grandparents, aunts and uncles, brothers and sisters. They maintain contact with each other and observe the traditions accepted in the family.

Family support

The answer to the question “what is a family” may also sound like this: “This is a “society within a society” where they support each other, protect each other, provide assistance when necessary, and experience successes and troubles together.” Strong ties between people are created by blood ties and kinship by marriage. Family affairs are subject to a certain order, which represents established norms and rules. People need something like this for personality formation and self-actualization, as well as in order to exist safely, thereby supporting the life of society and preserving the human race. Even a child can understand what a family is.

Family, love and children

Relationships in it are built on mutual love and sympathy. A strong family cares about its well-being, solves problems that arise together life problems. A small group of people, consisting of family members, jointly confront weaknesses and illnesses, mistakes and misdeeds. Family and children are inseparable concepts. Here they take care of their development, parents are the first educators of children and are responsible for their life and health. Children, in turn, pay attention to the older generation so that their representatives do not remain abandoned, lonely, and useless to anyone.

The value of family

You need to appreciate those who are nearby, and not forget that there are those who do not know what family is. For children raised in orphanages, family is a ray of hope for love and mutual understanding, the joy of communicating with each other. It helps to get rid of fatigue and anxiety, rejoices at successes, and is proud of its members who have achieved prosperity in life. In a family, a person learns responsibility, patience, generosity, endurance, and reliability.

Family is one of the social institutions

The family and school, as well as the kindergarten, are part of society. Only the family, unlike these social institutions, is a miniature society. Living in her circle helps to adapt to life in the outside world. A person understands that he is a piece of the vast Universe. The family becomes a single organism, its members show mercy, sympathy and love for each other, relatives work together so that the life of society moves forward and becomes better. Such an “organism” protects against diseases, destructive crimes occurring around, and strengthens the confidence of family members in their future. I would like families in Russia to be large and prosperous. “Seven I” is what this unit of society is sometimes called, assuming that the number of people in the family is at least seven.

Its members are bound by a common life, mutual assistance, moral and legal responsibility. How a stable association arises with the decomposition of the tribal system. The first historical form of monogamy was the patriarchal family (ruled by the father, including his descendants with their wives and children, as well as domestic slaves). Industrialization destroys the connection between the family and home production, leaving only the organization of everyday life among its economic functions; most families consist of spouses and their children (nuclear family). There are two contradictory trends in modern society: the renewal of the family on the basis of industrial and cultural progress (the transformation of the family into a moral and legal union of a man and a woman) and the growth of family conflicts and a significant number of divorces. Most marriages are concluded by the personal choice of the future spouses, and family relationships are increasingly characterized by their equality.

Big Encyclopedic Dictionary. 2000 .

Synonyms:

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Happiness is when you have a large, friendly, caring, loving family in another city. George Berne A family is a group of people who are united by blood and quarreled by money issues. Etienne Rey It is difficult to feed your family and your... ... Consolidated encyclopedia of aphorisms

AND; families, families, families; and. 1. A group of people consisting of husband, wife, children and other close relatives living together. Wealthy, low-income village. Large village Intelligent, friendly, big village. Rabochaya, peasant village. Live your life... ... encyclopedic Dictionary

Noun, g., used. very often Morphology: (no) what? family, why? family, (see) what? family, what? family, about what? about family; pl. What? family, (no) what? families, why? families, (see) what? family, what? families, about what? about families society 1. Family… … Dictionary Dmitrieva

FAMILY, families, wines. family and (simple) family, pl. families, families, families, wives. 1. A group of people consisting of parents, children, grandchildren and close relatives living together. Head of the family. Family member. Soviet family. “We had a good, non-drinking... ... Ushakov's Explanatory Dictionary

Cm … Synonym dictionary

family- FAMILY1, and many families, kin. families, dates families, f A group of people consisting of husband, wife, children and other close relatives living together. The large family. Create a family. Celebrate the holiday with your family. FAMILY2, and, many families, families, families, f,... ... Explanatory dictionary of Russian nouns

In oral folk creativity also in meaning. wife, Ukrainian sim᾽ya, other Russian. seven servants, household, family; husband, wife, seven, youngest member of the family (Sobolevsky, Sat. Lyapunov 61 et seq.), Russian. cslav. seven persona, seven ἀνδράποδα, seven’s slave,… … Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language by Max Vasmer

A small group based on marriage or consanguinity, whose members are bound by a common life, mutual moral responsibility and mutual assistance. In marriage and sex, relationships determined by the difference between the sexes and sexual need are manifested in ... ... Philosophical Encyclopedia

Books

• Family, Leslie Waller. "The Family" is a continuation of the novel "The Banker", the second work in the trilogy "The Saga of the Banker" by the classic of modern American literature Leslie Waller. Waller's heroes face raging...