The family is an integral part of society, one of the most important functions of which is the birth and upbringing of children. In the human world, it is difficult to socialize without belonging to this institution. Unfortunately, in a large number of cases, graduates of boarding schools need to be re-socialized upon completion.
This is an established fact in the field of social work. The problem of orphanages is the isolation of orphans from the outside world, full or partial. As a result, they can receive all social skills only within the framework of their group.
One of the most important parameters indicating the degree of effectiveness in fulfilling the basic function of a family is its social status. Therefore, now they are more and more active in favor of foster or foster families.
What is it?
Social status is a characteristic that reflects the adaptability of a family to raising a child at the moment. This is a dynamic parameter that changes over time. The effectiveness of raising a child is significantly reduced if the social status of the family worsens. What does it mean? This characteristic affects the success of raising a child.
Kinds
There are several criteria by which you can evaluate the social status of a family. The species given in this section are independent.
- Socio-psychological social status of the family. What is it? So called characteristics that reflect the characteristics of the microclimate inside it. This is the general dynamics of relations between people living under one roof and related ties of kinship. Determining the socio-psychological status is associated with conducting rather complex studies, such as sociometry and referentometry.
- Socio-economic status of the family. This is the name of the category reflecting the material side of the issue. It includes a huge number of factors: total income, per capita income (that is, one that one of its members receives), available property and its value, level of consumption of each member of this family. It also includes factors related to making money and employing family members.
- Cultural social status of the family - what is it? To recognize him is quite simple. For this, it is necessary to determine such parameters as the level of education of each of the family members, how much each of them is socialized, what relation they have to different social norms accepted in society.
- Situational and role social status of the family - what is it? It can be attributed to the socio-psychological, but it concerns the views of parents on the upbringing of the child, and to be more precise - on the idea of what should be a mother, father and child.
These criteria can be used to assess the social status of the family, both separately and as a whole. Depends on the purpose of the analysis.
How is social status determined?
In general, social status is difficult to clearly identify. It is necessary to use a number of methods that can only be applied by an experienced social worker. Nevertheless, all methods of achieving the goal of determining such a complex criterion are based on basic postulates.
- The number of marriage partners. By this criterion, families are divided into complete, formally complete and incomplete. Everything is simple here - the first type of family includes those in which there are both parents. Formally complete are those in which only one parent is involved in raising a child. Well, single-parent families are those in which there is only one parent, or grandmother or grandfather is engaged in upbringing in the absence of a father and mother.
- Stages of the family life cycle. According to this parameter, all families can be divided into young, mature and elderly. Each of these types of families copes better with a certain type of task. For example, young families easily carry out the task of having a baby, and it is easier for older people to raise them. The best option in this case is mature families in which at least one of the parents has recently turned 35 years old.
- The order of marriage. The social status is also affected by the time a marriage has already been concluded. So, families in which there is a stepfather or stepmother are called secondary. If the marriage is concluded for the first time, then such are called primary marriages.
- The number of generations. Families can live as one generation, or two or three. For example, not only the parents of the child live in the house, but also grandparents. In this case, they say that the family has two generations.
- And finally, according to the number of children, they are divided into childless, small children or large families.
These factors largely affect the lifestyle of the family, and in certain cases can even make it dysfunctional.
Now let's talk in more detail about such a category as the social status of the family. Views are listed below.
Conditionally prosperous families
This type of family is characterized by an excellent level of implementation of functions. But it is impossible to say unequivocally that everything is so smooth. Each family has its own troubles, but they are so small that they can be neglected a little. That is why the name contains the word "prosperous", so they are most adapted to society.
Due to these roughnesses, marriages of this type can only be called conditionally prosperous, but despite this, they do not need the services of a social worker at this stage, since they have all the resources necessary for survival. Spouses earn enough money, relations within the family as a whole are favorable, parents have, if not high, then at least an average level of culture and quickly adapt to the needs of their children and find a common language with them. In general, we can say that the family has a high social status. You do not have to look for examples. Most of the middle and high income families, paying attention to their children, are an example of the relatively prosperous.
Families at risk
As a rule, this category of families has some deviations, but they only slightly affect the effectiveness of education. As a rule, such marriages can become dysfunctional under certain circumstances. Such families cope with the goals, but through force. Unfortunately, all social work with such marriages concerns mainly their support, so that they do not go into the category of dysfunctional. Examples of this status are some large, single-parent families. In them, it is difficult for parents to give children the proper amount of attention and resources.
Dysfunctional families
Such families are characterized by low social status in one or more of the above areas, and they cannot cope with the educational functions. Such families need the help of a social worker; they cannot do anything without it. Specialists carry out various activities aimed at restoring their functionality.
Of course, raising a child in such conditions does not always have any results, in some cases it can be carried out, but not intensively enough. As a result, the child is poorly socialized, which leads to personality problems in the future, as well as the potential inability to create a good family due to the lack of necessary role models.
Asocial families
And finally, the most unadapted category of families, which does not fulfill its functions. And the reason for this lies not even in the inability of parents to raise a child, but in reluctance. Such families need fundamental changes. What kind of marriage can be called asocial? First of all, one in which one or both spouses have signs of deviant or delinquent behavior. Also, when assigning a family of this category, it is necessary to pay attention to living conditions, which often do not correspond even to elementary standards.
Children in such families grow up hungry, homeless and often become victims of violence both within the family itself and beyond. Examples are families of people with mental disabilities, alcohol addiction, drug addicts. In principle, the line between the dysfunctional and the asocial category is sometimes very difficult to find. The living conditions in the family are so terrible in antisocial families that children are often better on the street than with their parents.
Family social status - profile
Often, when entering a school or kindergarten, they suggest filling out a special form. It often has a column "social status of the family." The questionnaire may not give explanations. What should be indicated in this case? As a rule, it implies only such a criterion as the fullness of the family. In this case, write whether your family is complete or not.
So, we examined the meaning of such a concept as “the social status of the family”, examined the examples, and also understood by what criteria it is necessary to assess the degree of adaptability of a particular unit of society to raising children.