Sociology includes the study of social consequences of human behavior, the study of social life, and social change. Sociology has a broad scope that ranges from the evaluation of interactions between individuals to the analysis of the global social consequences. It tries to explain how personal difficulties and private experiences are interactive and joined with the structural arrangements of the society. Therefore, the family would be an appropriate topic to discuss the complex social arrangements. The family is a vital aspect of a person's life. It is the basic social unit that is made up of parents or guardians and their children whether they live in the same dwelling or not ( Barnes, 2014) . It may be a single parent family, nuclear, or extended family. It is made up of one or more adults who take care of children. The sociology of every family includes various issues such as divorce, teenage childbearing, child and elder abuse, juvenile delinquency, domestic violence, substance abuse, and the experiences of mothering. The family is closely associated with the various fully fledged field in sociology like the sociology of emotions, sociology of childhood, the sociology of sexuality, sociology of gender, death and dying, and social gerontology. However, the paper will limit itself structural functionalist, symbolic interactionist, and social conflict perspectives.
Structural-Functionalist Perspective
Structural functionalism is a model that views the society as a sophisticated system whose individual parts work together to promote stability and solidarity. Functionalism evaluates the society according to the function of its individual elements such as institutions, norms, customs, and traditions. They identify the functions of a family such as regulating sexual behavior, care, assignment of status, emotional support, and protection. Less advanced societies do not support strongly centralized societies and are associated with corporate descent groups. Structural functionalism explains that the basic building block of all societies is the nuclear family and not the clan which is an outgrowth of a family. For the functionalists, the family comes up with well-integrated members of its society while instilling culture into the new generation of members of the society ( Thompson, 2013) . It offers vital ascribed statuses such as ethnicity and social class to its new members. It has the role of social replacement of its dying members by reproducing new members. Moreover, the family provides individual property rights while affording the maintenance and assignment of the kinship order. They also provide emotional and material security while offering support and care to its members who need it. The main question in the framework is how some societies have maintained their stability and have survived over time.
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The Conflict Perspective
The conflict perspective describes the various inequalities in all societies globally. According to the framework, all societies have inequalities based on the social differences in the dominant group regarding status, wealth, and power. The structures often maintain coercive, wealth, and power of one section of the society at the expense of the other groups. The model insists that the family functions towards maintaining social inequality within the society by continuing and reinforcing its status quo. Because social capital, inheritance, and education are transmitted through the family, all the wealthy families can maintain their privileged social status for its members while people from the low-income families are unable to acquire a similar status. Conflict theories have affirmed that the family social arrangement appears to benefit more men than women, therefore, maintaining the position of men in power. Most traditional families are patriarchal and have highly contributed to the inequality between the two genders. Men often possess more power while women often have lesser power. Furthermore, the traditional male responsibilities and roles are highly valued in comparison to the traditional roles that are done by their females or wives. Moreover, the family is believed to offer an inequitable structure for children and women. In the current society, women spend as much or even more time at the paid jobs as their husbands while doing more of the childcare and housework ( Craib, 2015) . One of the questions in the framework is how the family can be used to attain equity among women, men, and children without destroying the family structure.
Symbolic Interactionist Perspective
Symbolic interactionism is a model that focuses on the evaluation of the patterns existing in communication, interpretation, and adjustment among individuals according to the meaning of symbols. According to the framework, a person's nonverbal and verbal responses are created in an expectation of the original speaker's reaction. The emphasis on the construction of society, symbols, and negotiated meaning as an aspect of the symbolic interactionism lays attention on people's responsibilities in the society. Taking roles is an important mechanism where individuals appreciate other people's perspectives and gain a better understanding of the significance of other people's actions. Role taking begins at childhood through simple activities as playing house or pretending to be other people ( Adam, 2013) . People’s interactions may create an illusion of shared social orders regardless of the lack of a common understanding or the presence of differing opinions. Symbolic interactionists evaluate the changing meanings that are attached to the family. They insist that the shared activities assist in creating emotional ties among the family members, and the family and marriage relationships are dependent on the negotiated meanings. The framework emphasizes the assumption that families can reinforce or rejuvenate bonds via symbolic mechanism actions or rituals such as family holidays and meals. The question in this framework is how it affects different social changes in a family.
References
Adam, B. (2013). Time and social theory : John Wiley & Sons.
Barnes, B. (2014). Interests and the Growth of Knowledge (RLE Social Theory) : Routledge.
Craib, I. (2015). Modern social theory : Routledge.
Thompson, J. B. (2013). Ideology and modern culture: Critical social theory in the era of mass communication : John Wiley & Sons.
