Unit II: Lesson 2

Report No. 4 & 5

THE FAMILY TODAY: DECLINING OR CHANGING

A. The Problem of Defining the Family

As we know, Filipinos are family oriented. The Anak-Magulang complex and Kamag-anak relationship are very important
to Filipinos. Father, Mother, Children are culturally and emotionally significant to us not only to or immediate family but
also our extended family (Tiya, Tiyuhin, inaanak, lolo, lola). This family centeredness supplies a basic sense of
belongingness, stability, and security. It is from our families that we Filipinos draw our sense of self-identity. This
Traditional definition or view of the family leads many people to think that the family is an indispensable unit or
institution of society.

Some statistics that raise doubts on the future of a family based on its traditional definition:

1. Declining marriage rate and increasing rate of cohabitation

2. Increasing Annulment Rate
3. Increasing number of cases of domestic violence
4. Increasing number of women entering the labor force

However, there is no single correct definition of what a family is. Family definition varies according to one’s personal
experience, cultural background, sexual orientation, and moral outlook.

Here are some definitions of FAMILY:

1. Family as defined by Mike Morris’ Concise Dictionary of Social and Cultural Anthropology and the most
controversial definition of family, is a group of people who have a common residence and/or relationship, and
who share economic and reproductive ties.
2. Census Family – term used to define family by Census Bureau of Canada which refers to a married couple and
the children, if any, of either or both spouses
- A couple living common law and children, if any, of either both partner
- A lone parent of any marital status with at least one child living in the same dwelling and that child
or those children
- A couple maybe opposite sex or same sex.
- Children maybe a children by birth, marriage or adoption regardless of their age or marital status as
long as they live in the dwelling and do not have their own spouse or child living in the dwelling.
- Grandchildren living with their grandparent(s) but with no parents present also constitute a census
family.
3. Nucleus Family – term used by the United Nation in defining family. The following is considered under this type:
a. A married couple without children
b. A married couple with one or more unmarried children
c. A father with one or more unmarried children
d. A mother with one or more unmarried children

Couples living in a consensual unions should be regarded as married couples.

Common Elements of family on definitions of Nuclear and Nuclues Family:

1. The biological component – with a child, married

2. The functional component – takes care of the children and provides economic support
3. The residential component – living under one household or common residence

Several functions or roles of family as a basic unit of the society:

1. Biological reproduction
2. As the primary agent of socialization of children
3. As the institution for economic cooperation through division of labor
4. To care for and nurture children to become responsible adults

Marriage - Definition base on Article 1 of the Philippine Family Code states that

1. Marriage is a special contract of permanent union between a man and a woman entered into in accordance with
law for the establishment of conjugal and family life. It is the foundation of the family and an inviolable social
institution.
2. Marriage excludes same-sex marriage and polygamous unions.

Illegitimate children – children born out of wedlock. In the Philippine Family code enacted in 1981 under Article 176, it
declared that “illegitimate” children must use the surname of the mother. Congress amended
Article 176 by enacting Republic Act 9255 in 2004 that gave illegitimate children to use the
surname of their biological father as long as the father formally recognize the child.
Illegitimate child is entitled to receive support from his/her biological father provided that the latter recognized the child
as his own. If the father did not recognize the child as his own, then support cannot be demanded unless a court order is
obtained for that matter.

Legally adopted children have the same privilege or rights with legitimate children in terms of inheritance.

Cohabitants – are couples who share a common residence with a child, just like a nuclear family, but without the benefit
of marriage. In some countries, cohabitant is not recognized as official families. Therefore they are not accorded to
health, social security, and retirement benefits of the partner. In some countries, cohabiting homosexual couples are not
given hospital visitation rights for the sick partner.

The United Nation differentiates household and family, meaning household and family are different concepts that
cannot be used interchangeably in the same census because:

1. Household may consist of only one person but a family must contain at least two members.
2. The members of a multi-person household need not be related to each other, while the members of the family
must be related.

Types of Families

1. Nuclear Family – the most basic family form and is made up of a married couple and their biological or adopted
children. Ftaher, mother, daughter, son, sister, brother
2. Extended Family – families that include the other member of the kinship group like the uncles, grandparents,
and cousins.

Nuclearization of the Families – a process refers to the growing predominance of nuclear families over extended families
in both rural and urban areas, which is brought about by urbanization and economic development.

Classification of Nuclear and Extended Family

1. Family of Orientation – the family to which one belong

2. Family of Procreation – when one establishes a new family through marriage

Classification of Family based on the Rule of Descent

1. Unilineal Descent – societies trace their descent either through their father or mother
a. Patrilineal Descent – people automatically have a lifetime membership in the father’s group.
b. Matrilineal Descent – people join the mother’s group automatically at birth and stay members throughout
their life
2. Ambilineal Descent – the children can opt to claim lineage on either their father or their mother’s group.

Descent groups Residence Rule after marriage:

1. Neolocal Residence – the couples have the freedom and option to live separately and independently of their
respective families. Most common in Western way of life.
2. Patrilocality – a married couple moves to the husband’s father’s community, so that children will grow up in
their father’s village. Most common in non-western societies.

B. Marriage and the Family

Marriage – or a human marriage is a socio-sexual institution, a part of a wider institutional complex of the family.
- it is also an arrangement of procreation, a way of caring for the offspring of sexuality, defining their
legitimate descent, and the main or ultimate responsibility for their upbringing.
Marriage – as defined by Edward Westermark in his famous book History of Human Marriage as a relation of one or
more men to one or more women which is recognize by customs or law and involves certain rights and duties
both in case of parties entering union and in the case of children born of it. Marriage is nothing else than a
more or less durable connection between male and female, lasting beyond the mere act of propagation till
after the birth of the offspring.
Marriage is the center of the kinship system. It creates alliance and fictive “kinship” among members of clans or tribes.

Kinship consist of three aspects:

1. It comprises forms of nomenclature and classification
2. Rules which affect people’s kinship behavior, covering everything from criminal laws to ideas about good
manners
3. What people actually do
Endogamy – is the practice of marrying within a specific ethnic group, class, or social group, rejecting others on such
a basis as being unsuitable for marriage or other close personal relationships. It preserve separateness and
exclusivity and are means of maintaining boundaries between one group and other groups.
Exogamous – is the practice of marrying outside one’s group, which is common in modern societies. It create links
between groups.
Marriage – establish Consanguineal (“blood relation” from the Latin Consanguinitas) Relations and Relations of
Affinity.
Consaguineal Relation – two people are related to each other if they have common ancestor or descendant of
the other.
Relations of Affinity – two people are related if they are married, or if one person are related by blood to the
other person’s spouse.
Affinal Links – the links between kinship groups established by marriage.
Godparenthood or (compadrazgo) – a social relationship made by means of ritual observances.

Relationship of Consanguinity
st
Person 1 Degree 2nd Degree 3rd Degree 4th Degree
Child or parent Grandchild, sister, Great- Great-great-
brother, or grand- grandchildren, grandchild,
parent niece, nephew, grandniece,
aunt, uncle, or grandnephew, first
great-grandparent cousin, great aunt,
great uncle, or
great-great-
grandparent

Relationship of Affinity
Person 1st Degree
Spouse, mother-in-law, father-in-law,
son-in-law, daughter-in-law, stepson,
stepdaughter, stepmother, stepfather
2nd Degree
Brother-in-law, sister-in-law, spouse’s
grandparent, spouse grandchild,
grandchild spouse, or spouse of
grandparent

Same-sex marriage – also known as gay marriage. It is a marriage between two people of the same biological sex and/or
gender identity.
Marriage Equality or Equal Marriage – the legal recognition of same-sex marriage or the possibility to perform same-sex
marriage.
Denmark – first country in the world to legally recognize same-sex unions, after passing a bill legalizing “registered
partnership” in October 1989.
Belgium – second country to grant legal recognition to same-sex marriage.
Polygamy - marriage that includes more than two partners.
Polygyny – when a man is married more than one wife at the same time.
Polyandry – when a woman married more than one husband.
Cenogany or Group or Conjoint Marriage – a marriage that includes multiple husbands and wives.
Sororal Polygyny – when a man marries several sisters as in the case of Jacob in the old testament.
C. Romantic Love, Mate Selection, and the Family
1. Romantic Love, Mate Selection and the family
• In modern society, monogany is often associated with romantic love, where one marries out of love. Many
young people today believe that people should many out of free will and not based on forced choices or simply
due to traditional requirements.
2. • Romantic love that is glamorized in the television, movies, soap operas and novels is a modern phenomenon.
3. • Romantic love triumphs in the modern period because industrial capitalism promoted individualism, free
choice, and equality. One of the tenets (belief or principle) of romantic love is that “all is fair in love”, meaning it
transcend or beat economic inequalities and physical appearance.
4 • Some sociologist argue that economic benefits and social exchange operate in mate selection. People tend to
select partners that can offer them equal assets or even surpass their own resources. In this theory, partner who
contributes more economic subsistence of the relationship tends to have more power in the relationship.
5. • Homogamy – people tend to marry people who share they same characteristics they have – personality,
class, family background. People tend to feel more comfortable with others from same social class.

D. Emerging Issues on Families

1. Families and Domestic Violence

• Domestic and family violence occurs when someone who has a close personal relationship with you makes you
feel afraid, powerless or unsafe. It can be physical, but can also be emotional and psychological, sexual abuse
and even stalking. Stalking is unwanted and/or repeated surveillance by an individual or group toward another
person.[1] Stalking behaviors are interrelated to harassment and intimidation and may include following the
victim in person or monitoring them
• Anyone can experience domestic and family violence. It happens across communities, ages, cultures and sexes.
This can involve marriage partners, partners living together, dating relationships and even former spouses,
former partners, and former boyfriend/girlfriends.

• If you are experiencing abuse or violence it is not your fault. It is the abuser who is responsible. Domestic
violence is a crime and the abuser is breaking the law.

• Republic Act No. 6292 or An Act Defining Violence Against Women and Children, Providing for Protective
Measures for Victims, Prescribing Penalties therefore, and for Other Purposes defined Violence against women
and children as
“refers to any act or a series of acts committed by any person against a woman who is his wife, former
wife, or against a woman with whom the person has or had a sexual or dating relationship, or with
whom he has a common child, or against her child whether legitimate or illegitimate, within or without
the family abode, which result in or is likely to result in physical, sexual, psychological harm or suffering,
or economic abuse including threats of such acts, battery (causing injurey by repeated blows or
punishment), assault, coercion (the practice of persuading someone to do something by using force or
threats), harassment, or arbitrary deprivation of liberty (The person is under continuous supervision
and control and is not free to leave, and the person lacks capacity to consent to these arrangements).

2. Divorce and Remarriage

Divorce - is the legal termination of a marriage by a court in a legal proceeding, requiring a petition or complaint
for divorce (or dissolution in some states) by one party. It is a court order saying that a man and a woman are
NO LONGER a husband and wife.
There are two types of divorce-- fault and no- fault.
the burden fell on the spouse seeking the divorce to prove wrongdoing on the part of the other in order
to justify the divorce. Common reasons included adultery, extreme cruelty, abandonment and abuse. While all
states have done away with making the practice of proving fault mandatory in favor of a no-fault approach that
acknowledges that both parties contributed to the breakdown of the marriage, three states still require that
fault be proven if the couple entered into a “covenant” marriage – Arizona, Arkansas and Louisiana – and some
states provide the “fault” option in addition to the no-fault one. However, no-fault divorces are now standard
practice, particularly for couples who don’t anticipate a lot of fallout over matters like asset division.

Grounds for Divorce:

1. Alcoholism and drug abuse 5. Infidelity
2. Incompatibility 6. Physical and emotional abuse
3. Disagreement about gender roles 7. Sexual Incompatibility
4. Financial problems
Some factors that act barriers to marriage dissolution:
1. Strong religious belief
2. Pressure from family or friends to remain together
3. Irretrievable investment
4. Lack of perceived attractive alternative to marriage
Annulment - is a legal procedure which cancels a marriage. Annulling a marriage is as though it is completely
erased, legally, and it declares that the marriage never technically existed and was never valid (THERE WAS
NEVER A MARRIAGE between the man and the woman).

What are the grounds for annulment?

According to Article 45 of The Family Code of the Philippines, there are 6 legal grounds for the annulment of a
marriage:
• lack of parental consent (if either party is at least 18 but below 21 years old)
• psychological incapacity
• fraud
• consent for marriage obtained by force, intimidation, or undue influence
• impotence / physical incapability of consummating the marriage
• serious sexually transmitted disease

Legal separation - an arrangement by which a couple remain married but live apart, following a court order.

Arranged marriage - type of marital union where the bride and groom are selected by individuals other than the
couple themselves, particularly by family members such as the parents.

Remarriage - is a marriage that takes place after a previous marital union has ended, as through divorce or
widowhood.

3. Families in the Age of Post -Modernity

In a world where children are "growing up digital," it's important to help them learn healthy concepts of digital
use and citizenship. Parents play an important role in teaching these skills.

Reflexive Modernity – a social condition when people are aware ad knowledgeable about the risk they face,
people no longer require “forever” clause in a romantic relationship. Romance has lost its purpose and is bound
to die and will be replace by a relationship looks like a frank erotic desire. Romantic love today is slowly been
transformed into fleeting relationship that avoid the risk of long-term commitment.

Love in this post-modern world also produces post-modern families and similar relationship that are very
different from traditional, modern families and marriages like same-sex marriages, single-mothers, a lone
individual with adopted child, various forms of polygamous relationships, and open marriages.
Open marriage - is a form of non-monogamy in which the partners of a dyadic marriage agree that each may
engage in extramarital sexual relationships, without this being regarded by them as infidelity, and consider or
establish an open relationship despite the implied monogamy of marriage.

Post-modern families reflects disorientation in intimate relationship in the globalized world because people are
exposed to various forms of cultures and lifestyles through Mass Media and the rapid advancement of
information and communication technologies (ICT), the effects of mobile era which includes finding intimate
partners.

Liquid Love – as referred by Polish Sociologist Zygmunt Bauman define as “to or characterize the rise to new,
reconfigured, and forms of interpersonal interactions including finding intimate partners”. A condition in which
everything becomes fleeting(lasting for a very short time), transient(impermanent), and disposable(intended to
be used once, or until no longer useful, and then thrown away).

4. LGBT FAMILIES
4 Ways that individuals in same-sex partner households come to parent a children:
1. Through a prior relationship with a different sex-partner that resulted in the birth of a child/children
2. Through adoption
3. Through the use of assisted reproductive technologies
4. By becoming a partner to someone who ha done one or more of these things

5. TRANSNATIONAL FAMILIES: VIRTUAL CONNECTIONS

In the Phils., fathers traditionally pursue their careers and act as the breadwinner of the family. Fathers are
called “haligi ng tahanan” (pillars of the home) which refers to the foundations of the house. Today, however,
many women are already working outside the family. Filipino women are not only working in the domestic
enterprise but they are also migrating to work as OFW’s. In fact, Philippines is the major supplier of migrant
workers in Asia to over 100 countries. According to POEA, as of April 2019, there are 2.3 million Filipinos working
abroad.
Transnational Families or Diasporic Families – according to Brycesson and Vourella is defined as families that
live some or most of the time separated from each other, yet hold together and create something that can be
seen as a feeling of collective welfare and unity, namely, familyhood, even across national borders.

Diaspora – the dispersion of any people from their original homeland.

Some results of studies on the effects of Transnational Families:
A. Negative effects
1. Children experienced loneliness and sadness when separated from their parents
2. The school performance of the children also suffered
3. Mother-absent children tends to be more angrier, more confused, more apathetic(uninterested, no
concern, no interest), more afraid, and to feel more different from other children
4. Children with both parents away reports greater sadness
5. The absence of mother has the most disruptive effects on children

B. Positive Effects
1. Remittances do help improve the quality of life of the migrants and the family like acquisition of real
properties (house, land, real estate).
2. Children of migrants have better educational opportunities where they can enroll in private schools
offering good quality education

Some reasons why people migrate:

1. The desire of job seekers to increase income and to improve the standard of living
2. The emergence of new industries
3. The relocation of production facilities of a given business to a new area.
4. To protect themselves and families from the effects of weak economy and volatile market, from political
crisis, armed conflicts, and other risks.