Family Concept

Family is an important social unit in human society. As a social unit, it caters to the emotional and physical needs of human beings. A group of people who live together or who share same lineage is termed as a family. A family is formed in different ways in different cultures. But all the cultures consider family as a chief social unit which binds all the family members towards a common goal and nurtures the children in the family. There are different forms of family across varied cultures; the prominent among them are conjugal family, matrifocal family and consanguineal family. But nowadays conjugal families are becoming more common in Western societies. The conjugal family is referred as a nuclear family in Western society. Nuclear family consists of parents and their children.

Family values which are followed by each family member, define the perspective of the family. Families can be classified on the basis of their perspective and these perspectives are conservative, feminist and liberal perspectives. Among these three perspectives, I think that liberal perspective is best for the development of all the family members. It also assists in understanding the concept of family very well. Liberal perspective is that outlook which changes with time and adopts new ideas which are conducive for the growth of the family members. Liberal perspective also treats both man and woman in the family with equal respect. In my opinion, this perspective helps the family members to stay together, as this perspective respects the views of each individual in the family. Family is a unit which brings together people with different thoughts and when each member is given an opportunity to progress in his/her life then it can lead to harmonious relations among the family members. The smooth functioning of family depends on the performance of each member of the family. “A change in one person's functioning is predictably followed by reciprocal changes in the functioning of others. Families differ somewhat in the degree of interdependence, but it is always present to some degree.” (Bowen). So it is necessary that a family respects the individuality of each family member. A liberal perspective will help the family to understand each other in a better way and accept them in spite of their differences.

Liberal perspective aids a family in accepting new values which are the outcome of modern thinking. Human society keeps on changing and these changes