HOW HAVE FAMILY AND MARRIAGE PRACTICE CHANGED HISTORICALLY AND INTERNATIONALLY?

HOW HAVE FAMILY AND MARRIAGE PRACTICE CHANGED HISTORICALLY AND INTERNATIONALLY?Historical research suggests periods between typical forms of family structure and its functions for society. A family is a group of people who are related by blood kinship tie or bond together by marriage, civil partnership, cohabiting couple and adoption. The nature of marriage’s values and attitude towards gender identity are an important aspect of the family structure. Marriage is a legal union between two or more people. Although most sociologists recognised that family is in all societies. However, the role of the family for society remains a debate. The functionalist approach claim that the family is important for society while the feminist argue the extent of discrimination of women within family. Conjugal roles involve sexual divisions of labour within marriage. Family is a place of work; house work and childcare in the family are domestic work.
The pre-industrial period or in non-literate societies, the structure of families was not so diverse. Before 1750 life expectancy was very low, there was lack of geographical mobility and technology. Therefore, households where characterised by classic large extended families with tight blood kinship lineages based (Haralambos and Holborn, 2008). For instance, groups descended from common ancestor. Kinships are united in mutual rights and obligations. The family produce the basic needs necessary for the family’s survival and all other social functions, it was responsible for economic production, caring for the members of the family and education of the children. Following research in England and other Western societies, for Talcott Parsons the isolated nuclear family is the typical family form in industrial society. Industrialisation and urbanisation made the family cased to be an economic unit of production, hence, the family now specialise for unemployment provision, securing employment for family members and childcare of the relatives (Parson and Bales, 1955, cited by Haralambos et al, 2013). Sociologists argue that labour demand of factories and mobility flexibility such as car and rail in the industrial period led to the fragmentation of family structure of the Western societies. The nuclear family was dominant among the middle class, the extended nuclear family was present among the working class and the upper class still maintain the classic extended family (Haralambos and Holborn, 2008).
After world war two, came a drastic change in social attitude and life patterns that challenges family boundaries. The post-industrial society expose people to increase in life expectancy and large emigration and immigration as well as travel by airplane and computer technology. These processes brought diverse family units structure with fewer functions (Giddens and Sutton, 2013). Browne (2015) argues cultural, social and regional diversity along with life cycle and individual choice influencing family structure. According to the Office for National Statistics (2012) in Britain household family composition with couple with dependent child is at 38 per cent, other family structure such as lone-parent family, reconstructed family and one-person household are the fastest growing. Although, many sociologists agreed that the family no longer performs the roles of the past for society. For Parsons (1959) cited by Haralambos and Holborn (2008), stabilisation of human personalities and primary socialisation are the two functions that the contemporary family still perform for society. Saggers and Sims (no date) suggests that in Australia and other industrialized societies, family is a major unit of consumption.
Giddens (1992) cited by (Haralambos and Holborn, 2008) suggest that relationships in pre-industrial societies were largely based around economic circumstance and Saggers and Sims (no date) state that marriage was of parenthood. For the peasantry, life was hard, and marriage was likely to be beneficial for labour immediacy in the field. The aristocracy marries for motives to do with forming economic and political allies between families. Thus, across societies the structure of marriage was not so diverse and traditional arranged marriage was the dominant type of marriage. However, historical evidence reports that in the early third century AD Emperor Nero celebrated some same sex wedding publicly (Jones, 2013). In china, since 208 AD ghost marriage superstition was practised before it was banned by Mao Zedong in 1949 when he became leader of the People’s Republic of China (Renshou, 2007; Halkon, 2016).In contrast to the traditional pre-industrial society, industrial society is characterised by the increasing individual choice. Due to the Christian faith in Europe as well as other religion beliefs in some society the structure of marriage was typically monogamy (BBC, 2014). Despite civil marriage was allowed for non-religious people, research suggest that in some society different forms of marriage was practised. For Jones (2013), according to the Sharia law Muslim men can take up to four wives. In Mormon communities, in the USA polygamy was accepted despite being illegal in the country and starting from the first world war in France by Article 171 posthumous marriage is legal. According to Mwizenge (1988) polygyny was the backbone of the African families. In fact, sociologists argue that even though in the industrial period the ideal of marriage for romantic love emerged among the middle class, marriage was still majorly for the same practical motives similar to the pre-industrial society and divorce was rare (Everitt, 2012).
The process of individualisation that started in the industrial period was accelerated by the post-industrial social attitude of freedom. Giddens (1995), Beck (1992), Beck and Beck-Gernsheim (1995, 2001, 2002) cited by Browne (2015) argue that change in family and marriage are part of a general process of individualisation. People do not marry for the practical motives of the past but for confluent love. Gross (2005) cited in Stephens et al (1998) found that since the 1960s and the 1970s divorce laws, all Western countries where serial monogamy and cohabitation had become more common had experienced decline in marriage. Today, 25 countries recognise same sex marriage including Britain from 2014 (Perper, 2017). The impact of the Western notion of freedom and individualisation now influence other culture. Berthoud (2001) cited by Browne (2015) sees Caribbean community based on modern individualism. However, research shows that factors such as culture and ethnicity continue to influence marriage in some society. South Asian communities are still based on old fashioned values, which include commitment to marriage (Browne, 2015).The consensus functionalist approach tends to view family institution as a vital organ for the society. Murdock (1949) claimed that the family is a universal social grouping that exist in all societies. For Murdock and Parsons, the nuclear family is at the basic unit forms of families and the family performs economic, education, reproduction, primary socialisation and stabilisation of adult’s personalities for society (Giddens and Sutton 2013). The functionalist views of family are credited for its contribution to the explanation of the structure of the family and it is acknowledged that the primary socialisation is important to build and maintain a stable society. However, Murdock and Parsons have been accused to fail to explore possible negative aspects between different family structure. They ignore that often family life can be very disturbed by conflicts such as domestic violence and abuse (Browne, 2015).
Although, the three waves of feminism view the family at different levels, they do agree that the nuclear family structure is patriarchal in nature and is unbalance (Browne, 2015). Delphy and Leonard (1992) cited by Haralambos and Holborn (2008) believe that the family is a hierarchical institution through which men dominate women. The feminist views of the family have contributed in tackling domestic violence, abuse in family and gender inequalities in society. However, the radical feminism is criticised for their assumption that all women are passive victims and do not have any choice in the family. Even though, the feminists are antagonistic towards the institution of family; they claim that contemporary family structure remain highly patriarchal and exploitative. While the functionalist idealised a harmonious and integrated institution of the family. Yet, both recognise that individuals in society are shaped by the nuclear family idea that man is the breadwinner (Browne, 2015).
In Parsons’s views, women have an expressive role, this is to provide warmth, security and emotional support to their children and male partner. While the male carries instrumental role as family breadwinner (Haralambos and Holborn 2008). According to functionalist perspective from 1950s: with changes in standard of living and lifestyles and living far from families; less influence from the family ties, commercialisation of house work and women in paid jobs, had moved domestic work from segregated to more symmetrical joint conjugal roles in family (Browne, 2015). However, the feminist argue that segregated gender roles is predominant, overall, women still suffer from radicalisations of roles in sexual division of labour within family. Greshury (2000), Ann Oakley (1974) and Crompton and Lyonette (2006) in (Haralambos et al, 2013) pointed out that women remain normative associated with domestic work and caring. The men make only a very small contribution to house work. In fact, according to the Office for National Statistics (2016) in Britain, women continue to do 60 per cent of the domestic work such as ironing, cooking or cleaning and children care even when both parties are in full-time employment.
Throughout human history to its presents stage, family evolved through a series of stages. Family is not a static entity, rather it is ongoing processes of change adapting to the needs of family members with the society that surrounds it. Although, the households from predominantly extended family shifted to predominantly nuclear type. The nuclear family is not the only family structure in most societies as argued by the early functionalists. Today a range of family types is being accepted as legitimate and family structure diversity is a global trend. Similar to family marriage for societies is becoming less popular and decreasing numbers of people are getting married. The feminist approach has allowed sociologists to view different experiences of women in families. The family might be a place that involves harmony and integration or on the other hand through conjugal roles maintain gender identity from one generation to the other.
















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