Family Institution

Maciver: The family is a group defined by social

sufficiently precise and enduring to provide
for the procreation and upbringing of children
Merril: The family may be defined as the
biological social unit composed of husband
wife and children.
Clare: Family is a system of relationship existing
between parents and children
• Horton and Hunt: Family is a kinship grouping
which provides for the rearing of children and for
certain other human needs.
Characteristics of family
• 1.Mating relationship: No family can come into
existences. Its important for procreation and up
bringing of children.
• 2.Marriage: A family presupposed institution of
marriage, it may take any form i.e may be
arranged or love marriage. So marriage is the
foundation for the family.
• Nomenclature: It means family has
nomenclature, which reckons its descent. It can
be reckoned either from male or female
lineage,Which distinguishes it from other families
• Need Satisfaction: family is held responsible for
needs satisfaction of its members.
• Common Habitation:Each family must have
common habitation, which implies that the
members of family must live together under one
roof
 Types of Families
On the basis of On the basis of On the basis of On the basis of On the basis of
residence ancestry authority marriage number of
individuals
Matrilocal Matrilineal Matriarchal Polygamy Nuclear Family
Polyandry &
polygyny
Patrilocal Patrilineal Patriarchal Monogamy Joint Famiy
Newlocal Extended
Family
Consanguine
Family
Family of
Orientation
Family of
Procreation
 On The Basis Of Residence
• In which the residence is discused given
briefly.
1. Matrilocal Residence
2. Patrilocal Residence
3. Changing Residence
 Matrilocal Residence
• In this kind of residence the husband of newly
married couple moves towards residence of
wife’s parents. This kind of residence is called
matrilocal residence.
 Patrilocal Residence
• In this type of residence the couple moves
towards the residence of husband’s parents.
The couple start living there.
• It is reverse of Matrilocal residence.
• Its practicing in our Pakistani society.
 Changing Residence
• In this system the living is not permanent with
either of spouse’s family. But in this system
the residence changes. As the couple spent
some time with the husband’s parents and
some time with wife’s parents. So the
residence is changing and never remains the
one and the same.
 On the basis of Ancestry
• It includes
1. Patrilineal Family
2. Matrilineal Family
 Patrilineal Family
• In this type of family the line of decent is
traced in the father and grandfather line. The
line is decided through the father.
 Matrilineal family
• In this type the lineage is determined through
the mother.
 On the basis of Authority
• It consists of
1. Patriarchal Family
2. Matriarchal Family
 Patriarchal Family
• The family in which the authority rests within
the hand of the male member of the family i.e
father.
 Matriarchal Family
• The family in which the source of authority is
considered as the female head i.e mother
 On The Basis of Marriage
• It consists of
1. Monogamy
2. Polygamy
 Monogamy
• The system in which the person is allowed to
marry only once. This form is popular in the
world as well as in our society
 Polygamy
• Poly means more and gamy means to marry.
So to many more than once in the polygamy. It
has two types
i. Polyandry
ii. Polygyny
 Polyandry
• To have more than one husband. It means if a
women marries more than once to more than
one man is the polyandry
 On the basis of number of individuals
1. Nuclear family
2. Joint Family
3. Extended Family
4. Consanguine Family
5. Family of orientation
6. Family of procreation
 Nuclear Family
• In this form there is husband, wife and
dependant children or unmarried children.
 Joint Family
• The family in which there are husband, wife
and their married and unmarried children and
also sometimes there brothers and sisters.
 Extended Family
• This is similar to that of joint family. But the
difference is that of kitchen. In extended
family, all the members ether having the
relation of siblings or parents and children,
they live in the same house, but the kitchen
will be separate.
 Consanguine Family
• This family consists of husband, wife children
and also their blood relatives.
 Family of Orientation
• The family in which the individual is called the
family of orientation. In this family he/she
starts learning about the culture and other
things.
 Family of Procreation
• The family in which a person get married is
called family of procreation. E.g Husband
family is the family of procreation for the wife
and wife’s family for the husband.

For husband For wife

Wife family is family of Husband’s family is family of
procreation procreation
 Functions of family institution
• 1.Satisfaction of sex need
• 2.Reproduction
• 3.Giving love and sympathy
• 4.Socialization of members
• 5.Security and protection
• 6.Economic function
• 7.social function
• 8.Religious function
• 9.cultural function
• 10.Other function
 MARRIAGE
• Jacob and Stern: Marriage is a term or social
relationships of husband and wife or of plural
mates ,also used for the ceremony of uniting
marital partners.
• Young and Mack: Marriage is the institution or
set of norms which determines the particular
relation of parents of each other and to their
children.
 Mate Selection
• It refers to the finding of spouse be man and
woman. These are two methods given as
• Exogamy
When a person marries outside one’s group,
caste,religion,class or race. It is attributed as
exogamy.
• Endogamy
Endo means whithin and gamy means to marry. So
to marry within the group is endogamy.
 Types of Marriage
• Monogamy: The form of marriage in which
one person is allowed to marry once. This
form of marriage is common and prevails in
many societies of east as well as west and
especially in Pakistani societies.
• Polygamy: The form in which the person is
allowed to marry more than once. Male as
well as female is allowed in this case to marry
more than once
• Polygyny: In this form the husband is permitted to
have more than one wife at the same time. E.g in Islam
• Polyandry: In this form one woman marries to more
than one man .A woman is having more than one
husband at the same time , common in Malabar(India).
It if further subdivided as
• Fraternal Polyandry: When a woman is considered and
treated as the wife of all the brothers living in the
family and the offspring is considered to be the
son/daughter of eldest brother.
• Non fraternal polyandry: In this form a
woman is supposed to have more than one
husband but it is not essential that these
husbands should either be brothers or must
live at the same place. In this form biological
fatherhood is not impotant. Special rituals are
performed for the election of father and
handing over the baby.
 Group Marriage
• The type of marriage in which the brothers
are required to marry with the sisters living
together. There is no specification that who
will the wife or husband of whom.
• Inter Caste Marriage : Caste system is very
strongly present in India and Pakistan. Every
one believes in the purity of blood, therefore
people do not encourage mixing with other
caste. Inter caste marriage is of two types
• Anuloma:When the men of higher castes are
allowed to marry the women of lower castes
is called anuloma.
• Pratiloma:When the women of higher castes
marries to the men of lower castes is called
pratiloma.
• Hypergamy : A man belonging to the nobility
is allowed to marry a woman of lower social
status is called Hypergamy.
• Sororate Marriage: If the wife is died. After the death,
the husband marries his deceased wife’s sister. It
means he marries his sister in law after the death of his
wife.
• Levirate Marriage: When the husband is died. After
the death the wife marries her deceased husband’s
brother.
• Marriage by elopement: If a boy or girl run away from
home and marry against the choice of their parents.
They marry either in court or other place, but the
consent of their parents of their parents is not
involved.
Compassionate Marriage: The dissolution of
marriage by mutual consent, due to having no
children. They (couple) have complete
understanding and mutual consent that if there is
no child, the marriage will be dissolved. The
marriage is compassionate marriage.
Arranged marriage: The marriage which is arranged
by the consent of both sides parents. The parents
of both boy and girl will come together and
decide for their marriage.
• Love marriage: The system under which the
youngsters themselves select their life
partners is called love marriage. Both of the
mates feel that they get sufficient maturity to
decide about their future life and selection of
their mates with whom they are to pull on
throughout their life.Love and romance which
proceed such marriages,have found
encouragement due to advanced
industrialization.
• Swara marriage: This is common in pakistan
(pakhtoon society).The jirga will be arranged and
decide one party as the defaulter and the other
as innocent. So the innocent party will get favor
from girga. The girga if decided that the defaulter
will give their daughter, sister or other woman as
a fine to remove the difference with the
opponent party.The marriage of that female of
the defaulter party will be arranged with a male
of innocent party be called swara marriage.
 Fuctions of Marriage
• Social recognition: Marriage gives social recognition to
all sexual relationships, which otherwise would have
created many social problems .Marriage alone makes
the society accept the relationship of boy and girl as
husband and wife.
• Procreation of children: Another function of marriage
is to have legitimate children.The children born as a
result of socially recognized marriage are accepted by
the society as legtimate and legal heirs to the property
and other assets of the family.
• Sense of Sympathy: After the marriage husband wife
and their children develop a sense of sympathy for
each other and they begin to share each other’s joys
and sorrow.
• Basis of Family: After marriage family comes into being
and with that the virtues of all the family life emerge in
the society.
• Stability in Relationship: after marriage relationships
come into being e.g relationship of husband wife son
daughter father in law mother in law etc. these
relationships get stabilized with the passage of time
but only after marriage but not before marriage.
• Perpetuation of lineage: It is after marriage
that there is desire to perpetuate the name of
the family. The children perpetuate the names
of their parents and then come grand
children, great grand children. After sometime
there is a desire to perpetuate the lineage of
the family and at any stage in the family there
are no offshoots then every effort is made to
have them, so that the name of the family
continuous.