These days in class we have been looking at vocabulary related to family and relationships. The family is probably the most immediate and influential community one will ever belong to. But what do we understand by family today?
The concept of family has very much changed. There are many examples of non-conventional families which are perfectly accepted today, such as single-parent or blended families. There has definitely been a deep social transformation in this sense.
However, I don't think it is a question of novelty, as happens with the Internet for instance. I am not sure that it is actually something new. I think that in the past there were scores of families which were not standard. In fact, there has always been fiction based on the ups and downs of famous foster and step families, from Cinderella to The Brady Bunch. But maybe the difference lies in the fact that they lacked the support and acceptance they have today. Besides, nowadays we assume family diversity in the same way we assume the different roles of men and women, their individuality and the actual choice of marrying. Fewer marriages and informal relationships are widely recognized, as well as the rights of children.
Here is where language comes. As we do accept them nowadays, new terms have been coined to adapt to this new situation in order to refer to them freely and precisely. Examples of this are civil union marriages, continuing families, blended families or homoparental families, assisted reproduction and plural parentship -just to name a few.
New words allow us to refer to the individuals in these families too: foster carer, birth mother, social mother, partner or mutual child.
There are also public policies which support and protect families, and a whole network to guaratee the well being of children: social worker, health care services, etc.
The concept of family has very much changed. There are many examples of non-conventional families which are perfectly accepted today, such as single-parent or blended families. There has definitely been a deep social transformation in this sense.
However, I don't think it is a question of novelty, as happens with the Internet for instance. I am not sure that it is actually something new. I think that in the past there were scores of families which were not standard. In fact, there has always been fiction based on the ups and downs of famous foster and step families, from Cinderella to The Brady Bunch. But maybe the difference lies in the fact that they lacked the support and acceptance they have today. Besides, nowadays we assume family diversity in the same way we assume the different roles of men and women, their individuality and the actual choice of marrying. Fewer marriages and informal relationships are widely recognized, as well as the rights of children.
Here is where language comes. As we do accept them nowadays, new terms have been coined to adapt to this new situation in order to refer to them freely and precisely. Examples of this are civil union marriages, continuing families, blended families or homoparental families, assisted reproduction and plural parentship -just to name a few.
New words allow us to refer to the individuals in these families too: foster carer, birth mother, social mother, partner or mutual child.
There are also public policies which support and protect families, and a whole network to guaratee the well being of children: social worker, health care services, etc.
Probably language develops at the same speed as social issues do. No sooner there is a new idea or concept than there will be a new word for it. No matter if you agree or not, or if you belong to a community in which these new terms are not yet needed.
The only problem with these new words may come when the concept itself is not clear. Take the word blended and mixed family, for instance. Are they synonyms? What is the difference between them? It is quite common to come across definitions which don't match your initial idea or what you had learnt. So, there seems to be certain confusion at first. But it is only a question of time.
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