The Family Social Institution
The basic social institution in society is the family. It is the basic unit that leads to the development of affection, love and bearing future generations. The family has the responsibility of offering social values to children, enabling the development of the socialization process, and providing economic support to its members. The acquisition of knowledge begins after birth. Additionally, the well-being of children in society is the responsibility of the family. I choose the family institution because it lays the foundation for social development. Family crises, such as anti-social behaviors, marital conflicts, and increased rates of divorce, have led to a major crisis, which is poor social development among children, adolescents, and youths.
The family plays the role of empowerment in society. It improves the capabilities and capacities of groups and individuals to make reasonable choices for desired outcomes, and actions (Mokomane, 2020). Empowerment also impacts positively on the economy. According to the World Bank, empowerment entails three factors. Firstly, it assists marginalized people who lack self-confidence and self-sufficiency due to discrimination or denial of opportunities based on gender, age, religion, ethnicity, race, or disability. Secondly, empowerment offers prospects to the marginalized through the help of the non-marginalized (Mokomane, 2020). Thirdly, it develops and encourages self-sufficiency and the acquisition of skills and opportunities to the society. The family plays the role of providing political and legal empowerment to its members. Therefore, as youths develop, they learn their legal rights, which consequently enhances decision making processes and strengthens social institutions.
Groups and individuals who are empowered have freedom of action and choice, therefore, better lives. According to Mokomane (2020), a family structure that is functional in different aspects of living has the capability of offering social empowerment to its members. Social empowerment entails the ability of groups or individuals, through self-confidence and autonomy, to foster institutional interactions and relationships. Healthy relationships and interactions are necessary for the productivity and well-being of a community (Mokomane, 2020). A society that is empowered relates to poverty eradication and high productivity. A family unit out to be resilient to overcome disruptive challenges of life and to offer economic, political, and social empowerment to its members. A family is prone to the risk of breaking up because of external political, social, and economic factors. Another risk facing the family unit is psychological and physical exploitation. Thus, discrimination and abuse of individual members in a family may lead to slow development within a family.
Family is interrelated with other social institutions, such as the economy, religion, and education. First, the family is the source of human labor that helps in establishing and running a strong economy. Without the family institution, the economy would lack dependency and stability, and thus growing weak (Mokomane, 2020). Members of the family are crucial because they aid in the distribution and production of goods and services. Children born to working parents may take their places when they grow up.
Consequently, society has sufficient human capital to run the economy. Most of the production that sustains the economy is meant for the family. For example, the production of kitchen supplies, furniture, cleaning supplies, vehicles, and food, among others, is intended for family consumption (Mokomane, 2020). Money is an essential facility in the family for the purchase of services and products. Therefore, the family institution, directly and indirectly, relates to the economy.
Family relates to religion through the facilitation of cohesion. According to Ogormegbunem (2014), a family unit that has an organized faith provides moral guidance to its members. Consequently, the members acquire emotional stability and togetherness. Religion plays a role in offering connectedness in families through moral principles (Ogormegbunem, 2014). Religious children are more likely to be connected and close to their parents as compared to their unreligious counterparts. Additionally, religious principle offers training that discourages divorce among couples. Therefore, married people that follow religious faiths are more likely to stay together. The family institution relates to education, both directly and indirectly. First, the family forms the foundation of a good education (Ermisch & Francesconi, 2001). Families ought to be conscious and educated to raise creative and intelligent children. Additionally, without children, there would be a lack of the continuous process of knowledge acquisition. A proper education system gives rise to a knowledgeable and skillful generation. When members of the family are skilled and intelligent, the family’s standard of living rises (Ermisch & Francesconi, 2001). Therefore, the education institution relates to the economy in connection to the family structure. Overall, when members of a family lack proper education, they would be unskillful, and thus, negatively affecting economic growth.
Slow development among children, adolescents, and youths is a primary crisis affecting the family institution. Developmental crises in families result from other challenges, such as substance abuse, divorce, and conflicts between parents. Violence in families exposes children to health and psychological development hazards that slow. Positive development among youths in different families relates to increased competencies, growth, potential, and capacity (Mackova et al., 2019). On the contrary, negative development entails reduced competencies, poor cognitive development, lack of capacity, and reduced potential to carry out tasks. Slow and negative development among children is a lethal crisis as it reduces caring, character, connection, confidence, and competence (Mackova et al., 2019). With the lack of competence and confidence, people are not productive towards the economy. Thus, lack of cognitive abilities and interpersonal skills prevents young people in families from developing strong social relationships.
Families that engage in drug abuse raises children with slow and negative development. Such children cannot socialize with different people in society and have low academic achievements and school performance. Additionally, people with low development are less productive towards the economy because they lack the requisite skills required in different sectors of the economy. Positive development leads to confidence, and thus, self-efficacy and self-worth among adolescents and young adults (Mackova et al., 2019). Additionally, it leads to connections, which facilitate positive bonds among communities, schools, peers, and family members. Slow development forms a negative character, which slows moral development. In summary, family members who portray negative characters lack integrity and the inability to respect norms.
The functioning of a family has moderating and mediating roles between developmental outcomes and family crises. Therefore, a dysfunctional family has adverse parenting that gives rise to members with adjustment problems and inconsistent discipline. The family development crisis relates to the positive youth development (PYD) theory, as it focuses on the process of increased competencies and growth (Mackova et al., 2019). The theory is closely associated with the relational developmental system theory. The theories state that plasticity is crucial in human development. Environments, contexts, and relationships in families enhance developments (Mackova et al., 2019). Overall, high expectations, adult role models, family boundaries, family communication, family support, and connection to the family are factors that enhance positive development among young people.
The children, adolescents, and youth developmental crisis can be solved through stricter governmental regulations. An example of the regulations would be strict policies against drug abuse by parents with children and adolescents. A parent who abuses drugs in the presence of their children become bad role models. Additionally, penalties should be increased to parents who get into a divorce and neglect their children. Children who lack parental care during their early stages of mental and health development are more likely to have slow and negative development. Therefore, since parenting is an internal family issue, parents should take the responsibility of organizing their families to facilitate positive development among youths.
The family, as the basic family unit, plays significant roles in different social institutions. Firstly, family members provide human power that facilitates the development of the economy. Similarly, members of the family provide a market for different products and services and thus sustaining economic production. Secondly, the family is a source of empowerment in different communities. Empowerment may be in the forms of social, political, economic, and moral empowerment. Despite the noteworthy roles of family in society, the family unit is prone to crises such as marital conflicts, anti-social behaviors, such as drug abuse, and high divorce rates. The different crises in the family institution lead to a major crisis, which is slow or negative development among children and young adults. The crisis can be addressed through the implementation of strict government regulations and policies preventing parents’ indulgence in different malpractices like drug abuse. The positive youth development theory addresses the issue of negative development among the youth. Parents should be responsible for maintaining order in their families to enhance positive development among their children
References
Ermisch, J., & Francesconi, M. (2001). Family matters: Impacts of family background on educational attainments. Economica, vol. 68, no. 270, pp. 137-156.
Mackova, J., Dankulincova Veselska, Z., Filakovska Bobakova, D., Madarasova Geckova, A., van Dijk, J., & Reijneveld, S. (2019). Crisis in the Family and Positive Youth Development: The Role of Family Functioning. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, vol. 16, no. 10, pp. 1678. doi: 10.3390/ijerph16101678
Mokomane, Z. (2020). Role of Families in Social and Economic Empowerment of Individuals. Presentation, United Nations Expert Group Meeting on “Promoting Empowerment of People in Achieving Poverty Eradication, Social Integration and Full Employment and Decent Work for All, 10-12 September 2012 United Nations, New York.
Ogormegbunem, D. E. (2014). The Changing Nature of the Family and its Duty as Foundation for Morals and Sustenance of Core Societal Value. Journal of Sociology, vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 195-209.