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, boarding school graduates in a large number of cases need to be resocialized upon graduation.
This is an established fact in social work. The problem of orphanages is the isolation of orphans from the outside world, complete or partial. As a result, they can only acquire all social skills within their group.
One of the most important parameters indicating the degree of effectiveness of the implementation of the main function of the family is its social status. Therefore, now more and more actively advocate for foster or foster families.
What is this?
Social status is a characteristic that reflects the family's adaptation 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 successparenting.
Views
There are several criteria by which one can evaluate the social status of a family. The species shown in this section are standalone.
- Socio-psychological social status of the family. What is it? This is the name of the characteristics that reflect the characteristics of the microclimate inside it. This is the general dynamics of relations between people living under the same roof and connected by ties of kinship. Determining the socio-psychological status involves quite complex studies, such as sociometry and referentometry.
- Socio-economic status of the family. This is the name of the category that reflects the material side of the issue. It includes a huge number of factors: total income, per capita income (that is, one received by one of its members), existing property and its value, the level of consumption of each member of this family. It also includes factors related to earning money and employment of family members.
- Cultural social status of the family - what is it? It's easy enough to recognize him. To do this, you need to determine such parameters as the level of education of each of the family members, how much each of them is socialized, what attitude they have to different social norms accepted in society.
- Situation-role social status of the family - what is it? It can also 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 ideas of what mom, dad andbaby.
These criteria can be used to assess the social status of the family, both individually and collectively. Depends on the purpose of the analysis.
How social status is determined
In general, social status is quite difficult to clearly define. A number of methods should be used that can only be used by an experienced social worker. Nevertheless, all ways to achieve the goal of defining such a complex criterion are based on basic postulates.
- Number of marriage partners. According to this criterion, families are divided into complete, formally complete and incomplete. Everything is simple here - the first type of families includes those in which there are both parents. Formally complete are those in which only one parent participates in the upbringing of the child. Well, single-parent families are those in which there is only one of the parents, or the grandmother or grandfather is engaged in upbringing in the absence of a father and mother.
- Stages of the life cycle of a family. According to this parameter, all families can be divided into young, mature and elderly. Each of these types of families is better at a certain type of task. For example, young families easily fulfill the task of having a child, while it is easier for the elderly to raise him. The best option in this case are mature families in which at least one of the parents has recently turned 35.
- The order of marriage. The social status is also affected by the time in which the marriage has already been concluded. So, families in which there is a stepfather or stepmother are called secondary. If the marriageis contracted for the first time, these are called primary marriages.
- Number of generations. Families can live as one generation, and two or three. For example, not only the parents of the child live in the house, but also the grandparents. In this case, the family is said to have two generations.
- And, finally, by the number of children they are divided into childless, small or large.
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. Species are shown below.
Provisionally prosperous families
This type of family is characterized by an excellent level of implementation of functions. But at the same time, it cannot be unequivocally said that everything is so smooth. Within each family there are troubles, but they are so small that they can be neglected a little. That is why the name contains the word "prosperous", because they are the most adapted to society.
Thanks to these rough edges, 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 are generally favorable, parents have, if not a high, then at least an average level of culture and quickly adapt to the needs of children and find a common language with them. In general, we can say that the family has a highsocial status. There is no need to look for examples. Most families of medium and high incomes, paying attention to their children, are an example of conditionally 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, under certain circumstances, can become dysfunctional. Such families cope with the goals, but through force. Unfortunately, all social work with such marriages concerns mainly their support, due to which they do not go into the category of dysfunctional ones. Some large, incomplete families can serve as examples of this status. In them, it is difficult for parents to give their children the proper amount of attention and funds.
Disadvantaged families
Such families are characterized by a low social status in one or more of the above areas, and they cannot cope with the functions of upbringing. Such families need the help of a social worker; without him, they cannot do anything. Specialists carry out various activities aimed at restoring their functionality.
Of course, the upbringing of a child in such conditions does not always have results at all, in some cases it can be carried out, but not intensively enough. As a result, the child is poorly socialized, leading to personality problems later on, as well as a potential inability to create a good family due to the lack of necessary examples forimitations.
Asocial families
And finally, the most unadapted category of families, which does not fulfill its functions in any way. And the reason for this lies not even in the inability of parents to raise a child, but in unwillingness. 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 this category to a family, it is necessary to pay attention to living conditions, which often do not even meet elementary standards.
Children in such families grow up hungry, homeless and often become victims of violence both within the family itself and outside it. Examples are the families of persons with mental disabilities, those suffering from alcohol addiction, drug addicts. In principle, the line between a dysfunctional and asocial category is sometimes very difficult to find. Living conditions in the family are so terrible in antisocial families that children are often better off on the street than with their parents.
Social status of the family - questionnaire
Often, when entering a school or kindergarten, they offer to fill out a special form. It often contains a column "the social status of the family." The questionnaire may or may not provide clarification. What should be indicated in this case? As a rule, only such a criterion as the completeness of the family is implied. In this case, write whether your family is complete or not.
So, we have analyzed the meaning of such a concept as "social statusfamilies", considered examples, and also understood what criteria should be used to assess the degree of adaptation of a certain cell of society to raising children.
