Sociology is the study of a society and how it originates, develops and sustains itself. A family is the most basic group of a society. There are many types of families. However, the most common types are nuclear families, extended families and single parent families. The three perspectives that attempt to explain the workings of a society include; The Functionalist Theory that explains society to be structured to allow other social institutions to carry out social functions uninhibited and to facilitate the harmonization of the society, The Conflict Theory which is insistent on society being a highly competitive unit where people are allowed to struggle for power and other things within their interests; and The Symbolic Interactionist Theory which is concerned with the impact of individuals in small social groups impact the entire society (Daye, 2002) .
For the purposes of this paper, the main perspective that will be used is the Functionalist perspective because a family is the smallest group in the society and it is highly structured to allow other social functions to be productive as a result of being efficiently carried out. The manifest and latent aspects of functionalism will also be examined in relation to the five concepts which will be analyzed in relation to the family include: ethnocentrism/cultural relativity, social role, gender identity, nuclear family/extended family and monogamy/polygamy. I will also write about my friend’s family which I learnt about during our days as pen pals. This is because, her family depicts this concepts better than my family does. I do this with her full consent, on condition that I withhold her name (Daye, 2002) .
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Ethnocentrism/Cultural Relativity
Ethnocentrism is evaluating the values and principles of certain cultures from the viewpoint of one’s own culture while cultural relativity is accepting other people’s cultures as good and well founded. Cultural relativity allows one to be open minded and accepting while ethnocentrism sometimes leads to negative conclusions e.g. barbaric cultures. Cultures define the values and principles by which people are governed by and regulate their relationships. My penpal’s family is of African descent whereby her ancestors were from Kenya, East African Region. The cultures in that country depend on the ethnicity where there are about 42 tribes. Her father belongs to the Luo Community while her mother belongs to the Kikuyu community.
The two communities are the largest and have some shared hostility because of politics and quite frequently criticize each other’s cultures. It is a classic case of ethnocentrism where the Kikuyus criticize the Luo community’s traditional rituals including burial rites, initiation and marriage rites and vice versa. However, their cultures have some meeting points. They both agree thatrespect, honesty and goodness should regulate their relationships; that life is sacred and that punishment should be the result of any breach of their respective moral codes. This has maintained a kinship ties that extend to four generations.
Social role
Social roles are the duties that one is expected to take up because of their status. Kenya is a highly patriarchal society. This means that the social roles depend on one’s gender and they are assumed from birth. The society has placed expectations of being the breadwinner and protector on the boy child and those of nurturing and being a homemaker on the wife. In the Kikuyu community, it is said that the purpose of a married woman is to be seen and not to be heard.This means that the minute a woman’s status changes to become that of a married woman, she loses her voice in all things and automatically adopts the opinions of her husband.
These are potential sources of conflict for her family. Once her mother had to decline a job offer that meant that she would earn a larger salary compared to that of her husband, even though it was by a very slight margin. The reason she declined the offer because her role is not to be the breadwinner but to supplement her husband’s needs to the extent of his comfort. Sometimes, my friend is annoyed at their inability to have certain luxuries like vacations that would easily have been afforded if her mother had taken the job. It causes her to entertain the option of being a single mother because that way, her potential is not limited to be below that of her would-be husband.
Gender Identity
Gender identity is how a person perceives themselves as having a particular gender despite the sex that was assigned to them at birth. This eventually manifests as a gender role whereby, a person takes a role that their gender identifies with.
My friend was assigned the sex female at birth but has always ‘wished’ to be a boy. She identifies as a male and takes on masculine tasks. Her fashion style has also been described as androgynous. It is often a source of conflict between her and her parents who say that “they cannot understand why she is unhappy in her own skin and so wishes to impersonate other people.”
Nuclear family/extended family
My friend’s family is a nuclear family but they have very strong kinship ties with the rest of the extended family. The nuclear family lives under the same roof until the children leave to get married. If one of the children decides not to start a family of their own, it is their responsibility to be the primary caregiver of the parents during their old age. Meanwhile, every other fortnight is spent visiting other members of the extended family in order of seniority (Daye, 2002) .
Monogamy/Polygamy
Polygamy is a situation where a man is allowed to marry more than one wife while monogamy is a situation where one man marries one wife and practices fidelity to her. This is mainly allowed as long as the man has a capacity to take care of all his wives. The wives are then required to give birth to as many children as possible. This is taken to be a sign of wealth and it goes a long way to improve the social status of a man. Both the Kikuyu and Luo communities allow polygamy whereby the resulting marriages are legally recognized (Daye, 2002) .
However, my friend’s family is monogamous as they are practicing Christians. This means that they do not face problems that arise from unhealthy competition and an unnecessary strain in family relationships because of jealousy or other economic problems.
References
Daye, D. (2002). The influence of postmodernism on the family (1st ed.).
