How is the Structure of Family Changing in Society?

Today, we see many concerned people, worried about the fact, that the 'structure of family' is breaking down. However, what is happening today, is no different than what has happened in the past. The only difference is, that it is happening at a greater pace than it did in the past.

In short, our definition of 'structure of family' is rapidly changing today, in order to meet society's needs.

It is possible, for every single society to look back at its past. And they'll see the differences in the types of family structure, provided they look far enough. In the past, extended families was the norm. Parents, grandparents, children, cousins, all would live together under one roof. They all lived in one town, and would not move unless they were forced to do so because of some natural disaster, or in the case of a war.

Some societies would require the woman to live with her husband's family, while in others, husbands would live with the wife's family. In many societies, all men would live together till the time they got married. Yet, in a few societies, parents were expected to send their children to foster homes so that they would not be spoiled by their own parents. And a few societies required a man to marry his brother's widow, regardless of the fact that he was already married.

Within the past 100 years in the United States - families have gone from extended to compact families (the parents and their children only), and then, back to extended families. The reason for going back to extended families has been the health, housing, and economic situations involved. Moreover, skip-generation families exist too. In skip-generational families, the grandparents take care of their grand-children. Infact, we also have single-parent families too.

Evolution is a natural process, and therefore, as the societies change and evolve, so will the structures of the family. However, this does not necessarily mean that the change in family structure will be negative. We can hope, that the resulting changes in structure will better cater to people's needs and provide more efficient, and better support for future generations.

Family structures vary in different societies. What may be considered as a 'norm' in one society, may be looked down upon, and considered 'abnormal' in other. We must be aware of different structures, and the benefits they have for the members of the family. Moreover, we also see, that even with a normal structure in effect, there are many dis-functional families too. What they need, is a different structure to become functional once again.