Types of families in terms of psychology, sociology and history

A family is a group of people who are related either by blood relationship or by marriage. The phenomenon of the family in society is very important, since unification into small groups is part of the human instinctual program. Members of the family are united by household tasks, which they solve together, by moral mutual assistance and, in the case of modern states in which there is a family, legal responsibilities.

For centuries, the types of families that science has classified have been formed. Because the family is a social phenomenon, it affects the field of study of historians, sociologists and psychologists.

Family classification

Initially, the understanding of the family should be classified by the category of moral values.

However, today there are 4 main aspects of the family:

• Family as a social institution (of paramount importance in a socialist society);
• Economic family (emphasis on communication of persons with a common family budget) ;
• Territorial family (total area of residence);
• Biological family (DNA affinity).

Types of families have a different classification, which should be considered comprehensively for a real assessment of the position of the family in society.

Depending on the sex of a married couple, a same-sex and heterosexual family are distinguished. At present (compared to previous time periods), cases of same-sex families have increased, and in some countries it has become possible to register same-sex marriage. The social evaluation of this phenomenon is in most cases negative, and the main argument is the idea of unnaturalness of such relations.

Depending on the number of children, families are divided into 5 categories:

1. Has many children.
2. The average child.
3. Childless.
4. One child.
5. Childless.

Given the presence of the demographic problem in some countries, at the present time, some countries, through legislation, encourage large families, while others, on the contrary, regulate the number of children in the family. In one way or another, but families with many children have now spread thanks to financial support from the state.

Depending on the composition distinguish:

A simple family (it consists of 1 generation - parents with or without a child). It also has two varieties:

1. Elementary (consists of three members: a child, a wife, a husband or only one parent).
2. Composite (it is classified when there are several children in addition to husband and wife).

A complex family is distinguished by the presence in it of several generations, it is also sometimes called patriarchal. Here there are such genealogical connections: grandparents, brothers and sisters (their husbands and wives) and nephews and nieces.

Historical types of family in terms of organization

From the earliest times the family could be classified according to the rule:

1. Patriarchal (in this case, the man was the main in the family, as he brought food to the house, differed in strength and endurance, and without his help the family was doomed to perish).
2. Matriarchal (here the mother acted as the main figure, without which the continuation of the family is impossible: she bore children, watched their safety and condition, fed and provided maintenance of the hearth, cooked food).

Also historically, the types of families were distinguished by the form of marriage :

• Monogamous family (which consists of two partners).
• Polygamous (it is revealed when one of the partners can have a formal or community-approved relationship with several partners). At present, monogamous relations are common, but there are representatives of polygamous marriages.

Types of disadvantaged families

Such families have two varieties, which are caused by the causes of trouble:

1. Crisis. Here there is a conflict of interests of spouses most often on the basis of the financial sphere. However, sometimes there are other reasons for the psychological incompatibility that lead to divorce.
2. Problematic. Often this is one of the most striking manifestations of an unsuccessful family, since there is an obvious problem: the drug dependence of the spouse or one of them, the lack of housing and funds for his eating, the criminalization of one of the spouses, etc. In such a family, children are in the most vulnerable position and often do not receive the proper assistance from their parents, which is why the latter are deprived of parental rights as a result.

Here such types of families are distinguished by sociology, history and psychology. Unfortunately, some of the sociological types are an unfortunate phenomenon in modern society, but fortunately, in the developed states there are various social services that ensure that children in needy families are provided with necessary.