Describe family government in terms of the five institutional characteristics: sovereignty, hierarchy (authority), law, sanctions, and succession.
I would like to state something about family government and its essential ability to rule themselves without outer interference. Before governments existed it was a simple clan where each gender male and female had specific jobs to keep the clan alive. Men were usually the ones to risk their lives to hunt food for their families, while women would be the ones to cook and raise their children. Both men and women benefited thanks to working together. However, if men fail to bring something from the hunt, then women would have nothing to cook, leading to not being able to feed their children and themselves. This causes disorder and problems, that’s why both parents take their tasks seriously. Since men have the bigger and riskier responsibility it would make sense to make them as head of the household, in other words, in charge of the family. Using this example, the hierarchy would be the man, then the woman, and then the child.
Sovereignty: the man would be the high role, family wise. Clans had their own religions and had beings that were above them, spiritually wise. The man had authority over the household, but then again according to their beliefs in their religion, they worshipped beings/god(s) that were above them.
Law: the man sets rules as he sees fit and this may be different in different households. According to their religion though, members of these clans practiced certain things to show appreciation to the ones above them (god or gods). These things were an absolute must and couldn’t be skipped or missed so consider that as a law.
Sanctions: positive sanctions is whenever both parents work towards completing their tasks so that the family can benefit and continue to live and they are able to do this efficiently. What I mean by that is, when the man is successful in bringing home food, giving the woman something to cook, and to be able to serve the family. Negative sanctions is whenever for example, the man isn’t able to bring anything home, leaving the woman with nothing to cook, therefore nothing to serve with.
Succession: whenever all families work together according to this simple system and the clan continues to live creating generations to continue living that way.
The present times however, one parent or both parents work to be able to get income needed for a living. For a family, the future is usually more important than the present. This is the reason why we send our children to school or better yet instruct them here at home if the ability to do so is available. This is for the acquisition of knowledge that will help them move forward in a civilized society. This is why parents save up money for college so they can send their children on the road for the acquisition of knowledge that will help them have an easier time getting a good job. If all goes well, then our children will have children of their own, and families of their own, and so it moves forward in the endless cycle of life. This is why the preservation of the family structure is probably the most important aspect of western society, and we must not let it be tampered with. Many have tried in the past, but ultimately fail, as a centralized authority cannot dictate such a personal and close relationship as a family is.
Thanks for reading this essay. I hope you enjoyed it. I’ll be posting more soon and have a great rest of your day!
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