Family_Structure

The McLaren family consist of Archie, his wife Prema and four children: Maria, who is daughter to Archie and Prema, Nayana and Chandra are children from Prema’s previous marriage and Brian, who has learning difficulties and is son to Archie and his previous wife Cathy. This family could be described as reconstituted/step family. Giddens states that the term step – family refers to a family in which at least one of the adults has children from a previous marriage or relationship. Sociologists often refer to such groups as reconstituted families. This family could also be described as extended family. When close relatives other than a married couple and children live either in the same household or in a close continuous relationship with one another, we speak of an extended family. Radical feminists see society as patriarchal – it is dominated and ruled by men. (…) The family is seen by some radical feminists as the key institution oppressing women in modern societies. Prema McLaren is such a women; exploited by patriarchal society due to the fact that she has to care for her children and ill husband and not having any support from the state. Due to the dependency of Archie, Brian and Maria upon Prema, she is unable to take up any employment and cannot contribute towards society leaving a void within her own aspirations and therefore impacting upon her life chances. Prema became socially isolated which may impact on her mental and physical health in later years. In this family Prema took over the male role. She is very unsure and concerned about family’s future. Although Prema is well educated, she can not achieve status (social position) she deserves because of her family requirements she is unable to work which results in her lacking in social interaction. In this family not only Prema is isolated from community. Even Nayana and Chandra who attend secondary school do not socialize within their peer group. Both of them experience a lot of bulling at school. They would like to talk about this with their parents but don’t want to put any more stress on their mother. The only person who benefits from socialisation in this family is Brian. He attends the local education centre Monday to Friday and goes to respite centre every third weekend. As mentioned earlier, due to Archie’s ill health Prema took over the male role within the family. Four years ago Archie played a more dominant role which has now been altered due to ill health. Archie’s lifestyle choices may have been a contributing factor such as his alcohol dependency. He may now feel a sense of inadequacy and guilt as he is no longer able to contribute financially or to provide practical support to Prema. His adopted children now feel unable to talk to their dad about bulling within school as his health has deteriorated he no longer plays the protective role within the family.