QNT561 Applied Research and Business Statistics PART IV

ABDULAZIZ-AL ANSARI

FAMILY: VARIATIONS AND CHANGES ACROSS CULTURES

ABSTRACT

My objective is to understand the different types of family in cultures throughout the world and also how family types are related to cultural features of societies.  I will discuss the definitions and the structure and functions of family; the different family types and relationships with kin; the eco-cultural determinants of variations of family types, e.g, ecological features, means of subsistence, political and legal system, education and religion; changes in family in different cultures; the influence of modernization and globalization on family change throughout the world. 

 INTRODUCTION

It is common knowledge that cultures seem to have different types of family systems. In the United States and Canada and the countries of northern Europe the nuclear family, father, mother and the children, appears to predominate. In almost all of the rest of the world, extended families, the grandparents, father, mother, children, but also aunts, uncles, cousins, and other kin are considered to be "family." The 20th century has seen the greatest upheaval in history of  family change. Family types in North America and northern Europe have been changing with the increase of nuclear families and the decrease of extended families, and during the past 20 or more years, with the increase of  unmarried families, divorced families, unmarried mothers, and homosexual families. Nuclear families have also been increasing in all the continents of the world.

The purpose of this research is to describe the different types of families in different cultures throughout the world and to describe the types of changes in family. I will analyze the family as a social system in different cultures, so that the interested person can then understand how psychological phenomena are related to family and culture. The first section presents definitions of family and the structure and functions of family. The second describes the different family types and relationships with kin.

The third section an important issue in cultures and family: determinants of family types. That is, what are the eco-cultural  determinants of variations of family types and the changes in families across cultures; the ecological features, means of subsistence, political and legal system, education and religion.  The fourth section will discuss issues related to family change in different cultures throughout the world. What are the consequences of modernization and globalization on family change? Will families throughout the world eventually evolve into the nuclear family, divorced family and one-parent family systems of North America and northern Europe? Or do cultural features of each nation shape changes in family types?

In my research, I will try to address and analyze these issues to my best effort.