This Blog post is dealing with different types of family and marriage. If you want to know about family and marriage, then this post is for you.
Family and Marriage
A. Family Types
There are many types and subtypes of family in the views of social scientists. Some of the important ones are:
1. Nuclear family
The nuclear family is the traditional type of family structure. This type of family consists of two parents and one child. The nuclear family was considered by society to be the ideal family for raising children.
Children in nuclear families draw strength and stability from a two-parent structure and generally have more opportunities due to the financial convenience of two adults.
2. Single-parent family
A single-parent family is a single-parent family raising one or more children alone. Single-parent families are often single mothers with their children, although there are single fathers.
One in four children is born to an unmarried mother. Single-parent families are generally close and find ways to work together to solve problems. This family faced limited income and opportunities in many cases.
3. Extended family
The extended family structure consists of two or more adults who are related by blood or marriage and live in the same household. In this family, many relatives live together and work for common goals, such as raising children and doing household chores.
This type of family structure can be formed for various reasons such as: financial problems or because older relatives are not able to take care of themselves. Expanded families are traditional families in India.
4. Families without children
While most people believe that there should be children in the family, there are many couples who either cannot or do not want to have children.
The family without children is sometimes referred to as the “forgotten family” because it does not meet the traditional standards set by society. Families without children have only one working married couple. Many childless families take responsibility for owning pets.
5. Step-Family
Many divorced people choose to remarry. This creates the stepfamily, which consists of two separate families, in a new unit. This includes a new spouse and their children from previous marriages or relationships. They have problems, such as adjustment periods and discipline issues, etc.
6. Grand Parent Family
Many grandparents today are looking after their grandchildren for many reasons. This could be due to parents’ death, addiction, abandonment, or being unfit parents.
Many grandparents use to go back to work or find additional sources for income to raise their grandchildren.
B. Types of Marriage
There are around eight types of social marriages, which are as follows:
1. Monogamy
It is the most common type of marriage in history. These patterns consist of one woman to one man marrying and having no end of variation till the end of their life.
While both the couple used to adjust and compromise for each other to lead a smooth life.
2. Polygamy
It is the marriage between one man and several women. This kind of marriage is also found in Old Testament and even still now in the Islamic faith.
3. Polyandry
It consists of one woman is having several husbands. This is very much uncommon in our society.
4. Group Marriage
In this marriage plural husbands have plural wives with open sexual access has been found. It is a very ancient tradition and no more exists properly and society does not support it.
5. Exogamy
It emphasizes marriage from the outside of own community or group and it helps to enlarge the family contact in a broader way. In ancient times kings used to follow this tradition.
6. Endogamy
It consists of marriage among own community or group, where the boy or girl use to find his/her mate from own community.
7. Hypergamy
It is the term given to upward marrying in those cases where one betters oneself through matrimony with a person of superior rank or caste.
8. Homogamy:
In this type of marriage, a person marries a similar person (same sex). Sometimes they belong the same social group.