Family Ecology

7 Pages 1660 Words

Comparing Families
A family is “any sexually expressive or parent child relationship in which people are usually related by ancestry, by marriage, or adoption who form an economic unit and care for any young”. There are several theoretical perspectives involving the family unit, which aid sociologists in the way that the family is viewed. Each theory has its own significance in regard to better understanding families. However, this paper will focus on the Family Ecology perspective. This theory will be applied to the vignette involving Harry and Antoinette Creamy. Their family life will be compared and contrasted to my family life.
The Family Ecology Theory is “how Families are influenced and influence the environments around them. Families are interdependent on their neighborhood, social, and physical environment”. Basically the perspective explores the families development being affected by the environment it resides in. .The interaction a family has with three major environments has a large impact upon that institution. The neighborhood they reside in, their social environment, and their physical environment influence the family.
The neighborhood that the family lives in has a very large impact upon the workings of the family. For example, many families must cope with the threat of violence in their neighborhood. The family’s responses to the pending threats may make a family a stronger unit, or may stop the family from developing properly. If violence is a large part of every day life the family will not only accept it, but will weave violence into its own structure. Depending on where the neighborhood is also affects a family. If they are in a rural area family members are more likely to have better access to health care. Generally speaking, the children also receive a better education. Yet, those families living in more urban areas have less access to good health care due to impoverished conditions. Also, the child...