Family: its place in society

The family in sociology is a social association whose members are bound by the commonality of life, mutual moral responsibility and mutual assistance. In essence, the family is a system of relations between husband and wife, parents and children, based on marriage or blood relationship and having a historically determined organization.

The definition, as we see, is quite simple, but nevertheless, it is difficult to find a correct understanding of it even among highly educated people. You can sometimes read: "Ma-ma + dad + I = family."But is it? Let's think about it. Father, mother, child are only components of a common whole, which is a kind of completely new reality in comparison simply with the sum of its parts, that is, family members. It has its own, only its inherent properties, features, regularities, not characteristic of any of its components separately. And these new features that arise when creating a family, it is often impossible to predict in advance, in any case very difficult, even if you know the properties of future family members.

In other words, the family is a new object, with new properties, where the "old" properties of family members can mysteriously disappear, just as a group of atoms can "disappear" and turn into a completely new reality called a semiconductor or plasma whose singularitycan not be extracted from the features of the constituent atoms. The family is primarily and primarily the relationship between the constituent persons.

But to limit this is hardly possible, because if you think about it, all we see is the ratio, the ratio. It is it that gives strength, form, beauty or disgrace to the objects of reality. It is on him that we pay our attention First of all, when considering an object, because before what it is made of, we do not care if we are not specialists. We are admired by Kiev's Sofia or Moscow's Basil the Blessed, and we do not think about the fact that this is simply the sum of stones or bricks and the substance that binds them. We see their form, that is, the regularity of the connection of various building materials and elements. We ignore the fact that some of them form the foundation, others - the walls, the third - the vaults, the fourth - the towers, belfries, etc. It is important for us that the temple, the cathedral - is great, spiritual, directed, that it calls up, comforts, pleases the eye, etc.

In the family, especially our own, we often, on the contrary, do not notice that we are parts of the whole,that our "function" is to be in the vault or to be in the foundation. That our individuality in this case acts only as the building material of this new temple - the family. In other words, we often do not understand that creating a family means not only finding a person and putting a corresponding stamp on the passport. To create a family means to build a relationship of love, understanding, support.

The question of what is primary - marriage or family, is still debated. Some researchers argue that marriage is the basis, the core of the family, but there is no definitive conclusion either in theory or in everyday life. Each census in our country, for example, shows that the number of married women exceeds the number of married men. And this does not mean that we have polygamy. Simply, apparently, the same phenomenon, the actual marriage, people regard in different ways: women declare it "real", equal to a legal marriage, men are considered celibate, temporary cohabitation.

From the above definition of the family it follows that the main are its three characteristics: 1. Marriage or kinship relations between all its members.2. Joint living in the same room.3. The total family budget. As we see, the legal side, the legal design here is not an indispensable condition. And other signs are not so clear: how long does it take to live together - one week or several years;which part of the personal budget of each member of the family includes the entire family budget, etc. And this despite the fact that such signs, it would seem, are the most objective, are fixed. What, then, is to be talked about that subtle system of relations that transforms the family into a special spiritual education;how to measure them?

Paradoxically, it is all this, not so much comprehended by reason, as perceived intuitively, that constitutes the very core of the family, without which the family is not a family. We can note one more difference of the family from marriage. If marriage is fixed primarily by the state, society, then the family is created only by ourselves( with the help of the state, society, naturally).And we destroy too.

The family, as noted in the previous paragraph, began to develop along with the development of marital relations in society. At the same time, its functions and public roles changed. Along with the increase in the number of communities in which a certain person was included( youth groups, production associations, interest clubs, etc.), the family gradually gave way to some of its functions to other groups. And at the same time, from its very beginning to our days, among all these groups it plays a special role.

Now it is becoming increasingly clear that the family belongs to special, fundamental groups of society. This does not mean, of course, that everything originated from the family, as some thinkers( Rousseau, Condorcet, Herder, etc.) believed, that the society with its social institutions is just an overgrown family, like politics, the state, etc.have their origin in the family. Of course, the development of society has its own laws. But nevertheless, being in a complex relationship with society, being influenced by its economic, political, legal systems, the family has its own - and quite noticeable - impact on society. First of all, it reproduces the progeny function. It is the family that produces, educates and grows new members of society. In addition, the family regulates sexual relations between people. To some extent, it is also a kind of model of society, of all social ties and relationships for a young person.

For example, in the family there are material relationships that develop independently of the will and desire of people. This is the relationship between the sexes( the relations of detox production), and the economic relations between family members in the process of directly producing the material goods they need( especially in the families of peasants and artisans).For many centuries the family carried out the accumulation and transfer by inheritance of a certain property. In the family, a person first encountered a division of labor( run by the household, self-service of the family).

In addition, in the family between its members there are also ideological, in particular legal, relations, as well as moral or religious. The formation of labor resources, their distribution and redistribution, qualification growth and labor productivity, as well as population migration - all these issues are influenced by the family. And it is in the family that decisions are usually made about where the young person should go to study, where to go to study or work, or not to go anywhere. But all these relations are refracted in the family through a special psychological mechanism: they are based on feelings of love, affection, kinship, duty, responsibility between family members.

Or take such an important social problem as the problem of morbidity and health of the population. After all, it is in the family that genetic, biological bases of health are laid, as well as habits, habits, attitudes towards one's health. A person is engaged in physical education or does not practice, likes to be in his free time in the forest, in nature or does not like a mobile way of life leads or sedentary, etc. - all this usually begins precisely with the family.

The consumption of material goods and spiritual values ​​by people is also largely determined by the family. It is she who brings up the tastes, needs, inclinations of the younger generation. It is from the family that first of all depends on how young a man can remain himself, resist an unintelligent and ruinous fashion, etc.

What is the quality of a specialist and, therefore, what is the effectiveness of his functioning - this also largely depends on the family. Because it is here on the personal example of conscientious work of parents that a young person is brought up with a highly conscious attitude towards his work, devotion to him, professional and labor honor, as well as a common cultural level, the breadth of erudition. The quality of schooling in children is largely determined by the cultural, educational level of their parents. Strictly speaking, the intellectual and moral climate itself, the spiritual atmosphere in the family is the most important factor in the success of the child's schooling.

Finally, the living conditions of "departing" generations, pensioners, elderly people have been and remain one of the most important problems of society, an indicator of its moral maturity, humanity. But it is in the family that habits, traditions, moral principles of the relationship to the older generation are laid: charity or callousness, warm kindness or cold self-interest. ..

All this refers to the social importance of the family. But it has, and so to speak, purely personal significance. The person's family status and the quality of his family life also have a significant impact on his physical and mental state and well-being. Apparently, for most people, the family is a normal, that is, a necessary habitat, of existence. According to foreign studies, for example, the mortality rate among people who are not married significantly exceeds the death rate among people in the family. And this applies to virtually all causes of mortality: both as a result of suicide, and as a result of the abuse of alcohol, nicotine or drugs, and mortality from diseases requiring long-term treatment. This is especially true of men. For example, between the ages of 25 and 64, divorced men are twice as likely to commit suicide / than family. They are 3.3 times more likely to die from cirrhosis and cancer, 5.4 times more often - from diabetes and tuberculosis. Of course, only a healthy, prosperous family benefits the person, the creation of a cat, as a rule, requires considerable efforts and certain qualities of the person. Unfavorable, rather, aggravates, worsens his situation. Quite a few neuroses and other mental illnesses, anomalies have their sources in the family, in the relationship between spouses. Attention to the family by the state, science, journalism, public opinion has increased especially in recent decades.