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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
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
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
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
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
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
References:
Bumpass, L.L., (1990). “What is happening to the family? Interactions between demographic and
Marais, H., (2001). South Africa, Limits to Change: The political economy of transition.
Modi, R. (2004) “Migration to Democratic South Africa”, New Agenda: South African Journal of
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
Van Huyssteen, E. (2003). The family: What is it and what does it do? University of the
Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.