The family is defined, says Louro Bernal, I (2001), as “the fundamental cell of society, very important form of organization of personal daily life, founded on the marriage union and kinship ties, on the multilateral relationships between husband and wife, parents and their children, brothers and sisters, and other living relatives together and jointly manage the domestic economy.”
It is necessary to stop in this context and consider an aspect that, relatively new, leads us to reconsider, or at least, to rethink the content of this type of definitions. Note that it refers to the character of heterosexuality reflected in the term marriage, however, the concept of marriage is no longer described as the ancient formula of the union between man and woman, that concept has been redefined and is now understood as the union of the human couple (Dictionary of Spanish Use, María Moliner, 3rd Edition, 2007).
It is easy to see that in this new way of naming, the concept becomes broader and more encompassing, it is not reduced to the only man-woman relationship, but also reaches other relationships.
What has been expressed gives rise to important changes in the conception of the family, especially in what is usually called a traditional family.
The above is also addressed by Arés Muzio, P (s/a) who says that “Until a few decades ago it was said that the family was the legal union between a man and a woman who come together, with the objective of procreating, educating children, and satisfy human needs for union and companionship.
No definition of this type corresponds to current changes. The union may or may not be legal, it may be for life, but separations and divorces are frequent, members of the union are no longer always heterosexual, The union is no longer just for procreation. By this we mean that we are currently facing the phenomenon of family diversity and complexity.”
All of the above leads us to think about how especially complicated it is to reach a consensus regarding the definition of family. The new types of family, their new considerations, their members, the dynamics of their relationships, among others, pave the way to hinder consensus.
In any case, it is necessary to approach a definition and it seems convenient to do so from Psychology, we then take the one offered by Arés Muzio, P, and which says like this: “From the psychological point of view we can say that the Family: Is the union of people who they share a vital project of existence in common that is intended to last, in which strong feelings of belonging to said group are generated, there is a personal commitment among its members and intense relationships of intimacy, reciprocity and dependence are established.
It is no secret to anyone that the different changes that have occurred in today’s world have given rise to another series of changes in different spaces and contexts, and the family is not immune to all this dynamic of events.
Therefore, the family has evolved and we are witnessing the emergence of new types of family, which is why it would be more accurate to speak of “families” since the concept “the family” is becoming outdated.
These new types of family make a break with the traditional family, with traditional schemes, although we cannot say that the traditional family has disappeared, but rather that we are living with that traditional family and with the new family or modern family. Coexistence that also brings with it many conflict situations.
As we said before, the changes that have occurred in society have given rise to modifications in the traditional family causing ruptures in it.
In this sense, we can point out the category that specialists on the subject call “trends of ascent and descent” referring to the high divorce rates and consensual unions that correspond to the first and to the decrease in the number of children, corresponding to the second. All of which affects the decrease in fertility.
We must point out that this phenomenon is not exclusive to Cuban society but is a global trend. In developed countries, there is also an increase in divorce rates and a marked decrease in birth rates.
There are also other reasons that are transforming the traditional figure of the family and many of them are reflected in our country (Cuba), for example: equal rights, shared obligations between the members of the couple, the economic autonomy of those who make up the family. group, increase in single-parent households, increase in people living alone, high rates of separation and divorce, decrease in extended families (housing difficulties prevent this from being possible in our society), marked trend of increase in reconstructed families, delegation in role institutions that were typical of the family, among others.
However, even when these changes occur, the traditional family coexists with the new familysince cultural values, prejudices and stereotypes are still present today that respond to a centuries-old history of patriarchal education, sexist culture and hegemonic masculinity, which, of course, make the transition to the new conception of the modern family difficult.
In addition to the causes indicated as those that imprint changes in the aforementioned traditional family, we cannot ignore an event that is taking place in different countries: the approval of civil homosexual marriage.
News such as those reflected below, although they occurred in other societies, although we cannot consider them within daily life, nor can we see them, at this point, distant from it.
“A male homosexual couple presented their children, a girl and a boy, five-year-old twins, in the media. Conception was carried out with sperm from one of them that fertilized an egg. These same days, in Córdoba a couple of lesbian women had a baby through artificial insemination.
The controversy began immediately., with the usual fury of these combats in which the other is never heard: on the one hand, the traditional sectors, with deep religious convictions, who see in this type of phenomenon a thorough and sacrilegious attack on the genuine family and, on the other hand, another, those who call themselves “progressives” and who see these experiences as a fall of anachronistic prejudices and the long-awaited end of discriminatory practices.” (Moreno, M., 2005).
It is not the purpose of this work to encourage a debate on this aspect, but the truth is that in recent times the family has been developing types and schemes that differ from the inherited one. The prism ranges from those single-parent households (only one of the parents in charge), to those made up of the sum of children of a separated couple in the style of “yours, mine and ours”, passing through the trend, each increasingly frequent, of marriages that choose not to have children or postpone them to the limit in order to develop professionally. Also the so-called “independent productions” in their different forms, and cloning and assisted human reproduction arise as the possibility of children being born without anyone’s presence. All this leads us to affirm that the procreative function of the family also changed.
Social discourse projects a discouraging image of the family, however, in research and surveys, the desire to the youth to form their own families and that of adults to continue living in it.
Although the panorama that looms over the family seems to be complex and difficult to address, the truth is that the common people continue to support its integration and consolidation. And this is what Zermeño, A (s/a) says, who expresses it:
“It is clear that confusion has spread and generated uncertainty about the future of the family as the first social institution, suffice it to illustrate with the media discourses that show us the decline of traditional values and the increase in the divorce rate. But it is also clear that the vast majority of people want to live in love, share our life with another person and in many cases still transfer that “love” to others: to our children (whether biological or adopted). It is also clear that the most important point of refuge continues to be the family.”
Everything seems to indicate that what happened has not been enough to psychologically and structurally disintegrate the family or the notion of family. People are inclined to support this institution, no matter the changes, encounters and disagreements, it is always present to support, share and face “as a family” the good and not so good moments of life.
The sense of belonging to this group is deep and lasting.
In fact, the literature points to a common denominator: people value family. They esteem the bosom from which they come, and even after divorce, most try to form a new one.
“The family seems to be there, as an alternative to a world full of competition, accelerated rhythms, individualism, risks, ruptures. On the one hand it seems to be surpassed as a response to life together for couples, but on the other it is revalued because it represents, (…), supports in the face of loneliness, fears and uncertainty” (Zermeño, A)