Introduction The family, which is the fundamental building block of society, has exhibited a variety of forms throughout the world. Despite this wide variety which socialize human beings into the world's many cultures and ethnic groups, several global factors have begun to impact families everywhere. These factors include industrialization, arbitration and colonization. This paper will aim to highlight how these global factors, that is arbitration, industrialization and colonization have affected the traditional family.
In order to do this, the essay will endeavor to define the concepts rotational family, arbitration, industrialization with a theoretical explanation and colonization. The good and negative factors of these global factors will also be highlighted and finally a conclusion shall be given. Definition of concepts Family There are various ways to define the concept family. This could be in terms of such ideas as nuclear, extended, single-parent and reconstituted family structures.
The structure of the family - like any other social structure - is defined in terms of the social relationships from which it is constructed.According to Teetotal, T. O. And Adenoma, A. (1985) an extended family is defined as a pattern of family organization which nears that the whole kinship group is a social and economic unit, living in the same house, adjacent dwellings, sharing work duties, responsibilities and the fruits of production. The nuclear family is said to be a much smaller organization which consists of the man, his wife and children while a single parent family is that type of family where there's only one parent.
The family is usually the major source of the basic necessities of life and health; love and tenderness, adequate food, clean water, place and time for rest, clothing and sanitation, to the extent made possible by socio-economic, cultural and environmental conditions. O'donnell, G. (2002) define family as a group of persons united by the ties of marriage, blood, or adoption; constituting a single household, interacting and intercommunicating with each other in their respective social role of husband and wife, mother and father, brother and sister and creating a common culture.Traditional Family In the traditional, rural societies the extended family system includes several generations plus cousins, uncles and aunts living in a compound or close to one another form the family. Annoy, N.
(2000) asserts that the family was the primary unit of colonization and security in pre-colonial Zambia. According to him, the family nurtured as well as protected its members from adversities. It also provided its members with both emotional and material support in times of distress and deprivation. He adds that people lived in closely knit groups usually linked by kinship and accepted obligations of mutual support.The arrangement of families into clans was the most common feature at the time; members of the clan were all enemies as they believed that they were all descended from a common ancestor. O'donnell, G.
(2002) argues that the family is responsible for the care and up-bringing of all children. It is a cohesive unit which ideally provides economic such as land for moral norms and safeguards both material and spiritual customs and traditions as well as providing a variety of role models preparing the way for adulthood.It is important to emphasize that this system with the dominance of the elders or the aged as the safe of society, has a relatively high degree of social control on the individual especially the youth. He further agrees that within this structure, children occupy a central place and are raised in close family group. It is common that responsibility for the social development of the child is shared by the members of the community.
It is in this respect that it could be said that in the traditional system there is hardly the illegitimate child.Even where parent's are dead, a child would always have parent's - a cushion against the odds. Although the mother has a fundamental responsibility for child rearing and development, it is shared among all members of the family. There are many mothers for a child. Thus the African child usually develops a strong sense of social responsibility from his earliest years and learns to be respectful, responsible, and supportive to members of his extended family.
According to ? ... ( ) in pre-industrial societies, religion and religious provided and integrated cohesive dimensions to family life.Industrialization In Britain, the initial process of industrialization occurred over a period of 150-200 years, dating very-loosely from the end of the 17th century. This change in the way this society was economically structured produced, according to writers such as Parsons and Goode, a change in family structure.
Mosey,J. (1991) defines Industrialization as a process of social and economic change whereby a human group is transformed from a pre-industrial society into an industrial one.According to him, it is a part of a wider modernization process, where social change and economic development are closely related with technological innovation, particularly with the development of large-scale energy and metallurgy production. He also asserts that industrialization also introduces a form of philosophical change, where people obtain a different attitude towards their perception of nature. This is a process whereby machines were extensively applied to the production process (mechanization), resulting in the development of factory-based forms of economic production.
In turn, the process of industrialization heralded the development of the mass production of consumer goods. ) is of the view that industrialization is intimately associated with colonization. He argues that the growth of knowledge in the field of science has had effects on traditional religious authorities. Arbitration Changes in the institutional aspects of the family have been associated with arbitration among things such as industrialization. Most scholars assert that it is difficult to separate arbitration from industrialization.
However, Michael P.Toward (2003) defines arbitration as the economic and demographic growth process of the urban centers while Seal, C. D. (1987) argues that in simple terms, arbitration involves the notion that there was a population movement away from small-scale, agricultural, settlements to larger-scale communities based upon towns and cities.
This is sometimes characterized as a social migration from the countryside to the establishment of factories). According to Oxfords, B. (1995), arbitration brings about different types of social behavior and organization which are often explained in terms of four variables.He named these variables as size, density, heterogeneity and autonomy. He further asserts that there are differences in the manifestation of arbitration as these variables combine in differing promotions and the characteristics associated with urban living income at their most accentuated stage in the large city and the metropolis.
Colonization O'donnell, G. (2002) views colonization as the process of learning by which people of al ages acquire the culture of their society and of the various groups within the society to which they belong.According to Teetotal, T. O.
, and Adenoma, A. (1985) the concept colonization is defined as a continuous process through which parent's inculcate into the child as soon as it is born such as values and norms of society. According to them, this is the period when the child is being taught many things that it ought to know about the society and conditions that it needs to fulfill before it can be accepted as a full member of that society and at the same time, the child learns he culture and the whole way of life of its environment.They further argue that colonization is the responsibility of both parent's, parent substitutes or one of the parent's.
According to them, this is so because the function of the parent's is to help the child to integrate itself into the society by teaching the child necessary techniques for this important task in the child's life. For instance in our African culture, the child must be taught the usefulness of discipline, obedience to the parent's and anyone who may be older and must also be taught about skills that will help the child fit into the community.O'donnell, G. (ibid) states that from childhood onwards, men are socialized to be the economic providers and the authority figures within the household. According to him, men, were socialized to define their manhood in terms of their economic and social authority over their wives.
Effects of arbitration, industrialization and colonization on the traditional family The family responds to changes in other parts of social structure and many agents of change are said to be found outside rather than within the family.Dramatic alterations of the family structure were propelled by the impact of industrialization, arbitration and colonization as outlined below: The effects of Industrialization on a traditional Family. The family structure changes with industrialization. The sociologist Tailcoat Parsons noted that in pre-industrial societies there is an extended family structure spanning many generations who have probably remained in the same location for generations. In industrialized and urbanize societies the nuclear family, consisting only of parent's and their growing children, predominates.
Families and children reaching adulthood are more mobile and tend to relocate to where Jobs exist. Extended family bonds become more tenuous. The impact of industrialization, depends on the values, pressures, priorities and expectations. Pressures on the traditional family structure caused by industrialization include "diminishing reliance on family as the productive unit"; shifts in work schedules that leave family members little time together; and the disintegration of the kin network through such factors as migratory labor. Discrepancies in income and life-styles may create class differences among family members.
Women and children in particular tend to become involved in work hat is "markedly different from that encountered in more familial forms of reduction", and are often subjected to exploitation, poor working conditions and long hours. Driving a further wedge into family unity is "functional specialization", which has led among other things to devaluation of the housewife's role. "Not only has a woman's status at home declined because of that phenomenon but her status outside the home has also declined since women often have to take unskilled, low- wage Jobs. As a result of the process of industrialization (and the change from a predominantly feudal to a predominantly capitalist form of economic production / political system), it theorists and Parsons in particular have argued that the increase in "institutional differentiation" (for example, whereas the family was once a unit of economic production, this function was taken over by the factory) resulted in an increase in institutional specialization. Industrialization made alterations to the balance of power in the family by creating new types of Jobs for women.
Such Jobs become possible alternative to marriage. This has led to many single parent homes because women can easily opt to have children even if they are not married. Positive effect of Industrialization Industrialization helped in creating new types of Jobs which could be done by women and made brought about greater equality between men and women thereby causing a decline in male dominance with regards to authority in the home. Negative effect of Industrialization The separation of home and work which came as a result of industrialization had profound effects on day to day family life. .
.. ( ) asserts that industrialization broke up the close and frequent interaction of husband and wife, parent and children. As the process of industrialization intensifies and as the system of public rainspout develops, it becomes feasible for men to travel long distance to work.
As fathers commute to distant places for work, they become absent from during most of the working hours. The long daily absence of the principle breadwinner has had its effect on the internal authority structure of the family and has eroded the traditional authority of the father.It must be recognized that the involvement of more mothers in the modern labor force, deprives the family of the daily love and care so necessary for proper child not more - in the supportive extended family network. In the modern era the family has gradually shrunk to become the nuclear family, consisting solely of parent's and their children - thus denying many parent's the assistance they once received from extended family support networks. As a result, many parent's find it increasingly difficult to carry out all their work and family responsibilities.The situation becomes more poignant if we consider the fact that despite modernization, the values of traditional society still remain the reasoning structure and the referent value of most of us and this has big influence on parenthood in our societies.
For example, despite the transformation of the economy into a money economy and the limitations and pressures associated with large families, the issue of procreation is still persistent even in high places.Modern family planning which is a conscious effort of couples to have children when they want them, has hardly been accepted. Effects of Arbitration on Traditional Family Arbitration is cited as the third major aspect of development impacting on family functioning, particularly the rapid growth of rural-to-urban migration. Between 1970 and the year 2000, the percentage of people living in urban areas is expected to increase from 66. 4 to 77. 7 per cent in the developed countries and from 25.
3 to 40. 4 per cent in the developing world.The total urban population world-wide is projected to reach 2. 9 billion by 2000. The traditional African Society as described above has come under the influence of exogenous forces which have not only transformed the society's orientation but in some instances they have distorted the social system.
Annoy, N. (2000) argues that arbitration in Zambia lay in its ability to erode communal social obligations that were under girded by kinship networks. Furthermore, it impended clan members room performing their required and expected roles.As part of the process of rapid demographic and socio-economic change due mainly to arbitration and modernization, patterns of family formation and family life are continuing to undergo considerable change, altering the composition and structure of families in our societies. The traditional family structure under pressure from rapid social change is undergoing erosion, and is generally splitting up to such an extent that it is failing to fulfill its primary role of colonization.More prominent in urban areas is the rapid appearance of the nuclear family system, here does not appear to be, a sense of cohesion.
It is a matter of the individuals' life, his house, his possessions, and not the traditional usage of our farm, our home, sharing all happiness, woes, successes of the extended family loyalty and responsible to one's elders. Arbitration and modernization have placed heavy burdens on families who still shoulder socio-economic responsibilities of the extended family. It is not as easy as in automatically receive in the extended family set-up.Arbitration and modernization directly cuts across ancestry-based residence and mutual social, spiritual, and economic co-operation. Negative effect of Arbitration Arbitration enforce the influx of people into the cities in search of Jobs. The village migrant in the city finds room not in the affluent residential areas, but at the fringes of the city and in the slum areas.
Consequently this inflates the number of the urban poor and increases illegal settlements. The tension inherent in the uncertainties of the new society has far reaching implications for the physical and mental well-being of all.With regular employment at decent wage levels a rarity, mothers are constrained to combine their traditional roles - childrearing and household chores tit earning money to/supplement the household income. Arbitration has brought the stability of the family under seriously threat. Marriage has gradually become the individual's concern rather than a concern of two extended families who give their daughter or son respectively and supervise and support the marriage as is the case under a traditional family.
Emphasis on individual mate selected without the active involvement of the extended family system has tended to cause marital instability which customary and statutory laws in most African countries are unable to cope with. The divorce rate has risen sharply. Almost everywhere, the number of single parent families has increased dramatically and this impacts negatively on the children. Effects of arbitration on old people Furthermore, arbitration has had a negative effect on the support mechanisms that dealt with older persons.Urban living nears that the old and the young are no longer living in the same households; modern arrangements have destroyed the key social welfare features that provided for intergenerational support.
There is a gender dimension to the precarious nature of older persons in Africa. Studies throughout he region reveal that the number of older women living in isolation has increased owing to the outward migration of children to urban areas; more older women than men consider their status within the family to have deteriorated primarily because of widowhood and economic dependency.
