Sociology Of Family Questions Free Essay Example, 1000 words

They contend that while a woman must embrace her traditional role as the primary family caregiver, she must also be allowed to pursue a professional career. They raise the issue with conservatives' point of view by pointing out that they rely on women as exploited and underpaid caregivers who allow men the opportunity to pursue their activities outside the family setting. In essence, men are allowed a great deal of liberation while women are restricted to family settings. Liberals while advocating for women independence fail to acknowledge that this independence was facilitated from the family and was only made possible by family relationships. Feminists propose a system that would involve judging a family based on its functioning and not form. Functioning, in this context, is human satisfaction and development while the form is the family structure. Feminists further add that reforms to ‘build and maintain the social capital of volunteer groups, neighborhoods and communities are the way to go in building family structures (85-86). I agree with the feminist view as expressed by Gisele (76-86). The paper has clearly presented the conservatives, liberals and feminists ideas and made a clear distinction between them. Q 3: What is the myth of universality? Skolnick and Skolnick (3) define the myth of universality as the belief that all families are fundamentally similar even though they differ in members, emotional settings, living dynamics, principles, social and family networks and economic functions. We will write a custom essay sample on Sociology Of Family Questions or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/pageorder now This similarities and differences have made it difficult to formulate a definition for the family that would hold true across time and place. While the myth of universality is a noble and commendable attempt at defining families, it is a serious disservice to understanding the concept of family as it influences perceptions of the concept by narrowing perception and considering deviations as perversities (4). I disagree with the myth of universality and believe that the definition of a family is dependent on the setting, cultural background and beliefs. For instance, among the Muslim faithful a man is allowed to marry up to four wives and divorce is common, such that any family with four wives and one husband is considered normal and divorce is a common occurrence. This is, however, not the case among the Catholics. Based on their bible teachings a man is only allowed to marry one wife and divorce is frowned upon. An attempt at defining a family in the Muslim setting would be unacceptable among the Catholics and vice versa.