The Family A Historical Review - 2353 Words

The Family: A Historical Review 1.1 Introduction The family is an important social institution. The concept of family is found in every known society (Murdock, 1949:1). Anthropologists classify family as individuals related by blood and marriage (Haviland 1996:230); nevertheless there remains no universal definition of the family. The forms a family might take (nuclear or extended, polygamous or monogamous) vary across cultures and time (Murdock, 1949:1). It performs six universal functions to satisfy the needs of its members, such as, reproduction, protection, socialization, regulation of sexual behaviour, attention and companionship, and providing social status (Ogburn Tibbits, 1934). The definition of the family often determines†¦show more content†¦Physical, sexual and emotional abuses are a common occurrence in many families with women and children as the main victims and men the perpetrators. Therefore, it is important to conduct a historical review of the family, as the hierarchal relation that it establishes between husband and wife will provide a better understanding of the acceptability of domestic violence throughout society and how it has come to be seen as a private matter. 1.2 Historical Review of the Brazilian Family A unitary explanation or description cannot be given for the Brazilian family structure due to its diversity racially, ethnically and socio-economically. From its inception, black slaves and descendants of African origin, Natives from several nations, and Whites from European have comprised the creation of the Brazilian nation thus, no single Brazilian family model historically (Torres Dessen, 2008:196). I will try to be succinct while I showcase the different models based on class and ethnic diversity. In looking at the historical Brazilian family structure, there are two models based on ethnic-cultural diversity. Neder (as cited in Torres Dessen, 2008) notes that the first type of Brazilian family is from the family of African slaves who are also culturally diverse. Consequently, they also do not have a single African family structure but variety of family structures, such as matriarchy, patriarchy and polygamy (196). The second