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What do we, as a society, gain by understanding family relations as characterised by continuity and innovation? Social relations make the basis of human life. Social science continues to study the evolution of human interactions. The need for forming strong social bonds depends on the context therein and the period in which the need arises hence varying in intensity and significance. At the same time, innovation in terms of language, technology, and evolution of human behaviour fundamentally change such relations. The basic unit of interaction among society is the family unit, and over time has evolved such that the impact of is felt in more aspects of culture. This essay identifies e theoretical frameworks of care and family and hoe different factors contribute to the continuity and family. Care for the old as well was an aspect that determined family setup and the aspects of change brought about family. Canadian societies maintained care for the old as a task for the young. Old age was deemed as the golden years unlike today where growing old is approached with uneasiness. The care for such was predominantly a women job as older women tendered more to them than men. Currently, the older people in society are ignored and there is a debate in who best to take up the role. Families fight over whose responsibility it is to stay with the old and most end up in homes for the elderly. “…questions in how families and society ought to be organized to best meet older adults care needs, especially when elders can no longer provide for themselves.” (Nancy and Vivian Pp 201)
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Change and developing characteristics affect not only interaction in a family but the formation as well. “The emergence of diverse types of family has given rise to complex family relationship.” ( Nancy and Vivian pp 200). family dynamics change in the 21st century as a result of (de)colonization and complex family relationships.
Quality of life for children- parents in contemporary society, prefer quality life to the number of children. In traditional cultures, the more the children, the better the family was considered to be. But today, the life these children live is more important than how many they are. Parents are more concerned about the wholesomeness of experience in their children, and having fewer of them makes it easier for them to provide the best life. Through these changes, society understands the need for a quality life. All in the community felt the wholesomeness of life. Innovations in the health sector increased mortality rate, and people live longer than they did a century ago. Families last longer than they did and have better living standards. “Life expectancy have resulted in joint survivor ship. The shift from high mortality, high fertility society to a low mortality low fertility society means that never before have so many grandparents and great grandparents coexisted.” (Nancy and Vivian ch 12 pp 200) Gender equality. The debate for gender equality has been fiery since the beginning of time. And as changes occur, the value of both boys and girls equalizes minimizing preference for a particular gender. This change has forced families to contend with the children born without feeling the need to find a family heir. “Most parents today believe that they are raising their child in a gender-neutral manner, although research does not bear this out” (Rachel Pp 186). With time, society has stopped victimizing families with no boy child as it was in traditional families, and the paradigm shift focuses attention on individual contribution for both men and
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women. There are also equal opportunities for men and women spearheaded by society, not discriminating and assigning gender roles as if cast on stone “Gender roles have been dramatically transformed due to women’s increased labor force participation. Womens’ greater participation can be pinpointed as transforming the organization of households…” (page 132). An increase in the female labour force comes across as a danger to family continuity as women are more determined to work on their careers and not sit confined in home management. With this, society gains by understanding the need to make it easier for work-life balance without the pressure of choosing one or the other. Family planning knowledge- innovation introduced family planning that gave women the power to choose the number of children desired. As late as the 20th century, the decision on the number of children lay with the man who aimed at having a male child. Hence women were kept as objects of childbearing. But family planning knowledge having penetrated the society, the decision is left on women. Others argue this system is a threat to the continuity of family as the size grows smaller. But it is a more proactive choice of the family. Feminist culture maintains women do as they please with their bodies as such; they hold the right to every decision about the number of children, and the choice of whether or not they want families in the first place. By understanding times have changed, the society benefits by creating an enabling environment where family planning knowledge is available for all, both men and women. Later marriage and parenthood- people are learning more, working more; hence they begin families quite late in comparison to typical families. Both men and women are focused on worklife balance and prefer first building a strong financial base before starting families. In retrospect, families in traditional societies were impromptu from early marriages and were seen as a rite of passage. Hence the pressure to start families came from all corners. Today, gays and lesbian
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demand for family requests are prevalent compared to previous years although the debate for legitimacy continues.these families are complete with or without children according to the LGBTQINA community. “… yet by 1980, gay men as well as lesbians were insisting that love makes a family, and demanding rights for families we choose” (Judith pp 1912). Through these changes, society changes its perception of what is essential and individual priorities. By understanding later marriage and parenthood, the convoy of social relations places society as evolved and family as an own choice rather than a societal decision. Changed mindsets. Traditional families believed in the importance of having multiple children as security for old age. With education and exposure, people now understand old age security is highly dependent on proper nutrition, healthy bodies, educated children, and a healthy lifestyle. This point of view has dramatically changed how society views children. It propagates healthy children and practising a healthy lifestyle for all. With innovation, there are multiple ways to keep fit and check up on the aged. Similarly, there has been an increase in solo living for families especially by younger people. Initially, it was common to see eligible bachelors working together in a farm but that is not the case today. There are more single men between 35 and 44 years than there were 10 years ago. “and among the younger men, the pattern is very different, they are much more likely to be single than in previous generations.” (Anne Ch 15, Pp 236) If such trends continue, the continuity of families will be affected as the older they get, the more disengaged with families. these men will become. Also, families have been affected by the changing mindsets of people towards black workers, specifically females. In the 20th century, black women were not allowed to work as they were
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seen as unfit and had to undergo psychological and physical examinations for them to be allowed to work “the race/gender and immigration restriction created structural, systematic, and racist stereotypical disadvantages for Caribbean women and their families…” (Wesley, Ch 11, Pp 169). They underwent gynecological tests as well to prove their sustainability as caregivers. In todays’ world, mainstream racism has reduced and we can see both men and women working without discrimination and inter-marriages which were unheard off in the 1900s. Change in economic times- There is pressure to provide for the family in current times when economic, physical, and social amenities are scarce from the global population. Gender roles are disrupted with both men and women out working. “Traditional gender roles wherein men and women are specialized in paid and unpaid work respectively were more efficient since it assumed that people will become more proficient at managing one task…” (Gazso and Kobayashi page 133). Household production is no longer a one breadwinner statistic and is shared by all. More women are working as breadwinners by choice or by circumstances. “Such interventions allowed women's labour to once again become tied to the household. By transforming men into breadwinners, male authority was both maintained and transformed” (Dua, Enakshi, and Angela pp 241). Feminists approach household is one that does not grant more power to either gender. This concept breaks down family relations to individual ideas No family is the same as another. Society needs to understand this and find the best alternative to curb this challenge. It is expected that women stay home and raise a family, but times change, and women bring in more money making the family better. “… the traditional arrangement, representing 40 percent of couples, was by far the most prevalent; the mother provided more child care and did not work while the father worked full time.” (Gazso and Kobayashi page 137). Options such as day-cares, flexitimes, and innovations in house chores
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include buying of machinery to ease work, laborers like nannies, and others. Through this knowledge, people interact more and share ideas that make families better and not pariahs in society’s eyes. Family relations, although the basic unit of society is entwined with our health and wellbeing. When our families are well, then we find peace in relating to others outside the scope of family. The unit has become increasingly complicated due to innovations such as technology. Families in our contemporary societies are smaller than what they used to be—exposure and changes in gender roles with the evolution of feminist culture. Home provision evolved into a similar arrangement from both men and women. Family relations are changing from the structure of complete to mixed, to blended and single-parent families. The roles of extended families are not as recognized as they were. Education, marriage, family planning, and quality of life are some of the factors that have contributed to a change in social relations. Society plays a role in both as to when families are doing well; the community is more robust.
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Works Cited Anne Martins- Matthews, Chapter 15 “Deepening Continuity and Inniovation. Gazso and Kobayashi, Continuity and Innovation: Canadian Families in the New Millennium Dua, Enakshi, and Angela Robertson, eds. Scratching the surface: Canadian, anti-racist, feminist thought. Canadian Scholars’ Press, 1999. Hazan, Moshe, and Hosny Zoabi. “Do highly educated women choose smaller
families?.”
The Economic Journal 125.587 (2015): 1191-1226. Nancy Mandell and vivian stamatopoulos, care giving and support for older adults. Rachel Berman, families caring for children in the 21st century. Stacey, Judith. "The families of man: Gay male intimacy and kinship in a global metropolis." Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 30.3 (2005): 19010.” Research in social stratification and mobility 42 (2015): 48-61. Wesley Crichlow, PhD. Chapter 11, (De)colonization, Racialaization, Racism and Canadian Families relearning through Storytelling about Lived Experience.