The family system and sectoral development: the changing role of a basic social unit

Abstract

The family as a social group has been described by sociologists as the most universal of all social units. No known societies or known social movements have eliminated or obliterated the existence of the family as a basic social grouping within the social organization or community. Attempts have been made to replace the functions of a family grouping by other means or other social Institutions . The Russian Kolkhoz and Israeli Kibbutz (communal forming) have experimented with the nursery and surrogate-mother to cater for a child's emotional and physical needs, displacing the basic and conventional function of parents in chiId care and the provision of affection. This ideal in communal living has however been gradually dropped and the traditional pattern of family function generally restored.