Global Communication
Introduction
According to Berman and Francis (2010), Census Bureau defines family as a group of two people or more (one of whom is the householder) related by birth, marriage, or adoption and residing together. Family is the most important social institution for a human being. For a new born child, it is the first interaction to human world and societal ways of living. A family influences a human’s behaviour in multiple ways. But family, as a societal unit, has undergone a lot of changes in the recent decades due to the impact of globalisation and technological advancements. The paper attempts to discuss the influence of family on an individual’s culture identity and worldview; and changes that a traditional family unit has undergone in the recent years due to impact of globalisation and technological developments.
The paper is divided into three sections. The first section discusses the influence of family on people’s cultural identity, worldview, and ideas about their gender, race, and ethnicity. The second section focuses on the changes undergone in traditional family units, in recent years, due to globalisation and technology. The third section concludes the paper.
Influence of Family
Family is the first social environment exposed to people after their birth. It is family that shapes people’s identity and perspective from a very early stage. Children grow up seeing their parents and older siblings and imbibe their pattern of social being. Grandparents help children create their own worldviews by sharing their experiences and history. A child learns its first lesson of right and wrong from its family. The child also creates its cultural identity, its way of leading life and sense of belongingness from its familial institution. As Tabb (1999-2014) rightly describes, the way family members relate to one another and operate together as a social group can shape a child's self-esteem, socialization, and cultural identity.
The ideas about gender, race and ethnicity are also shaped very early in a human being’s life and influenced by family. For instance, a child sees its parents and gender based division of work in its family. If a child sees its mother being solely responsible for kitchen in family, it starts to associate this role with female gender. Similarly, they might relate to roles like lawn mowing with their fathers or other male members of the family. If such gender based role division is very distinct in a family, kids build their first set of stereotypes here. According to Tabb (1999-2014), children who grow up with parents who encourage more androgynous gender roles do not identify themselves with stereotypical male or female stereotypes and have been shown to receive more encouragement from parents. Familial learning does not stop at childhood. Family continues to affect the worldview of people during their adolescence and adulthood. According to Juang (2010), the study of young adults between the ages of 18 and 30 found that those whose families continue to teach them about their ethnic background had a greater sense of ethnic identity. The study concludes that parents who are more open and engaging in their cultural display have their adolescent children more attached to their cultural identity. Such young adults take pride in their lineage and feel belongingness towards their ethnicity.
Thus, family plays an integral role in shaping the worldview of a person, both during childhood and young adulthood.
Impact of Globalisation and Technology on Traditional Family Units
In the last one decade, the world has seen radicle changes due to globalisation and technological advancements. Globalisation means lesser trade restriction and freer movement of goods, services and people across border. Some of these changes are better access to information for more number of people, higher cross-border permeability and emergence of global markets. Technological revolutions have facilitated use of cost effective search engines that empowers individuals to study different cultures and ethnicities across the world. Higher mobility across borders enables individuals to visit new places, new people and get exposure to new cultures across the world. Emergence of global markets also helps people mingle with each other on global platforms and learn new ways of living. Such exposures impact people at individual level as well as at family level.
In eastern developing countries, globalisation and liberalisation has led to influence of western culture in traditional families. For example, it has led to emergence of nuclear families and increased night life culture in developing countries. It has also increased acceptability of single mothers and live-in relationships in traditional societies. Western influence has also led to emergence of market for on-the-go snacks in eastern countries. These are radicle changes that have taken place and becoming an integral part of family environment. Thus, these changes will also influence the worldview of children in such families where these changes are taking place.
Conclusion
Family plays an important role in shaping the worldview and perspective of an individual. It helps people form their opinion in subjects like gender, race and ethnicity. It assists individuals to feel rooted. This influence of family on individuals does not take place in childhood alone, but continues in early adulthood as well. With advent of technological advancement and globalisation, there has been a change in traditional families and their way of being in recent years. These developments have increased to cross-cultural permeability and are bringing about permanent changes in traditional families.
References
Berman, John and Francis Enjoli (2010). What Makes Family? Children, Say Many Americans. Retrieved from http://abcnews.go.com/WN/defines-family-children-americans-survey/story?id=11644693
Juang, Linda (2010). After 18, Family Influence Still Key to Ethnic Identity. Retrieved from http://www.sfsu.edu/news/prsrelea/fy10/019.html
Tabb, Stacy (1999-2014). The Family’s Influence on Identity. Retrieved from http://www.ehow.com/info_7846142_familys-influence-identity.html
