Language Development
Unit 2- Family
·
This essay is written by Alan
John Barnard, American anthropologist
· Junior lecturer social anthropology
University Cape Town, South Africa, 1972-1973
· Lecturer social anthropology University
College London, 1976—1978, University Edinburgh, Scotland, 1978—1990, senior
lecturer, 1990—1994, reader, 1994—2001, professor anthropology of Son of
Africa, since 2001.
Structure of the Essay:
1. Family
2.
Socioeconomic aspects of the family
3. Family law
The
First 5 Paragraphs:
1st Para -
Defining Family
2nd Para -
Functions of the family
3rd Para -
Patriarchal Family
4th Para -
Effects of industrialization on family Structure
5th Para -
Modern Model of Family
6th Para -
Family Law- The legal relationship among family members
7th-8th Para -
General rules in marriage before and after modern time
9th Para -
Dissolution of Marriage
10th Para -
Issue of Children
11th Para -
Succession of family property
Working
with words
A. Find the words from the text and
solve the puzzle. Clues are given below.
1.
Polygamy 1.
patriarchal
5.
mutual 2.
domination
6.
urbanization 3. blatant
7.
socialization 4. lone
parent
B.
Find the meanings of the following family-related words and use them in your
own sentences.
Nuclear
family (noun) - a couple and their
dependent children, regarded as a basic social unit; Nuclear family is the most
preferred family these days.
Monogamy (noun) - the
practice of marrying or state of being married to one person at a time;
Monogamy is a type of marriage in which a man is allowed to have many wives.
Sibling-in-law (noun) - the spouse of your sibling; My sibling-in-law is going
to abroad soon.
Milk
kinship (noun)- formed during nursing by a
non-biological mother; When a non biological mother feeds milk to a child a
milk kinship is established between them.
Matrilineal (adjective)
- of or based on kinship with the mother or the female line. I have a matrilineal
relation to that person.
Nepotism (noun) - the practice among those with power or influence of favoring
relatives or friends, especially by giving them jobs; Nepotism in employment is
a bad culture.
Maternity (noun) - motherhood; A girl becomes matured when she turns into
maternity.
C.
The following words are from the above text. Each word has two parts. Polygamy,
unmarried, nontraditional, dissolution, inequitable
Poly,
un, non, dis, and in are prefixes. They make new words when they are added to
the beginning of other root words.
Make
at least five words using the prefixes given. Consult a dictionary to learn how
they change the meaning of root words.
pre-,
semi-, sub-, mis-, mono-, un-, in-, inter-,
Pre- premature, pretest, predict,
preview, prepare
semi-
semiannual, semicircle,
semifinal, semiformal, semiweekly
sub
- subconscious,
submerge, submissive, subordinate, subside
mis- misconception, miscarriage,
misunderstanding, mismatch, misguide,
mono
- monogamy, monolithic, monotheism,
monopoly, monotonous,
un- unable, unfinished, unclean,
unlucky, uncomfortable.
in- intimate, incomplete,
insignificant, invent, insane
inter- intermediate, international,
interracial, intercut, intermission
Comprehension:
A.
The headings of the first five paragraphs of the above text are given below.
Write paragraph number next to them.
a.
Patriarchal family - 3rd Paragraph
b.
Functions of the family -
2nd Paragraph
c.
Modern model of family - 5th
Paragraph
d.
Effects of industrialization on family structure - 4th Paragraph
e.
Defining family -
1st paragraph
B.
Answer the following questions.
a.
What type of family is thought to be the oldest form of the family?
Ans:
- Nuclear family is thought to be the oldest form of the family.
b.
How does a family provide security to its members?
Ans:
-A family provides security to its members by generating warmth, love,
companionship among its members.
c.
What were the features of medieval European family?
Ans:
- The features of medieval European family were i) the societies were male
dominated societies, and ii) almost all the families were extended families.
d.
What caused the dissolution of extended families in the West?
Ans:
-Because of industrialization and urbanization, most of youths especially
unmarried ones, left their farms and went to urban centers to become industrial
workers and this process caused the dissolution of extended families in the
West.
e.
What change occurred in gender role in the modern family that emerged after the
Industrial Revolution?
Ans:
-The changes occurred in gender role in the modern family that emerged after
the Industrial Revolution are: greater equalities between the sexes, break in
family roles, freedom of work and public life to women and living together and
having children are allowed to a couple even without getting married.
f.
What is family law?
Ans:
- Family law is the law which defines the legal relationship among family
members as well as the relationship between families and society at large.
g.
How is modern marriage defined?
Ans:
- Modern marriage is defined as a voluntary union between a man and a woman.
h.
What do special family courts try to do?
Ans:
- Special family courts try to deal with sensitive issues like custody of
children more fairly.
i.
What does the legislation on child labour and child abuse declare?
Ans:
- The legislation on child labour and child abuse asserts society's
responsibility for a child's best interests.
j.
What is common among most legal system regarding property?
Ans:
- Most legal system has some means of dealing with division of property left by
a disease family member.
Critical
Thinking
a.
What changes have started to occur in Nepali families in recent days? What
impacts will they bring on the society? Discuss.
Ans:
- A concept of typical Nepal family has been changing day by day. Nepali
families used to be traditional, cultural, religious and superstitious in the
past. They used to live in a traditional way following own life styles based on
ethnicity. Children were taught traditional norms and values by their parents.
But in this modern age, there are many changes in Nepali families. Most of
families have forgotten own culture. Even parents are modern and educated and
deny traditional way of living as following blind faiths. Religious and
cultural behaviors are considered to be superstitious. The love of English
language has been reducing the diversity in languages. Traditional extended
families have been turning into nuclear families. Most of people prefer to live
with their spouses and children only. Because of advancement in technology
especially internet, has been increasing extramarital relationships causing
split in families. Most of young people after their high school graduation
prefer to fly to foreign countries to seek better life opportunities. Most of
rich families in cities prefect to adopt modern life style forgetting own
culture and tradition. Old age people are ignored by their children. Because of
such practices, the uniqueness of Nepali families is gradually declining. Our
societies are rich in cultural practices, but most of the people are adopting
foreign culture ignoring our own culture. Soon there will be lack in cultural
identities. Mutual understanding, love, cooperation and compassion among family
members have been lost as people have become selfish. Such practices will bring
defragments in individual people and in societies.
b.
We see many elderly people in the elderly homes these days in Nepal. Some of
them are abandoned while others live there willingly. Do you think Nepali
people are deviating from their traditional culture? Give reasons.
Ans:
- Elderly people are the respected citizens of any country. They are living
legends and they have lots of contribution to their family, society and
country. They deserve our love and respect. But most of such people are
abandoned in the society and they are living a miserable life in elderly homes.
They are weak, can't earn money, and have to be cared by their children. Some
children with good hearts love and take care of their parents properly. But
majority of people are selfish and they only think of their family (spouse and
children). They forget to the struggles of their parents in the past. They
think their parents as a burden and take them to elderly home. The time when
such people need love, support, care they are taken to elderly home. Some
elderly people chose to go to elderly home when they can't bear misbehavior of
their children and their spouses. I think Nepali people are deviating from
their traditional culture. Our culture teaches us that our parents are our god.
We have to love them, support them, and bring lots of happiness in them. We are
taught that children are devotee of their parents. But they are deviated from
traditional culture as they are inclined to foreign culture. They have become
selfish just running after money, and only think of own spouses and children.
Writing
A.
Write as essay on The Importance of Family. In your essay, you can use these
guiding questions.
·
Why family is important to you.
·
Why family is or is not important for society.
·
How you think families will change in the future.
The
importance of family cannot be overestimated. They have a huge impact on our lives and help us develop as individuals. Those who are lucky enough
to have a family usually underestimate
the value of the family. On the other hand, those without a family know their value. Our family is a tower of strength for
us. It teaches us the importance of interpersonal communication. They help us create meaningful personal encounters. The love we get from
our family is beneficial to our independent relationship. It also teaches us
communication skills and patience. It strengthens our confidence and so on, that is why family is important to us.
The health of the individual determines the health of the
society. Without healthy people, society experiences many evils. For example,
family bonds can help reduce crime rates. The family is also an important factor in whether a person can successfully reform
after a crime, and whether the same
mistake can be repeated. When people are in trouble, healthy family relationships provide a point of contact,
which means they cannot resort to crime
or other undesirable coping mechanisms.
Many problems in today's society are
related to whether people have a good family support system. When people need family support in difficult times, they may not be so dependent on
social services and networks outside of the family. Healthy families also
contribute to a strong economy. Families with parents and children living in
the same household tend to have higher incomes than other types of households.
This provides children with better educational opportunities and thus higher
income opportunities than adults. Children learn by imitating their parents. If
parents work during the day, children are more likely to have the same professional
ethics when they grow up.
Lots of changes in families are witnessed in the present
time. By observing the present situation, we are obvious that there will
certainly be changes in families in future. The future couples will be much
more diverse in terms of interracial couples, same sex couples and so on.
People will become more liberal on the concept of families. The number of
children will be fewer in the future family. Most probably there will be a
single child family either it will be male child or female. The quality of life
will be increased as the parents will be economically sufficient to provide
advanced facilities to their children. But there is also a threat in perfect
family concept because the rate of divorce is also increasing these days.
Technically, the children will be more advanced but there will be decline in
cultural values as family families are following western cultures. In the
future, most of families will lack their children in old age as many young
generations are addicted to live a foreign life.
B. Some people think
it is better to live in a nuclear family. Other people think that living in
extended family is more advantageous. What do you think? Write an essay
discussing the advantages and disadvantages of both.
Ans: - Various types
of families are in existence in our societies since time memorable. The concept
of the types of families has been changing these days. However, most of
families are either nuclear or extended. Nuclear family is a universal
phenomenon to modern people, and traditional people prefer extended family.
Both families have both advantages and disadvantages which I am going to talk
about here.
Nuclear family is an
independent family because a small group of people consist of a husband, a wife
and their children form such family. A separate family is formed after a son
leaves his parents when he gets married. The advantages in such family are
personal development, better condition of women, a smaller number of children,
peace and harmony in a family, individual responsibility, quality of life and
so on. Despite these disadvantages there are some disadvantages of nuclear
family. Nuclear family has to employ domestic labour to take care of their
children and family, children are insecure because their parents adopt
profession outside leaving them under the care of the servants, children adopt
all sorts of bad qualities, they forget tradition and culture, feeling of
loneliness, insecure for old, widow and divorce, and so on.
Extended family just
goes beyond father, mother and children. There are many family members in
extended family. There are lots of advantages and disadvantages of extended
family. When I talk about its advantages, in such type of family, there is
security to family members, it boosts unity and coherence, support and mutual
help to each other, easy to socialize its new members, team work spirit,
warmth, compassion and love to each other, respect to elder people. Despite
these advantages, there are some disadvantages of extend family. Some family
members may be bad, and spoils the happiness of the entire family members,
development of ego and revenge in terms of inheritance of family property, inferior
position of women, economic burden, and lack in quality of life and so on.
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