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This essay will define the concept of family on the first part and look into weather or not this

concept still exists in South Africa. Also, on the second part of the essay, it will discuss

“simultaneously” how social changes as well as changes in migration, fertility and mortality have

impacted on family. These factors will be considered simultaneously because of the manner with

which they are intertwined and I will conclude by suggesting what future holds on the family.

There are many definitions of family but for the purpose of this essay, a general definition will be

considered. According to Schaeffer in Van Huyssteen, 2003, family is defined as “a set of

persons related by blood, marriage (or some other agreed upon relationship), or adoption who

share the primary responsibility for reproduction and caring for members of society. (p. 2). This

definition quantifies that family have different functions which include: reproduction, protection

and regulation of social behaviour. Also, it provides affection/companionship, social status and

socialization. (Van Huyssteen, 2003). In South Africa, there have been major alterations and

transitions in marriage, divorce, childbearing women’s employment and parenting thereby

impacting differently on family (Bumpass, 1990). Firstly, People do not often get married due to

the new trend of women wanting to be independent of men. The traditional norm of women

getting married at early age of 16 among the African community or at 21 among the white

population is fast being eroded. As a result, there has been increase in single parenting and

female headed families. Even when people manage to get married, divorce is ubiquitous

everywhere. Visits to customary courts attest to this fact as more than one hundred divorce cases

are instituted on daily basis. Secondly, women tend to fall pregnant and raise the children on their

own and are not interested in getting married to any man as part of their resolve to be

independent. Many women have picked up employment in the notion of women empowerment
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thereby leaving no room for parenting. The above mentioned factors have mutually reinforcing

effects and have impacted on expectation about family life as people have driven to individuation

(Bumpass, 1990).

These factors are linked to how social changes as well as changes in migration, fertility and

mortality have impacted family life in South Africa. Marital disruptions have the most effect on

family life. Divorce has become a social norm with majority of first marriages not lasting a life

time and this has impacted on the lives of children. Many children spend their childhood in a

single parent homes leading to increase in poverty of children and also the mothers. Many

mothers cannot fend for themselves even when they insist on becoming independent let alone

looking after their children. The women spend most of their times working to make ends meet

and give little or no time to parenting practices or parental time for the children. This trend has

also contributed to changing social norms because girls now gear themselves towards becoming

independent women someday and spend more time on their education to build a career so as to be

able to support themselves in future (Bumpass, 1990).

The formation of unions has undergone a revolutionary change as once morally reprehensible act

is now very acceptable. More couples are opting to live together before thinking about marriage.

People now have at the back of their minds that marriage is an unstable institution and prefers to

try it out by leaving together and see how it goes. Most cohabitation does not result to marriage

and so the chances of creating families have been on decline and there have been more cases of

“premarital divorce”. However, some cohabitation has led to birth of children out of wedlock as

the proportion of children born without breastfeeding is on the increase. Many women have
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experienced non-marital child bearing which has now posed challenges to the issue of

“legitimacy” in the society. In the other hand, fertility has been reduced due to use of

contraception to prevent unwanted pregnancies. Most people will not want a baby while

cohabiting and will prefer to become real families before having a baby. Some behave this way

due to economic reasons while others do so because of the issue of “legitimacy”. Nonetheless, it

is interesting to note that many births in South Africa are to two-parent unmarried families

(Bumpass, 1990).

Still on fertility, delayed marriages have led to lesser children being reproduced due to the fact

that most women do not meet their fecundity levels. It is often little too late to reproduce a child

because they spend most of their time in career opportunities. So, self interest of financial

independence has become a determinant factor before most people decide to have a family. Thus

fertility decline and choosing a smaller family size is as a result of limited economic means to

support a small family in most cases (Bumpass, 1990).

Similarly, migration has its tolls on families as both men and women leave their families to

search for greener pastures to support families. In apartheid South Africa, men who were

supposed to be heads of their families among Africans were displaced and forced into labours on

the mining industries. Some of these men ended up creating families outside their real families

and in the end they become ambivalent to the meaning of family which became reciprocated by

their households as well (Marais, 2001). Today however, things are slightly different as urban

migrations have taken the shape of immigration and emigration. Most skilled workers are

migrating from South Africa to developed countries while their families remain behind in South
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Africa. It takes a lot of time to settle down in these new countries and grappling with these

difficulties and bringing over other members of their families have not been easy (Modi, 2004).

In terms of immigration, there has been influx of illegal immigrants in South Africa in recent

time from some war turn and economic unstable countries in Africa. This has led to some

indigenes losing their jobs to these foreigners who work at a lesser wage to what the South

Africans earn. Though the government stipulates a minimum wage of R800 but these immigrants

work for less than half of what the government has laid down (Naidu, 2006). The South Africans

become unemployed and the chances of forming a family become slimmer due to the fact that

most people want to have baby when they can fend for them.

Mortality rate in South Africa is very high with life expectancy at approximately 52 years. This

has distorted family set up as when one member of the family dies, others are affected in one way

or the other. Mothers are left to become the bread winners of their families when their husbands

die or visa viz. In some cases, children have become parents to their younger siblings in this

advent of HIV/AIDS. Also, grand parents have become guidance of children and when they are

not able to take care of these children thee has been exacerbation of street children and more

irresponsibility of children in terms of drugs, promiscuity, teen pregnancies and more HIV/AIDS

(Pelser, et al, 2003). These developments have put off some would be parents to wanting to have

a family as some argue that no-one is safe from the pandemic and therefore it is pointless to have

a family. Similarly, the fact that there is no-one to take care of the elderly when most of the

people who are supposed to look after them at their old age are dead leads to these older people

dieing early than the time of their deaths. They die of emotional distress and loneliness. There are

even situations where there are people alive who suppose to look after them but fail to do so and
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abandon them in old peoples’ villages and this buttresses the point that families are disappearing

through different factors including weakening of intergenerational relationship (Bumpass, 1990).

The question now is what does the future hold? The future holds nothing much in terms of family

as long as capitalism and cure for HIV/AIDS is not found. Men and women will continue to

pursue career goals to have more meaning in the society. Meaning that society is moving toward

individuation, which will further impact on families. Careers will be placed to the detriment of

family. More Children will be born of HIV/AIDS and they may die before thinking about bearing

children with same diseases and it will become a vicious circle. Another angle is that the society

will become anomic due to absence of solidarity which holds society together. Emile Durkheim

professed that as families move from traditional society to modern society, there will be

restlessness and confusion in the society as people will no longer attach meanings to family and

its functions. So, replacing members of the society through reproduction will be in decline and

there will not be protection, care and economic security for children where available. Also, the

children will not have any role model to look up to because of lack of social status and

socialisation.

However, all hope must not be lost because there is always a light at the end of the tunnel. In the

past, some chronic diseases such as tuberculosis and cancer defied cure but today, they are

manageable and curable. Finding solution to HIV/AIDS will give people the motivation to

consider having families. Also, in future people may slow down with the pace of material pursuit

which are not necessarily guarantees for happy life and think about raising families, HIV/ADS

permitting.
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In conclusion, the concept of family and the impacts of social changes as well as changes in

migration, fertility and mortality in South Africa have been discussed to ascertain the nature of

families in South Africa. This writer believes that the concept of family does exist in infinitesimal

minute proportion and all the factors impacting on family structure will mean that concept of

family will not exist at all in the nearest future if nothing is done to readdress the issue of

migration, fertility and mortality.


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References:

Bumpass, L.L., (1990). “What is happening to the family? Interactions between demographic and

institutional change”, Demography. 27 (4).

Marais, H., (2001). South Africa, Limits to Change: The political economy of transition.

University of Cape Town Press: Cape Town.

Modi, R. (2004) “Migration to Democratic South Africa”, New Agenda: South African Journal of

Social and Economic Policy, Cape Town, First Quarter.

Naidu, E. (2006) “Illegal immigrants exploited by ruthless locals”, The Sunday Independent,

Johannesburg, 13 August.

Pelser, A.J., Ngwena, C.G. and Summerton, J.V., (2003). The HIV/AIDS Epidemic in South

Africa: Trends, Impacts and Policy Responses, Van Schaik Publishers.

Van Huyssteen, E. (2003). The family: What is it and what does it do? University of the

Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.

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