Home and family

Home and family

Sociologists state the family is the first site of socialisation for children
1. This is the first place they learn cultural norms, values and the expectations of the society in which they live
  1. Family and home can be seen as lived ideas that become meaningful through shared practices of the people within them
Beliefs about childhood are strongly connected to expectations of family and children's experiences are shaped by family
1. Family and home link people with the past and future, e.g. family history and ideas and emotional investments for the future
  1. Discussing family can bring mixed emotions for different people (happy, distressing, painful, issues
    1. Cape town homeless boys Wilfred and co - they do not have a family or home so they have made their own family by looking after each other
      1. This example highlights how family is based on love and the people that look after you and protect you. There does not need to be a biological link
    2. Oakland Brian - has a happy family enjoys living with his parents and sister
    3. Mia in Chittagong was not happy her family forced her into marriage, now she has to make a family with froggie who she does'nt even like. She feels let down by her parents
There is no such as the universal family or the ideal family form
1. Step families in the 21st century are now the fastest growing type of family form
  1. Family forms could include many generations living together such as in Chittagong. Gay/Lesbian, single parent families, nuclear families, step parents/siblings.
    1. Family forms are not set, they will change over generations due to death, re-marriage and geographical location
      1. Case Study - Jamaican families, migration was part of the reason behind the ever changing family forms. Fathers moving away for work and leaving families behind in Jamacia but starting new families abroad is seen as normal practise. Some fathers had distant relationships with their children back home and only kept in touch with photos and small gifts. This was seen as normal and acceptable and this is how most families were raised.
      2. Children's experience of family and non-family life are as variable as the forms of family and types of home in which they live
    2. Cathy had a baby through surrogacy because of health conditions that stopped her having her own baby. She did not experience birth or pregnancy. She was unsure what to tell people such as her neighbours because it might appear she had kidnapped the child. She was unsure if people would accept her as a real mother due to not having been pregnant etc
Doing family (Finch) - Is about the practices and displays that people share such as celebrations, photographs and naming practices.
1. Such practices give people roles within families therefore family is not about who people are but their shared practices and experiences that they have
  1. In recent sociological research, the family has been conceptualised in terms of what families do rather than what they are
The home is a space where family practices are developed and repeated
1. Parents go to great lengths to set up the perfect home for their children (romanticism)
  1. Thompson - home is space to display feelings and emotions for a new baby such as creating a nursery, displaying scan pictures etc
  2. Starting a family involves practices such as choosing the right furniture or buggy. Consumption is key is pregnancy and many couples have to re-evaluate their spending
  3. Pregnancy magazines link with consumption
  4. Teenage pregnancy challenges the idea of childhood as an age-related status of 0-18 and hence contradicts the position of a young women having a baby
The terms "home and family" are sometimes assumed to belong together but this is not always the experience of children and young people
1. Children may spend a large proportion of their childhood living away from their family
2. Some children are homeless or are frequently moved on from temporary homes
  1. A range of circumstances mean children may experience going into care.
    1. Health, crime, social circumstance, family problems
      1. Food routines in residential care home focus on creating normal family routines and a sense of belonging - such as sharing and learning practical skills such as preparing food. Older children are encouraged to be more independent
        Finch's study talks about the importance of displaying family like practices such as sharing meals. However one boy Callum believed that although the care home could try and follow family practices such as Christmas dinner, it was not his family or friends so it cannot be the same

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	Created by selinaward almost 11 years ago