“F.A.M.I.L.Y”… people who are bonded together through love. It is a relationship that cannot be broken through the sunshine and rain, living together under one roof, everyone taking care of each other; from the youngest to the oldest. This is my definition of family. You may hear the word family and think of a mother, father and child. To me, family is more than that. When it comes to love; “L.O.V.E’’, it’s a feeling you have for a person or thing. A relationship that is bound together such as: marriage, boyfriend and girlfriend or just friends/ best friends (Diana Sociology in our Time, Chapter 17 “Families and Intimate Relationships (2013) (page 431). Learning about Family and Intimate Relationships in Chapter 15 deepened my thought of what a true family and intimate relationship is. It also allowed me to think about how it relates to my life as a Christian in today’s society and how it influences me being a member of today’s culture and society.
In today’s Society, family may include many types of living arrangements and relationships, including single-parent households, unmarried couples, lesbian and gay couples, parent and children, living in the same household. Many people have different viewpoints of what a family is, how a family should be treated and what a family should look like. (Diana. Sociology in our Time, Chapter 17 “Families and Intimate Relationships (2013) (page 434)) There are two of these different viewpoints. One is the way the secular world feels a family should be or how it should look. The world we live in today does not value the importance of a family the way it used to. Now, you see a major disconnect between parents and their children. In many families that do not have God as the focal point, the par...
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...s class and researching for this paper, it is more than clear to me that marriage is something that is best suit when having God at the center and allowing Him to guide us each step of the way. This class has been a help to me and will be more helpful as I walk with the Lord with a family of my own.
Works Cited
(n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.biblestudytools.com/topical-verses/family-bible-verses
Gillies, Val. (n.d.). Family and Intimate Relationships: A review of the Sociological Research. Retrieved from https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/10/
Kendall, Dianna (2013). Sociology in our times: Chapter 17 Family and Intimate Relationships. Belmont, California: Wadsworth Publishing Company.
T. Schaefer, R. The family and intimate relationships. Retrieved from http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/dl/free/0072952997/117991/schaefer_ch14.pdf
One definition is “a significant social group in society typically consisting of one or two parents and their children.” While such definition is a good starting point, some modern family structures are excluded by such definition. In her essay, “Family: Idea, Institution, and Controversy,” Betty Farrell apparently assumes that the traditional family has dramatically changed, and the dynamics of change—altered the definition of a “family.” A family is no longer a picture of a particular image of the mythic past, referring to the golden days of the “1950s.” It is no longer a father, mother and their biological children living together under one roof (and certainly not with the a breadwinner father and a stay-at-home mother). In today 's modern society, it is now common to see women raising their children by themselves without their husbands’ help; unmarried couples living together; and gay and lesbian couples—while far from being universally accepted—adopting and raising children to complete their families. Therefore, despite the children living in one-parent households, or they do not live with their “married-heterosexual-biological-parents” under the same roof—does not necessarily mean they are not families. Farrell states that “a family is defined not so much by a particular set of people as by the quality of relationships that bind them together.” In other words, Farrell believes that a “family” is more than just a collection
...Many Kinds of Family Structures in Our Communities." . N.p., n.d. Web. 10 May 2014. .
DeVault, C., Cohen, T., & Strong, B. (2011). The marriage and family experience: Intimate relationships in a changing society. (11th ed., pgs. 400-426). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth cengage learning.
Bidwell, Lee D. Millar, and Brenda J. Vander Mey. Sociology of the Family: Investigating Family Issues. MA: Allyn & Bacon, 2000.
Families.” University of Delaware – Human Development and Family Studies. N.p., 2008. 1-36. Web. 13 Dec. 2013.
Society seems to have many different opinions when it comes to relationships and families and what is ideal. The ideal family may not exist anymore. We now have in our society families that are complete that do not necessarily contain the traditional material. The traditional family, as society would see it; usually consist of a married, mother and father and usually children. Moms are supposed to stay at home while dads work the forty-hour a week job. However, in our 2003 world, families exist in a lot of non-traditional ways. A lot of families now consist of single parent families, or same sex parents and their children, or even couples that are unmarried but live together. And even now, if a family contains what society sees as traditional as far as having a mom, dad, and kids, other aspects are not traditional anymore. Women now have more opportunity in the workplace than they have ever had, therefore, many moms are career moms and dads are sometimes staying at home. Years ago, these types of families were given labels for being dysfunctional or abnormal, however, this label is not holding up as well as it did years ago. There are many non-traditional families that are raising children in a loving, nurturing home with a substantial amount of quality love. Quality is the key in any relationship between anyone. Society is finding out that it is not the traditional image that makes a loving family, but the quality of a relationship that people give to each other is what really makes a family. In the essay "The Myth of the "Normal" Family", written by Lousie B. Silverstein and Carl F. Auerbach, they make references to the cultural idea of what a "normal" family should be and what i...
Stephanie Coontz, author of The Evolution of Matrimony: The Changing Social Context of Marriage, writes that there has been more changes in marriage in the past 30 years then there was in the 3,000 years earlier. With these changes there are no religious or cultural exclusions. Coontz claims, “Right here is America’s Bible belt exist some of the highest rates of divorce and unwed motherhood in the country, and born again Christians d...
Families are becoming more diverse and they come in all shapes and sizes. Some people consider families to be strictly biological, while others consider people they love to be their family. Although two-parent families, also known as a nuclear family are the majority, one-parent families are becoming more common in today’s society. A sole-parent is considered to be a parent without a partner or spouse who is the primary care giver of one or more children in a household (Ministry of Social Development, 2010). From the age of 14 onward I was raised by m...
The New Family SAGE Publications Sociology Text Book
My motivation to research, discover, and stimulate social change is rooted in my childhood experiences. As a young child I grew up in a household filled with domestic violence, which ultimately ended with the suicide of my father. I subsequently came to know a variation of the typical American nuclear family: a single parent household. As I began to study family dynamics further, I was able to see my life experiences in a broader context. In hindsight, I now realize the impact and weight my own mother had on my personal development. It was through her strength, determination, and optimism that I was able to find the spark within myself to set goals and dreams for my future. She encouraged me never to accept anything at face value, including the way our society attempts to define my womanhood. As a result of this, I now question American culture’s classification of a ‘successful’ family and the factors that determine a ‘stable’ family.
Goldfarb, Z. (2014, March 05). Sociology: The Most Fragile Families. Retrieved March 21, 2014, from Princeton Alumni Weekly: http://paw.princeton.edu/issues/2014/03/05/pages/7775/index.xml
A topic in Christianity that seems to be overlooked often is marriage. I believe strengthening today’s marriages is an important task in ministry. Marriages tend to only be talked about in the institution of church as they begin or unfortunately as they end. The Family Ministry Field Guide states, “with that community on a mission as the context, family ministry is any activity that directly or indirectly (1) forms families in the congregation community; (2) increases the Christlikeness of the family relationships of Christians; or (3) equips and supports families for the work to which they are called together” this helped me to confirm that marriage is an important aspect of Family Ministry, but seldom talked about. According to Matthew
Works Cited Kunz, Jenifer. Think Marriages & Families. Boston: Pearson, 2011. http://www.prs Print. The. Laquer, Estin, Ann.
There are many types of family that exists in today’s society, each important to the upbringing of any children of which may be apart of it.
Rowe, Daryl M. "Marriage And Fathering: Raising Our Children Within The Context Of Family And Community." Black Scholar 37.2 (2007): 18-22. Academic Search Elite. Web.