The family is the group of people united by ties of marriage, kinship or adoption. It is considered as a natural and universal community with an affective base, which influences the formation of the individual and has a social interest. It is said to be universal, since throughout history, civilizations have been made up of families. In all social groups and all stages of civilization, some form of family organization has always been found. The family has changed over time, but it has always existed, that is why it is a universal social group, the most universal of all.
What is the family
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It is a group of people united by a relationship of a couple, consanguineous or of some other type of situation, in which individuals live together and join some type of bond. It is considered the basis of society, since from the earliest times, the family has had a presence in the great events of humanity.
The ties that give a clearer definition of family are those of affinity and consanguinity. Affinity ties are those in which two or more people have a solid common interest, and one of the most stable and prominent in society is that of marriage, made up mostly of two people of different sexes and with some exceptions, of the same sex.
Consanguinity ties are those that are given by filiation between parents and children and between individuals who come from the same parent (blood siblings). However, there is another type of bond, which would be the civil one, as in the case of adoption, which means welcoming into the family a baby, child or adolescent whose father figures are absent or cannot take care of them.
Although the concept of family establishes that its members live under the same roof, even when they have left home, they will remain family; or in the case of consanguinity, even if they have never lived together, they will be family.
The meaning of family is also related to other concepts of coexistence and cooperation of people united by some bond, such as clans, tribes and nations, which in principle are a kind of family organization, as there is a common project. However, the previous meanings involve a greater degree of individuals, while the family is considered to be the minimum social unit, whose standard model is that of: father, mother and children.
There are different levels of kinship according to the people who make up the family group, and all the models that help define the family start from there. These levels are: nuclear, extensive and composite.
The etymology of the term "family" comes from the Latin "famulus", which means slave, since in ancient times they belonged to the patrimony of a home and were considered part of the family group.
Family Models
There are family models in terms of their dynamics, the roles of each member and the way they communicate. The family models, according to the Italian psychotherapist Giorgio Nardone (1958), are:
Overprotective model
Characterized because the tutors (parents or grandparents), help the children in all the activities they carry out, so that they do not have difficulties on their way and avoid suffering. The intensity of this behavior is excessive: the child grows up with a clear message: that he is not capable of completing tasks, which will result in an insecure and fragile individual, unable to react adequately to problems.
Democratic-permissive model
Parents and children have a relationship that includes friendship; agreements are reached, there is dialogue and all opinions are taken into account for decision-making. The rights of each member are equal and the figure of paternal authority is practically non-existent, which is why it has a fraternal rather than parental character.
This family dynamic can have consequences such as the children trying to take the authoritarian and dictatorial role in which they impose their will against that of their parents.
Sacrificial model
This model is characterized by manifestations of sacrifice and fulfillment of obligations, relegating distractions or pleasure. In this type of home it is instilled that sacrifice implies kindness, placing the satisfaction of others above personal satisfaction. It is transmitted from parents to children, who later will show attitudes of resentment when their dedication is not rewarded.
Intermittent pattern
It is characterized by the constant change of models, in which in a certain situation, a permissive attitude may manifest itself, in another excessive protection, in another sacrifice. The authority figures do not maintain a decisive position before any decision they have made.
This affects the attitude of the children, who will behave erratically in different circumstances: obedient, rebellious, committed, careless. This results in insecurity about the actions committed, both by parents and children, who will feel that any step they take will be wrong.
Delegating model
Decision-making regarding parenting and other topics comes from the parents, who will seek support from their respective families of origin. In this model, there is competition between parents and grandparents for affection and authority over children. There are contradictions, orders and counter-orders, disavowal between authority figures, generating anxiety in children.
Authoritarian model
One or both parents take the role of dictator over the regulations, strict discipline and sanctions for the child who dares to disobey the rules. In this model, the children have no opinion on any aspect and must submit to the will of the authority figure, so the environment of this home is one of constant tension. When the dictator is a single parent, an alliance will be created between the children and the other parent, who will be the intermediary between the authority figure and them, who at some point will seek to lie, rebel and leave home in order to avoid the yoke to which they are subjected.
Regardless of the models described, there are several types of family structures, according to who they are made up of. These are:
1. Nuclear: Mom and Dad united by a marriage or de facto union (cohabiting couple without legal ties) and children.
2. Composed, assembled, restored or mixed: It is made up of more than one nuclear family that has been previously broken. The parents that compose it can have children from their previous relationships.
3. Extended or extensive: There are three generations present: grandparents, parents and children, and the former could have an active participation in the raising of the latter. So are those where there is the presence of uncles or cousins, or that one of the children has their own child and they live under the same roof.
4. Single parent: Constituted by one of the two parents and the children, due to the separation or death of the couple.
5. Homoparental: It is a type of family that has been showing greater presence in recent years, and is made up of two parents of the same sex and their children.
6. From separated parents: The children alternate their stay between the residences of their separated parents.
7. Without children: The couple is alone, without the presence of children by choice or not being able to conceive, or they are newly married.
8. Adoptive or foster: The children will meet parents who are not biological.
9. For grandparents and the elderly: In the first case, the authority figures will be the grandparents of the children. In the second case, the "empty nest" syndrome occurs, when the children have already left home.
10. Sole proprietorship: It is a person who lives independently, by his own decision or other circumstances.
Nuclear family
This concept of family is defined as one that lives under the same roof, made up of members of a single family nucleus, in this case, by both parents and children, although there are definitions that include the types of family that make up one of the two parents with the children or the couple without children.
It is characterized by the existence of economic cooperation between both parents, who will be in charge of maintaining the home; for being small, except for the presence of many biological or adoptive children; there are emotional ties; and they are temporary, in which eventually the children will leave home to form their own nuclear family.
This means that it is impossible for an individual to belong to two family nuclei at the same time, since the nuclear family is delimited in the direct family with which they live. In the case of the children who make their living and have their own offspring, they will no longer belong to the original family nucleus: their new nuclear family will be their partner and children.
Importance of the family in society
The definition of family establishes that it is the minimum unit of society, since the first contact that an individual has is the family nucleus. According to factors of upbringing, teaching and instilled values, the person will contribute to the economic and social development of a country.
A person not only receives all his knowledge at school, work or from other external factors, since the first teachings come from his home. The behavior and personality of an individual will be shaped by their parents from childhood, and the environment of the same will directly influence their behavior.
Strong and stable families will generate equally strong and stable societies. A dysfunctional family environment, where there is domestic violence, abuse, neglect, abandonment, lack of values, school dropouts, inappropriate behaviors by role models, will result in a problem citizen with antisocial behaviors.
Examples of film and TV family
There are many family-themed movies and entertainment programs, where stories of typical or dysfunctional families are told. The most prominent examples are:
Family
1. Movies
- Del Toro
Movie: We the Poor
Year: 1948
Description: It was a movie that reflected a family with few resources, made up of the father and his daughter, who had to fight day after day.
- Corleone
Movie: The Godfather
Year: 1972
Description: A movie based on a book where the story of a family that was engaged in mafia affairs was told.
- Parr
Movie: The Incredibles
Year: 2004
Description: An animated film, whose family consisted of two parents, who in their youth were superheroes and kept their past hidden from their three children.
- King
Movie: Descendants
Year: 2011
Description: It is a film about a father of two daughters who must deal with the situation of his brothers regarding a family inheritance and with an accident that his wife has left in a coma, while he discovers that she was unfaithful to him.
2. TV shows
- Telerín
Program: La familia Telerín
Year: 1964
Description: It was about cartoons, made up of six members.
- Addams
Program or movie: Los locos Addams
Year: 1964-1966 (television series) and 1991 (film)
Description: It was a series and later, a film, which was about a peculiar and macabre family with parents, two children, an uncle, the grandmother, a butler and a hand.
- Brady
Program: The Brady tribe
Year: 1969-1974
Description: It was a series in which the family was made up of the union of two families: a father with his three sons and a mother with her three daughters.
- Bundy
Program: Married with children
Year: 1987-1997
Description: It was a series with a family made up of four members, which with funny situations proved to be the perfect example of what a family should not be.
- Tanner
Program: Tres por tres
Year: 1987-1995
Description: A series of a particular family made up of a father who was recently widowed, his three daughters, his brother-in-law and his best friend, who had to raise the three little ones.
- Simpson
Program: The Simpsons
Year: 1989-present
Description: Animated series of a typical average American family, which is made up of parents and three children.
- Banks
Program: The prince of rap in Bel Air
Year: 1990-1996
Description: A funny series about a privileged family made up of parents, three children, a butler and a nephew who must have lived with them.
- Lambert-Foster
Program: Step by Step
Year: 1991-1997
Description: Like “The Brady Family”, it was a series of a family made up of two families: the divorced father and the widowed mother, each with three children by their previous relationship. They eventually have a baby from their marriage.
- Wilkerson
Program: Malcolm the Middle
Year: 2000-2006
Description: It was a series of a family made up of parents and four sons, one of whom was gifted trapped in a family that did not value him.
- Peluche
Program: La familia Peluche
Year: 2002-2012
Description: It was a series about a dysfunctional family, where crazy and funny situations occurred. Made up of parents, two natural children and one adopted, and the maid.
- López
Program: A family of 10
Year: 2007-2019
Description: It was a program about a family made up of parents, two children, the grandfather, an aunt and her daughter, an indigenous woman, the wife of one of the children and a son that she has with the son of the family.
- Prittchet
Program: Modern family
Year: 2009-present
Description: Series that shows the lives of three families: one of a man married to a woman younger than him, and each has a child from a previous relationship; two older sons of his and their respective families.
- Pearson
Program: This is us
Year: 2016-present
Description: It is a dramatic series of a family of two parents of three children: two of them of the same triplet pregnancy (in which the third dies) and another adopted who was born on same day as them.
- Cooper or Córcega
Program or film: My husband has a family
Year: 2017-2019
Description: It was a novel about a couple, where the man (who had two children) was unaware of his biological parents and then he meets them, with whom they must live, as well as with other members of the family.
