Families and Social Inequality

Families and Social Inequality
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Families and Social Inequality
Families that constitute societal units can be a source of inequality. From the theoretical perspective of conflict theory, the family can contribute to social inequality. It does this by reinforcing economic inequality and nurturing patriarchy. Family challenges emerge from economic inequality and patriarchal ideology. Besides, the social construct of the family can generate conflict involving physical violence and emotional cruelty.
The functional perspective presupposes that the family provides emotional stability and support. However, many family members do not live in harmony. Instead, they argue, yell, insult, shout, abuse use emotional cruelty and physical violence against each other. The conflict perspective illustrates that conflicts witnessed in families are attributable to economic inequality and patriarchy. Socio-economic challenges such as poverty can aggravate conflicts in families. Low-income family units are more predisposed to adverse outcomes such as increased mortality, ill health, unemployment, and criminalization than their affluent counterparts. Children from low-income families are unlikely to access quality education and fail to offer desired parental care, leading to the overall perpetuation of social inequality.
Conflict within a family can partly emerge from patriarchy. Currently, women are ...