Module 2

Intended Learning Outcome:

Describe how and why are marriage and family changing (pagbabago, nagbabago) in the modern world.
What is modernity?
- According to the dictionary meaning; basically
o The quality or condition of being modern
▪ A modern way of thinking, working
o Modernity typically refers to a post-traditional, post medieval historical period, one marked
by the move from feudalism toward capitalism, industrialization, secularization,
rationalization, the nation-state and its constituent institutions and forms of surveillance.
(Barker 2005,444).
- Noun
- A historical period in which:
o A change within the dominant Culture is so rapid that each generation grows up under
tangibly different circumstances.
o The notions that change implies progress, and that progress is inevitable.
o No final cause, no essentialism.
- Features of Pre-Modernity
o Rural way of life with strong communities
o Marriages and jobs for life
o Mass illiteracy and superstition
o Acceptance of hierarchies and traditional roles
o Strong faith in religion and agreement over values
o Very little travel and influence from overseas
o Art and culture reflected way of life

PREMODERNISM MODERNISM POSTMODERNISM

Objective Ultimate Truth Objective Ultimate Truth Objective Ultimate Truth is
unknowable (subjective)
Supernatural Anti- Supernatural Mystical
Authority from God (for gods) Authority from Science and No Ultimate Authority
Human Reason
- Truth is relative as it changes in modern times. It is more subject now. What is true then, may not be
true now.
- We don’t let relativistic truth affect us but we try to look at the perspective of others.

Introduction
The Five Social Institutions
2.1 The Filipino Family
2.2 Traditional Family
2.3 Changes in the Structure, Purpose & Function Marriage & Family
2.4 Your V- Formation Family

The Five Basic Social Institutions

1. The family
2. Education
 3. Religion
4. Economics
5. Politics
Social Institutions

- Operate in five basic areas of life:

o In determining kinship (family and kinship)
o In providing for the legitimate use of power (polity) *di ko sure if politics
o In regulating the distribution of goods and services (economy)
o In transmitting knowledge from one generation to the next (education)
o In regulating our relation to the supernatural (religion)

- They are the five KEY institutions with different implications in different cultures. Their structures,
purposes, functions may differ from society to society, but they are present everywhere as
institutions.

- The social institutions/systems are functionally differentiated in modern and secular society.

- The unpredictable, lethal & savage pandemic has significantly impacted the five systems.

FAMILY

- The family is one of the five universal social institutions established to control and regulate the life
of mankind. It is closely associated with the institution of marriage. In fact, both institutions are
complementary to each other.
- While they have historically been closely linked in most cultures, their connection is changing and
becoming more complex: in their outlook and practices.
- In primitive peoples, failure to marry and childlessness are the most terrible curse.
- The Filipino Family
o The Family Code of the Philippines
▪ Marriage is “a special contract of permanent union between a man and woman
entered into in accordance with for the establishment of conjugal and family life. It
is the foundation of the family and the inviolable social institution whose nature,
consequences, and incidents are governed by law and not subject to stipulation.”
(Art.1) ---objective definition
▪ “Marriage is an act of will that signifies and involves a mutual gift, which unites the
spouses and binds them to their eventual souls, with whom they make up a sole
family- a domestic church.” – Pope John Paul II
 o The family has been taken to mean a social unit composed of interdependent members,
usually related to one another by blood or consanguinity, and often occupying the same
residential abode(tahanan)
❑ Filipinos are known for having strong and close family ties.
❑ They place high regard and put importance on their family before anything else.
❑ They work all day and do all they can to feed and provide for their family.
❑ In other countries, when a person turned 18, he/she can live away from his/her family.
o The Filipino Family is the nuclear unit around which social activities are organized – it is the
basic unit of corporate action. The interests of the individual in Philippine society are
secondary to those of the family.
- Having children is the fulfillment of manhood and womanhood.
o Fertility rates have steadily declined since 1993. Fertility decreased from 4.1 children per
woman in the NDS 1993 to 2.7 children per woman in the NDHS 2017 – a drop of more
than one child per woman.
o Fertility rate (2017 NDHS)
▪ Philippines 2.9
▪ Rural 2.9
▪ Urban 2.4
o Fertility varies by residence and region.
o Women in urban areas have 2.4 children on average, compared with 2.9 children per
woman in rural areas.
o Fertility is highest in Zamboanga Peninsula (3.6 children) and SOCCSKSARGEN (3.4 children)
and lowest in National Capital Region (1.9 children)
o Fertility also varies with women’s education and economic status.
▪ Women with no schooling have an average of 4.6 children, compared to 2.0 children
for women with college education.
▪ Fertility increases as household wealth decreases.
▪ Women in the poorest households have more than twice as many children as
women in the wealthiest households (4.3 versus 1.7 children per woman
o Teenage Fertility According to the NDHS 2017,
▪ 9% of Filipino women age 15-19 have begun childbearing:
▪ 7% are already mothers and an additional 2% are pregnant with their first child.
▪ Young women from Davao are most likely to be mothers or pregnant (18% have
begun childbearing).
▪ The percentage of young women who have begun childbearing is lower in urban
areas than in rural areas (7% versus 10%).
▪ Young women with some primary education and those from the poorest households
are more likely to have begun childbearing than young women with higher
education levels and those from the wealthiest households.
o Influence of Family’s economic function on marriage and family life ---no money, no honey
▪ Building the family bond without having some basic material resources is hardly
possible:
• Firstly, it is extremely important for a family to have their own place to live,
a home.
• Secondly, the living community of parents with their children finds a
particular intimate expression in the common table.
 o The family’s role in the traditional system has been describe as “pervasive, ”exerting
influence on the nature of other social organizations: politics, education, religion,
economics. - Mendez, et al., 1984
o Filipino culture: Family comes first
o As the family goes, so goes the nation and so goes the whole world in which we live. – John
Pau II
o The history of mankind, the history of salvation, passes by the way of the family… The family
is placed at the center of the great struggle between good and evil, between life and death,
between love and all that is opposed to love. -Pope John Paul II
o Four Family Types
Consensual Protective Pluralistic Laissez-Faire
Conversation & High on Both Low, High High, Low Low in both
Conformity
Parents typically Traditional separate independent Mixed
Communication Value open Strict Completely Hands off, low
com., but obedience, little open comm., involvement,
parents explanation Every opinion everyone
maintain heard, each makes their
place of individual choice own decision
authority accepted

2.2 Some observations on the present of the Family in the Philippines

❑ Demographic Data (National Demographic & Health Survey, Philippine Statistical Authority, 2017)

❑ Research Reports

❑ SWS Surveys

“The Filipino family is in transition.” - Dr. Grace T. Cruz of the University of the Philippines
Population Institute.

“It is threatened internally and externally!” - CBCP, Pastoral Letter on Christian Marriage and Family,
1976

The traditional structure, purpose, and functions of marriage and family are being challenged both
from within and outside.

o Structure: An object with a definite size and shape, which serves a purpose or function. The
parts of a structure have a specific arrangement that remains the same.
o Function: (of a structure or object) its main purpose
2.2.1 Traditional Structure

❑ A husband, a wife, and with at least one biological child (and may extend to their maternal and
paternal relatives).

❑ Nuclear Family: This two-parent family structure is known as a nuclear family, referring to married
parents and children as the nucleus, or core, of the group.

o Aka as “elementary family”

o Universal in all human societies
o Definition
▪ It consists of a married couple and their children when they are still regarded as
dependent.
▪ They tend to occupy the same dwelling pace.
▪ The husband usually plays the dominant role in the household.
▪ Absence of relatives like grandparents, uncles, aunts and other.
- It remains as the basic building block of most Filipino families. (Medina 2001).

❑ Extended Family: a nuclear family with relatives: (kasakop, kamag-anak, kapamilya, kapuso)

2.2.2 Purpose:

- The two purpose of marriage!----Traditional purpose

o Summarized by saying “love and life”
▪ Those are the two purpose of Holy Matrimony.
• The love, of course, is the love between husband and wife.
• The life aspect is procreation and education of children.
- The 2 purpose of sexual intercourse in marriage
o Unitive – the bonding of husband and wife as lifelong partners
o Procreative – cooperating wit God in bringing new live into the world

Every act of intercourse must be both unitive and procreative.

2.2.3 Functions

Families as groups perform vital roles for society—both internally (for the family itself) and externally (for
society as a whole: Theology 3/4).

- Roles and Responsibilities of Family Members

o Members of families have certain roles
o There are given and chosen roles
 ▪ A given role is a role acquired when a person is born into a family (son, daughter,
brother, sister)
▪ A chosen role is a role a person voluntarily assumes (husband, wife, father, mother)
- Both parents are expected to share the functions/duties of marriage and family.
- Parents have the hardest job in the planet.
- They are responsible for the humans they bring into this world so that children mature and take
charge of their own lives and make something out of them. And complicating their job is the fact
that humans are scientifically known to be the slowest to mature relative to other creatures. This
means that parents have their job cut out for them.
- Compared to other creatures, our childhood is prolonged and our teenage behavior seems to stay
even longer with humans.
- How long do baby animals stay with their “parents?”
o baby turtles 45-70 days
o Baby whale 6-7 months
o Fish 4 -5 weeks
o Tiger cubs- around two years
o Monkey 1 year to 18 months
o Eagle 10-12 weeks
o Elephant 3-5 years
o Humans- for as long as…

-
- Being a husband/father is a status and the traditional role of a father in almost all cultures is
ECONOMIC: breadwinner, provider.
o Siya ang haligi ng tahanan.
- Influence of family’s economic function on marriage and family life
o The quality and stability of marriage and family life is determined not only by personality
traits and certain demographic conditions, but also by a number of financial and economic
variables.
o Lack of sufficient funds to cover current expenses forces many parents to take up additional
work to earn money. As a result, the time they could devote to their family continues to
shrink, which, in turn, may have a destructive influence on marriage and family life. Other
possible problem: workaholism.
o Married couples and families succumb to a fashion of spending free time not so much on
being with each other, but rather on being next to each other – watch TV together (even
during so called “family” dinner), or do “family” shopping in a supermarket; spending free
time in a consumerist way.
-
 - Hindi matutularan ang haligi ng tahanan sapagkat ang buhay nila sa pamilya nakalaan.
- Mother
o The mother on the hand is considered be the light of the house (“ilaw ng tahanan”)
o She is responsible in all housekeeping activities, taking care of the children, planning of
meals, and budgeting the income of the family.
- What is the specific role children in the family?
o Not always within our control but may be due to
❑ Birth Order (kuya, ate, sangko, diko, bunso)
❑ Gender/Sex
❑ Family Culture
❑ The Model Child- the good child, obedient, live by the rules
❑ The Eternal Child- the baby of the family
❑ The Sick Child-
❑ The Rebel Child- black sheep, provokes, questions, refuses, brings trouble
- But later on the roles may be reversed; the children are expected to take care of their elderly
parents because of reciprocity or utang na loob.
- Later on most if not all of you will marry (between ages 25-29) and have your own families and thus
assume the same status and perform the roles of your parents to you as their children.

Do you know that simple phone call can make them happy? Parents, they didn’t leave you when you were
young, so don’t leave them when they are old.

SEX GENDER
Refers to the biological and physiological Refers to the social and cultural differences
differences between men and women. between men and women
Has two main categories: male and female Has two main categories: masculine and feminine
Remains the same regardless of time and culture Gender roles, expectations may differ across time
and culture
Created by the reproduction needs, that is, Gender distinctions are created by social norms
biological features
- Sex
o Biological traits that society associates with being male or female
- Gender
o Cultural meanings attached to being masculine and feminine, which influence personal
identities
▪ Eg. Man, woman, transgender, intersex, gender queer, among others
- Sexuality
o Sexual attraction, practices and identity which may or may not align with sex and gender

2.3 Changes in Marriage & Family : How and Why?

- 2.3.1 Structural
- 2.3.2 Purpose
- 2.3.3 Function

There is nothing permanent except change. – Heraclitus

2.3.1 Structural Changes

The traditional notion that the nuclear Filipino family consisting of a married couple, man and woman, with
children, living together under one roof is being challenged.

Source: Elizabeth Angsioco, The Changing Filipino Family, The Manila Times, October 25, 2014. Available on
line at http://www.manilastandard.net/opinion/columns/power-point-by-elizabeth-angsioco/161239/the-
changing-filipino-family.html

❑ Family is Relational not Structural.

• Instead, there is a growing change in the better appreciation of the quality of relationship in the
family more than its structure of composition (husband+ wife= child/ren).

• Self-identification as a family is getting to be more common among groups of people who love,
respect, and care for each other no matter if they do not fit the traditional structure of what a
family is.

• If people feel and identify as a family, so be it.

• A family is described in terms of family members’ closeness, sense of support, care, warmth,
intimacy, and share values and beliefs.

• There are friends, there is family, and then there are friends that become family.

• “FR-AMILY

• Friends so close you consider them family.

- The existence of the not-so-usual or unconventional family structures cannot be denied.

❑ SINGLE PARENTS:

• Separated : temporary or permanent

• Separated (but in a new relationship)
• Unmarried: straight or same-sex union
“Being a single mother is twice the work, twice the stress, and twice the tears but also twice the hugs,
twice the love, and twice the pride.” – unknown

❑ COHABITATION/Live-In

• There are heterosexual/same-sex couples who have been happily together under one roof for many
years:
• With kids (biological/adopted)
• No kids (but have pets)
• Cohabitating couples may choose to live together in an effort to spend more time together or to
save money on living costs. Many couples view cohabitation as a “trial run” for marriage.
• In the past two decades, the proportion of cohabiting Filipino women of reproductive age
almost trebled, from 5.2% in 1993 to 14.5% in 2013 to
• 2017 18 %
(Abalos 2014; PSA and ICF 2014)

❑ 60% of women age 15-49 are currently in a union;

❑ 42% are formally married and

 ❑ 18% are living together in a consensual union but are not formally married.

• This involves both single and separated women.

❑ 20% of currently married women have ever lived separately from their husband or partner;
among these women,
❑ 44% lived separately from their husband or partner for 1-11 months during the past 2 year.

❑ DELAYED MARRIAGES

o Delayed marriages is getting to be the practice. There are many who decide to get married
after some time of living together. Others, choose to marry later in life when they are
already more stable.
o Live-in arrangements and delayed marriages may have been brought about by the changing
values and perceptions in relation with sexuality (its purpose) and reproductive health.

❑ TRANSNATIONAL FAMILIES

o Family members who are living in different countries. Couples are geographically separated
for years and are only able to be together for a short period in a year.

o Children of the millions of overseas Filipino workers are being raised not by their parents
but by other family members.

o This transnational family is a direct offshoot of labor migration which is estimated to be

about 10% of the country’s population. There is an entire generation of children who grew
up with surrogate parents or with only one parent.

- Influence of family’s economic function on marriage and family life

o
Consequences of the economic migration for married couple and families:
▪ Separation for economic reasons, disrupts the conjugal bond, that is the process of a
reciprocal gift of person to person, and consequently has a direct bearing on the
conjugal love and bond;
▪ Feelings to the spouse will gradually be replaced by feelings to someone else.
❑ SOLO-MOTHER

• The emergence of female-headed households which make up of 18% of all Philippine

households.
• 9% of these are headed by single women,
• 7% are separated/divorced,
• and 2% are married but the husband is away.

❑ SOLO-FATHER/HOUSE HUSBANDS/Stay-at-home-Dads

• According to the 2012 Survey on Overseas Filipinos, over a million Filipinas work abroad, up
almost 4% from 2011 and that’s on top of the thousands of female breadwinners who live in the
Philippines.

• However,

❑ 95% believe that a child needed a home with both parents to be happy.
 ❑ 80.6% disapproved of a woman having a child as a single parent without having a stable relationship
with a man.

2.3.2 Challenge to the Purpose of Human Sexuality

❑ Unitive – two bodies become one, sex or the conjugal act inside marriage is the deepest expression
of union between man and woman

❑ Procreative- child-bearing and nurturing

• Sexuality is the strongest irrational force in human life. The social systems (especially the family
& religion) are bound to seek to control and regulate it. Non-procreative sexual acts are strongly
discouraged in the Roman Catholic Tradition.

❑ PRE-MARITAL sex is getting to be more acceptable, and virginity is slowly but increasingly seen as
less important.

❑ Protected sex or sex without the intention to pro-create, also known as contraceptive mentality

2.3.3 Challenges to Function

- Functions of Marriage
o Regulation sex life and sex relations of the individual.
o Establishes family formation.
o Marriage insists the couple to establish family by procreation.
o Provides economic co-operation.
o Marriage develops intense love and affection towards each other.
o It help intellectual co-operation among them.
o Minimizes the social distance between groups.

❑ CHILD ABUSE: Are Filipino children still safe in their home?

o 8 in 10 Filipino children suffer from a form of violence, according to a new study of the
Council for the Welfare of Children and the United Nations Children's Fund
o The National Baseline Study on Violence against Children launched on Tuesday, December 6,
said that 60% of physical violence suffered by children, and 38% of psychological violence,
happen in their homes.

❑ SPOUSAL VIOLENCE

o Attitudes toward Wife Beating

o Eleven percent of women agree that a husband is justified in beating his wife for at least one
of the following reasons: if she burns the food, argues with him, goes out without telling
him, neglects the children, or refuses to have sex with him. Neglecting the children is the
most commonly justified reason for wife beating among women (9%), while the least
common reasons are refusing to have sex with him or burning the food (1% each
o One in four ever-married women age 15-49 have experienced spousal violence, whether
physical, sexual, or emotional by a current or most recent husband/partner. Within the past
year, 15% of ever-married women have experienced spousal violence.
 o The most common form of spousal violence is emotional violence (20%). Women who are
divorced, separated, and/or widowed (52%) are more likely to report spousal violence.
o Spousal violence increases with the number of living children (18% among women with no
children compared to 27% among women with five or more children).
o Spousal violence generally decreases with wealth, from 29% among women from the
poorest households to 17% of women from the wealthiest households. Spousal violence by
any husband/partner ranges from a low of 7% in ARMM to a high of 49% in Caraga region
- Research, mostly from American sources, has shown that children living in homes with both parents
grow up with more financial and educational advantages than children who are raised in single-
parent homes (U.S. Census Bureau 2010).
-
- Module 3. Theoretical Perspectives on Marriage and Family
Sociologists study families on both the macro and micro level to determine how families function.
Sociologists may use a variety of theoretical perspectives to explain events that occur within and
outside of the family

NOTE:

Not the disposition but the situation.