SOC 213 - Families is important

Families are important to individuals and society Student: Professor: Course title: Date: Families are important to individuals and society A family, in essence, mirrors the society in itself. The family is very important as it offers the building blocks for an individual. Healthy people in healthy families reinforce a healthy society and a healthy nation. A family is basically a group of persons who live together because of co-residence, affinity or consanguinity. The general depiction of an archetypal family is one that comprises children, their mother, and their father. This paper provides a detailed discussion of why families are important not only to individuals, but also to the society. The family is of great importance to both the society and to individuals. A family is generally the basic unit of society and is significant to communities and individuals. A family consists of persons who care about each other. Every family member receives and gives support and love to the other members. Members of a family reach out to each other and share sad times as well as happy times. Family members talk and listen to each other. They also share concerns, thoughts, and even ideas (Hochschild, 2016). In addition, family members share sorrow and fun, and help in healing each other’s hurts. The family’s role within the society is of major importance given that the family is really the transmitting unit of the values of a culture for future generations. Whenever a child learns the proper ways of behaving and handling himself or herself at home, then this child would have a higher likelihood of contributing effectively to society and have a productive and contented life. A family that fails to pass down those values does a disservice to the society (Timmermann, 2015). Families provide their members with a vital support system throughout life, not only during childhood. Families also provide the society with a structure for passing along the values of a culture from generation to generation. These two roles are of major importance for a culture to sustain consistency as years go by (Roche, 2016). For any family to survive and flourish, its members should take part in both unpaid and paid work. Unpaid work refers to the work that is involved in caring for members of the family, doing laundry work, or preparing meals, while paid work is used in providing money for various things like food, clothing, rent, utilities, as well as other life necessities. Even though there are some cultural variances, a family’s main role within the society is to promote an environment in which children learn values, morals and skills. A family provides initial socialization for the child that shapes the child’s behaviours, values, attitudes and self-esteem. A family creates stability and structure in the lives of its members. In the family unit, children get to learn about routines, rituals and structure. Weekend outings, family meals and holiday traditions are some of the traditions that many families usually engage in. In addition, families provide an environment of accountability, in which members of the family get to learn about the consequences and the rewards which are as a result of disobeying or following informal and formal rules in the house ...