Family. Public health workshop of the Centro de Investigaciones en Psicologia Social

An abbreviated primer on the sociology of the family is presented. The work defines family describes different types of family structure outlines the family life cycle and discusses the functioning of families. Human beings in all societies require membership in a family of some type for reproduction and socialization. One of the most basic human needs is for a mother who will feed protect and instruct her offspring. Families have always changed in response to societal changes. The functions of a family are devoted to two different sets of objectives the internal ones of psychosocial protection of the members and the external ones of accommodation to and transmission of a culture. Families in all cultures provide their members with a sense of identity. Families must respond to internal and external changes and should be capable of transforming themselves to adjust to new circumstances without losing continuity. Family systems differentiate themselves to carry out their functions through their subsystems. Individuals and dyads such as maternal-child or husband-wife are the subsystems. The family life cycle entails a series of stages: courtship marriage the birth and growth of children separation of the children retirement old age. Each stage has its own pitfalls and challenges. Each family has a hierarchy of status and power although in some cases the proper hierarchies are inverted and the children carry out functions that should be completed by the parents. A series of explicit and implicit rigid and flexible rules guide the functioning of the family. Various roles are carried out including parental marital and sibling roles as well as roles of authority administration and messenger.