The family is the first social group or community in a person’s life. It is thanks to her that he is introduced to cultural values, the first social roles are mastered, and experience of behavior in society is acquired. It is in the family that the first steps are taken, the first joys and disappointments are experienced. A person leaves this social group in the big world, and can always return to it if in this world he becomes uncomfortable for some reason.
What is family?
Under the family understand the social community of people based on marriage or blood relationship. This is a small group of people, interconnected by mutual assistance, common life, as well as legal and moral responsibility.
The family also means people who live together, have a joint household and have a relationship of kinship or guardianship. But at the same time, this cell is not at all a simple set of individuals. In this complex social formation, each of its members is not only a part of the group, but also a unique person. Not so simple is the family itself. And it is no accident that her problems are the subject of research by sociologists and philosophers, jurists and demographers, economists and historians, physicians and educators.
Family standard
According to social psychologists, such an important unit of society is the main regulator of the relations that develop between people. The moral and ethical standards that this or that ethnic group adheres to are set by certain standards of husband and wife, father and mother in relation to their children, and daughter and son - in relation to parents.
From the point of view of social psychologists, the family is a social group that corresponds to the values of modern society. At the same time, it unites in the process of aggregate relations, which are manifested in love, intimacy and affection.
The main functions of the family
The leading role in this social unit of society is played by spouses. Over time, they become parents. In this regard, the features of the modern family are that sociologists conditionally divide its functions into two groups. The first of them includes marital duties, and the second - parental responsibilities. What are they?
In the group of conjugal functions are spiritual (cultural) categories of relations, as well as household. The features of the modern family are also in the fact that both spouses take an active part in organizing the life of their small community. This is the managerial function. In addition, sociologists have identified a number of other types of participation of spouses in the life of the family they created. It lies in the function of primary social control, emotional, sexually-erotic, etc. Specialists have identified other features of the modern family - its representative functions. They consist in the fact that both spouses represent their community in institutions, organizations, other families, etc.
The group of parental functions includes the functions of procreation and raising their children, guardianship and maintenance of minors, as well as incapable or incapacitated family members.
Life in new conditions
Today, our country is under the influence of the crisis. The decline in the economic level has affected not only the most important systems that allow society to function normally.
The crisis directly affected Russian families, which were one of the most important social factors in determining the resilience of the state, society, and nation. And much attention is paid to this problem, because first of all, the characteristics of the generation that will live and work in the 21st century depend on what the psychological characteristics of the family will be in modern society.
Global change
Family features in modern society are affected in many journalistic publications. They say that over the past decades, the main unit of society has undergone a number of serious changes. And this applies not only to our country, but also to most other states.
If you describe the features of a modern family briefly, they relate to the following features:
- falling birth rates;
- complications of interpersonal relationships;
- the constant growth of divorces, which is the reason for the existence of single-parent families or with non-native parents;
- The constant spread of extramarital affairs.
The peculiarities of the modern Russian family are the reduction of their material wealth, the deterioration of the mental and physical health of parents and children, as well as the increase in the number of single women and men.
Formation of a new type of family
In former times, this small community of people was united through purely formal external factors. They served such categories as morals and law, traditions and public opinion. Features of a modern family are that its unity, as a rule, depends only on personal relationships between all its members, namely on their mutual understanding and affection, respect and mutual participation, devotion, love and sympathy. These feelings strengthen the strength of a small society.
The need for family relationships
At present, the opinion is often expressed that the social unit of society is a relic of the past, and it should be replaced by something else. However, despite the crisis situations and losses, the psychological characteristics of modern families are that they begin to adapt to all the changing conditions of society.
Moreover, their value does not disappear at all, but one can even say that it is increasing. It is the family that is the best environment for raising the younger generation. Often it acts as a kind of emotional refuge in which adults can find moral satisfaction. That is why the application of efforts in assisting families, as well as in solving their social, economic and other problems, is more appropriate than conversations condemning this supposedly outdated and obsolete institution.
Actual task of the state
Most experts are of the opinion that the existing problems of the modern family and the features of the modern family indicate the presence of a genuine crisis in a small cell of society. Moreover, such a crisis is becoming more distinct and brighter with the growth of socio-economic development of society. Particular difficulties are experienced by young families. It is they who today need support and attention not only from the state, but also from the socio-psychological practice and science.
Executing a parent function
Many experts emphasize such features of a modern family as its precariousness and vulnerability. There are many divorces in the country. But even in surviving families, internal conflicts and conflicts sometimes do not subside. And the influence of these negative phenomena on the younger generation is quite strong. This is especially evident in cases where parents do not try to protect their child from mutual insults and quarrels.
The features of the family of modern Russia are the complexity of the educational process it performs. It became much more complicated due to the abrupt changes that affected all areas of our lives. In a relatively short period, a radical change in people's lifestyle has occurred. What are the features of upbringing in a modern family in this regard? If in former times parents prepared their daughters and sons with a meeting with a big world that he knew well, today it is far from the case. Modern life dictates its own laws and puts forward new requirements that the previous generation has no idea about. This leads to the fact that today it is not enough for the younger generation to give only ready-made knowledge. It is quite possible that after two or three decades they will not be of any value. It is unlikely that the person and those skills and grafted skills that were given to him by his parents will help out. Indeed, most likely, the whole production will change radically, and with it the way of life.
Modern family concept
We are all familiar with the traditional gender stereotype of a small cell in society. According to him, a man is the breadwinner and the head of the family, and a woman is the guardian of the hearth, wife, mother and teacher of children.
However, the features of the modern family are that it is far from this ideal. Today, it can be noted that in society there are undesirable trends regarding the relationship between the sexes. Moreover, they begin back in school years. Experts believe that the principle of collaborative learning has serious flaws. This is due to significant differences in the psyche of women and men. A girl as a personality is formed much earlier in comparison with the personality of a boy. And already in the first class she goes, being more mature. The great development of the female half of humanity gives priority in matters of study and in moral terms. A certain role is played by the fact that the main contingent of teachers is women. This brings them closer to the students.
As a result, a person creates a female environment. It consists of a mother, grandmother, nanny, teacher, classmates and teachers. A peculiar bias is formed. Women exert constant pressure on growing men. The result of this is such negative phenomena as single-parent families, disrespect for parents, loss of family ties with cousins and brothers, etc.
Leadership
Each family has a certain distribution of functions and roles. All this is closely connected with such a concept as leadership. Currently, the head of the family is considered to be the spouse whose psychological influence was recognized voluntarily. In this regard, psychologists distinguish three forms of the family that occur in modern society:
1. Symmetrical. This is a family in which both spouses have equal rights and are not subject to each other. They solve all arising problems in a coordinated manner, following the path of compromise or exchange of views.
2. Complementary. In such a family there is autocracy. In other words, one of the spouses gives orders, and the other blindly obeys him.
3. Mega-complementary. In a family of this type, one of the spouses achieves his goal by manipulating the other while emphasizing his weaknesses, powerlessness and inexperience.
Well-being factors
When determining the characteristics of a modern family, psychologists identify some aspects of its well-being. These include:
- psychobiological compatibility, including mutual attraction and mutual respect, the willingness of both spouses to start a family, responsibility and duty, self-control, flexibility, etc .;
- education, which should be approximately the same for husband and wife, since the level of intelligence of the partners should not have significant differences;
- labor stability, which clearly indicates the nature of the partner (it is believed that a person who often changes his place of work is not able to establish long-term family relationships);
- the age that is considered the most optimal for marriage (it is 20 years for girls and 24 years for boys, with the earlier
creation of a family, marriage will entail a long adaptation of the spouses);
- The length of the courtship period (with short acquaintances it is impossible to find out the nature of the future partner).
When considering all of the above factors, psychological compatibility or incompatibility of spouses can be determined.
Family future
What, according to psychologists, are the prospects for the existence of a small cell in society? Features of the development of the modern family allow us to consider its future quite positively. And this despite the existence of a number of negative phenomena and trends caused by the presence of a crisis.
Experts note that in society there are some positive changes that will become a support for a small social group. These changes include:
- the growth of equality of spouses;
- expansion of freedom of choice for both men and women;
- affirmation of equality in relationships;
- increasing the possibility of contacts between different generations;
- orientation of people to create a family.