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Social Institutions
Social Institutions
Name
Institution
Social Institutions
Social institutions that have been in existence or along period evolve slowly. With marriage and family from mid 20th Century, things have been different from other social institutions (Pew Research Centre).This essay will discuss the trends in marriage. It will focus on whether the legal system should make the divorce procedures and cohabitation harder. It will also discuss what the U.S government should do to make families stronger, and what cultural changes people can do to make them strong.
In the 1970’s, family change was viewed from three approaches. The first approach was economically related. It was believed that a woman could support herself outside marriage. This is because women started being absorbed in various jobs and became active in the economic growth and made them stable. Secondly, it was assumed that creative divorce would not affect children but instead enrich their lives. The rate of their development would be improved. The crisis would not have adverse effects on them for a long time. The third assumption was that the new family structure diversification would improve America just like ethnic and racial groups’ diversification strengthens it (Whitehead 1993).
Divorce laws are not aimed at making it easy or difficult for people to get divorced. The purpose of divorce laws are to ensure that it is granted only when it is in the interest of the parties getting the divorced. It also aims at ensuring that the use of the institution of marriage to the society is not neglected by either granting or not granting the divorce. Consequently, laws that govern cohabitation before marriage are meant to safeguard the interest of individuals and the entire society. The culture of a society includes the rules and customs governing things like wedding, divorce, cohabitation and having children outside wedlock. These areas should be well governed to control them and hence, build a better society.
Social Disorganization Theory
Social Disorganization Theory
Social disorganization refers to the incapability of members of society to accomplish certain specific values or find solutions cooperatively to experienced problems. This is an integral theory as it assists in understanding some of the daily problems within society such as crime rates in our neighborhoods. The theory gives a psychological explanation of crimes in neighborhoods. The theory directly creates a relation between crime levels and ecological traits. A case in example is that youths from disadvantaged or poorly developed neighborhoods partaking in a subculture that takes credit of criminal activities and felony in both social and cultural setups. The theory is substantially supported by 1 Corinthians 15:33 which states that, “Do not be deceived. Bad company corrupts good morals.”
According to this theory, the place that one resides matters in determining their individual characteristics which include age, gender and race and ultimately informs whether the individual is incorporated in illegal activities or not. Proverbs 12: 26 seem to support this point when it indicates “The righteous is a guide to his neighbor, but the way of the wicked leads them astray.” Owing to this, crime is evidently as a result of unfavorable conditions in certain communities. Through Social Disorganization theory, we can easily comprehend the ecological factors that lead to high rates of crime in the society. Some of the factors are directly connected to unemployment levels in the society, single parenthood, deteriorating infrastructures and high school dropouts.
Even though the theory touches on crimes, it does not cover for all types of crimes; instead it covers only street crime at the neighborhoods. Therefore, the theory might not advance arguments for organized crime, deviant behavior of individuals or even crimes within corporates. Through the theory, we understand that the situation of an individual plays a big role in their behavior. An individual’s thinking process and attitudes are informed largely by the interaction between the situation and their behavior.
Through the social disorganization theory, appropriate public policy measures can be setup. Important is to organize the communities that are disorganized. The various services can then be offered to communities like assisting them in maintaining residential homes. Through the identifications made in the theory, recreation programs could be made to help curb delinquent activities and increase participation of individuals. Through improvements of neighborhoods and making them appealing, the various social controls are strengthened.
ReferencesKingston, B., Huizinga, D., & Elliott, D. S. (2009). A test of social disorganization theory in high-risk urban neighborhoods. Youth & Society.
Steenbeek, W., & Hipp, J. R. (2011). A LONGITUDINAL TEST OF SOCIAL DISORGANIZATION THEORY: FEEDBACK EFFECTS AMONG COHESION, SOCIAL CONTROL, AND DISORDER*. Criminology, 49(3), 833-871.
Upon an examination of the family dynamic I found they had a dysfunctional family organization which needed to be restructure
Family Intervention
Student’s Name
Institution
Introduction
Upon an examination of the family dynamic I found they had a dysfunctional family organization which needed to be restructured. The technique to be used here would be a structural family therapy. I joined the family to help it alter their structure. Through altering their realignment and boundaries system I would be able to change the experiences and behaviors of all the family members. My job would not be to solve their problems for this is their job my work would be to assist in modifying their functioning so that they may solve their issues. This is because structural family therapy is synonymous with dynamic psychotherapy. The symptom resolution sought would not be an end in itself rather it will be a permanent structural change (Nichols, 2009).
Symptoms
I decided to meet the entire family the following weekend in order to seek how to assist in ending their squabbles. Upon speaking to the husband they invited me to their home and I joined them with an intention of probing their flexible areas and activating dormant structural options. I first conveyed my respect for them and their way of handling things for this is critical in restructuring.
I then tried to understand their perception of their squabbles in order to approach the formulation through the kind of content they would use to explain it as well as the sequence they employ in explaining it. I then reframed the formulation through a comprehension of their family structure. I decided to deal with what I saw primarily occurring between the two in the session and not with what they described. I avoided getting bogged into the family’s non productive means of solving their issues by observing and modifying the sequences of their talking early in the therapy (Minuchin, 2010).
Assessment
In my initial contact with the family I first had to ease tensions and disarm defenses through building an alliance with each member of the family. I greeted each individual in the family by name and ensured I had made a friendly contact. This is because a failure to join and put up with the family members could generate resistance that is usually blamed on the family. I decided to ensure I accommodate the husband who had a very negative perception of family therapy. I also ensured that this connection was made at frequent intervals especially when things began heating up (Nichols, 2009).
The assessment was based on various assumptions. My structural assessment was founded on the assumption that the couple’s problems were mirrored problems affecting the way they were organized. I thus assumed that if there was a shift in their organization then there will also be a shift in their problems. This is because difficulties in the family often mirror the manner in which the entire family is organized. So those if things change between the daughters and the mother things are likely to change between the couple. During the first meeting one of their daughters became indecisive and made glances towards the father. The father then spoke up to clarify that she was having difficulties in explaining. I linked the indecisiveness of the daughter to the father’s assistance and realized there was a pattern of enmeshment (Minuchin, 2010).
Upon requesting the parents to discuss their daughter’s problem they had difficulties talking without being reactive and this conversation did not last long. This was an indicator of disengagement between the couple which was closely related to the enmeshment between them and their daughters through cause and effect. In the talking I realized that the couple does not talk for more than five minutes without constant interruptions. While the husband seemed peripheral the wife seemed central. When the first session began and the kids started running in the room while their parents ineffectually protested I realized there was no need of a description of what really occurs in their home for this may have realized a lesser picture than what I saw. When the wife complained of loneliness and the husband complained of having a busy work scheduled I realized that the moment the husband got a new job he divorced the wife and married the job. This symptom was in the real sense a precursor of dysfunctional patterns that in the end affected the entire family. A structural assessment would broaden the problem further than the individuals in their family system thus moving the focus from past discrete events to current ongoing transactions (Nichols, 2009).
The family structure was revealed by who said what to whom and in what manner. For instance the wife asserted that they had a communication problem where the husband does not talk to her nor expresses his feelings. However, when I asked the husband to respond to this by talking to her, the wife became critical and overbearing. The husband responded by increasingly becoming silent. I realized where the problem was. The problem was not that he does not talk, nor was it that she nags him, rather the problem was that the more she nagged him the more he withdrew and the more he withdrew the more she nagged him (Minuchin, 2010).
Strategy and Solution
The wife was also very depressed, I realized that she was overburdened by her four daughters and received very little assistance from her husband. My strategy was to ensure that the boundary between the children and their mother was strengthened in order to assist the couple to move closer to each other. I first joined the oldest of the girls aged seventeen years and supported her in developing her skills as a potential assistance for her mother. As soon as I finished this the girl managed to assume more responsibilities for her siblings in the home. Upon being freed from being preoccupied by their children the couple had enough and quality time for each other (Nichols, 2009).
However, they still had little to say to each other. I then realized that their problem did not stem from a hidden conflict rather it depicted the marriage of two nonverbal individuals. After several sessions in which I tried to make them talk to each other, it dawned on me that while talking is fun for some people it is not for others. To support their bonding I asked them to plan a trip out together as a couple. They chose to go for a boat ride in a lake closer to their home. Upon returning from this trip they were glowing with happiness. They managed to have a quality and wonderful time together by separating from the kids. From then onwards they planned to go out every week.
References
Minuchin, S. (2010). Family healing:Tales of hope and renewal from family therapy. New York: Free Press.
Nichols, M. P. (2009). Short-term structural family therapy with couples. In Shortterm couple therapy, J. M. Donovad, ed. New York:Guilford Press.