Perspective on the Family

Family Theoretical Perspective

The family is a social institution that has attracted a lot of research. There are many things that revolve around this institution and hence the reason why it attracts a lot of attention and consequent research. The topic of this paper is family and the chosen article is, "Beyond the nuclear family: The increasing importance of multigenerational bonds."

The structures of family forms vary just as their definitions. There is no single form of true family. In earlier years the nuclear family that comprises of a single set of biological parents and their children was prevalent. However, there has been a trend towards multiple generations of the same family living and working together in the same household. Today, there are many types of family forms that can be seen and they are due to the evolution of the family that started off as a result of a shift in the marriage culture. There has been an influence and trends in marriages, non-marital fertility, divorce which demonstrate that the structure of the families are slowly changing and they are becoming more diverse.

This article brings to light how family relationships over several generations are gaining importance within the American society. It highlights how family relationships are also becoming more diverse structurally as well as functionally. There are several hypothesis the author puts up which show the shifts in the family structures that are currently being observed. The first shift is the emergence of modern nuclear family. We now see that the family is a process and interactional system under the influence of its members, not merely a structure or household. The second shift was the decline in the modern nuclear family form. This has changed due to single parenting and divorce, on the social, psychological and economic well-being of children. The third shift is the increasing heterogeneity of family forms. Families are now changing in terms of form and meaning, hence expanding beyond the nuclear family set up and now involving a variety of kin and non-kin relationships. There has also been a normalization of divorce as well as step parenting in recent years. There are also children that are being raised by gay and lesbian parents emerging alternative forms of family. The fourth shift is the increased in importance of multigenerational bonds. These bonds are increasingly becoming important as compared to nuclear family ties for the support and well-being of peoples lives.

The author sites three reasons for the shift from nuclear family to multigenerational relations; demographic changes of the aging population that will result to longer shared lives between the generations. Secondly, there is an increasing importance of grandparents and members of kin when it comes to fulfilling functions within the family. Third, there is also an increased in strength and resilience of the solidarity between generations over time. The author also states that the diversity of family multigenerational relations is increasing due to various reasons such as; changes in the structure of the family which involves stepfamily relationships and divorce, an increase in the longevity of kin, and an increased diversity of the types of intergenerational relationships (Vem, 2014).

Therefore I have learnt that there is an increase in multigenerational relationships and nuclear family setups are now decreasing. People are increasingly moving towards other family structures as opposed to the usual biological parents and children structure. People are becoming keen on working and living together as a family. Therefore, I agree wit the author that there is an increase in multigenerational relationship bonds.

There are several theories that can be used to explain this shift from nuclear family structure to the increase in multigenerational bonds in families. One of these theories is structural functionalism theory that is a framework for building theory that sees any society as a complex system that has parts working together so as to promote solidarity and stability. The key insight of the structural functionalism theory when it comes to the family centers on tasks that are performed with this unit. The family operates as a backbone to any society. According to the theory, family structures are shifting towards multigenerational relations in order to promote solidarity and stability. With increased multigenerational bonds the family institution is becoming more strong and solid. The solution to this issue is to continue encouraging multigenerational relations since they are leading to societies that are more strong due top strong family relations.