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FAMILISM

Sociologyindex, Sociology Books 2012

Familism refers to core values of a family type which emphasizes commitment to the family as a unit. Staying together for the sake of the children would be an indication of this value.

Familism refers to a model of social organization, based on the prevalence of the family group and its well-being placed against the interests and necessities of each one of its members.

It is part of a traditional view of society that highlights loyalty, trust, and cooperative attitudes within the family group.

Found in the ‘bourgeois family’ which reflects the cultural belief that it is the family that is the foundation of society and the source of human identification and moral discipline.

The modern conjugal family, by contrast, is typically described as having a central value of individualism that de-emphasizes the importance of the family unit.

Familism is a cluster of attitudes that emphasizes the relevance of the family for personal and social life, the development of a feeling of duty among the members of the family group, and the belief that to have children is a requirement for personal and social realization (Popenoe 1988; Gundelach and Riis 1994).

In familism three main orientations can be distinguished:

a classical social position;

a sociopolitical formulation; and

a psychological re-elaboration.

The main antecedents of these orientations are, respectively, the disappearance of the Old Regime, the changes that have taken place around World War II, and the development of a culture of service characteristic of the postindustrial societies.

Familism as a form of system justification: A cross-cultural study of the USA and Italy
Pacilli, Maria Giuseppina. and Jost, John.
Abstract: The present study investigated the relations among “familism,” system justification, and family justification, that is, between familism and the rationalization of the large-scale social system and of the family as a small-scale social system. Familism is a cultural value that describes a strong attachment and loyalty to one’s family; it has been shown to include two main types of value orientations: (a) perceptions of relatives as behavioral referents (family norms), and (b) reliance on relatives for emotional help (family support). Familism as the justification of family norms fits Jost and Banaji’s (1994) definition of system justification insofar as familistic rules apply not only to the family as a system but also to the family as an institution that is linked to the broader society. In a familistic culture, the norms and traditions of the family are transmitted to the younger generation: this can happen only if people perceive these norms to be fair and legitimate. We hypothesized that the stronger the familism, the greater the tendency to endorse system justification. Two hundred and forty-three students (129 American and 114 Italian) completed a system justification scale, a family justification scale, and a familism scale. As hypothesized, American participants with high system justification scores perceived family norms to be especially strong, but no relationship emerged with respect to the perceived importance of family support. A different pattern emerged in the Italian context, where a stronger perception of family norms was related to a greater tendency to engage in family justification.

A New Familism Scale for Use with Latino Populations
Angel G. Lugo Steidel, Josefina M. Contreras, Kent State University
The goal of this study was to develop an attitudinal familism scale that can be used with relatively less acculturated Latinos and that assesses all relevant aspects of the construct. An 18-item scale composed of original items and adapted items from previous scales was tested on a sample of 124 Latino adults. An exploratory factor analysis revealed the following four factors, accounting for 51.23% of the total variance: Familial Support, Familial Interconnectedness, Familial Honor, and Subjugation of Self for Family. Cronbach’s alpha for the scale was found to be .83. Validity analyses revealed significant negative correlations between some aspects of familism and acculturation scores and indicators of exposure to the U.S. culture, confirming previous findings on the subject.

In his 1958 book The Moral Basis of a Backward Society Edward Banfield used the term Amoral Familism to describe what he saw as the tendency of poor rural Italians to concern themselves only with the condition of their own family members to the exclusion of outsiders. This, he believed, led to a society in which people were unable to work together for the common good.

Managers’ Dilemma: Institutions, Familism, and Trust in China’s Private Businesses
Ma, Li.
Abstract: The classical principal-agent problem finds more complications in private businesses in transitional China. Incremental processes of deinstitutionalization—partial privatization, delayed legitimization of private property right, and informal consent allowing private wealth accumulation—resulted in a high level of uncertainty for private businesses. Relaxation of ideological taboo against wealth accumulation stirred up enormous private initiatives and reinvigorated the Chinese entrepreneurial spirit. However, policy ambiguity put them in an embarrassing position—market activities are encouraged but private property rights are not legitimized. They still face overt discriminatory policies in terms of accessing financial capital in an economy where financial institutions are strictly regulated by the state. Most private businesses started up by pooling resources through kinship networks. Familism gains stronger hold in the normative system in the private sector. In these relatively closed systems, managers and owners undergo psychological processes similar to players in a prisoners’ dilemma game. With both intra-organizational and inter-organizational uncertainty, a vicious cycle of distrust come into being. This phenomenon, as I termed as “managers’ dilemma”, the dilemma between choices of trust or distrust, is particular to an economy where strong institutional inertia, organizational memory and familism values interplay and contradict with each other.

Measuring Amoral Familism: A Tentative Approach - Stefano Morandini
Abstract: This paper focuses on amoral familism in public institutions and suggests a way to measure it. Amoral familism may be discussed in terms of its association with public sector corruption or of misallocation of human capital. Here I describe a tentative methodological approach to estimate familism that I call amoral familism rate. However, the measurement of familism involves several uncertainties concerning the data collection and how to obtain useful indications about the efficiency and the integrity of the public sphere.

Workplace Familism and Psychological Contract Breach in the Philippines
Restubog, Simon Lloyd D.; Bordia, Prashant
Source: Applied Psychology An International Review, Volume 55, Number 4, October 2006
Abstract: The present study addresses the call for theory-based investigations on workplace familism. It contributes to the literature by proposing and testing the moderating role of workplace familism between psychological contract breach and civic virtue behaviour. We surveyed 267 full-time employees and found main effects of both types of workplace familism (i.e. workplace organisational and workplace supervisor familism) and breach of relational obligations on civic virtue behaviour. Workplace supervisor familism also moderated the relationship between breach and civic virtue behaviour, with the negative relationship between breach and civic virtue behaviour stronger when workplace supervisor familism was high. This suggests that employees with a high level of workplace supervisor familism may feel a sense of betrayal and, therefore, respond more negatively to contract breach. Implications for practice and directions for future research are discussed.

The role of attitudinal familism in academic outcomes: a study of urban, Latino high school seniors. Esparza, Patricia, Sánchez, Bernadette
Abstract: The aim of this study was to examine the role of attitudinal familism on Latino high school students' academic grades, effort, motivation, and truancy. Results in this study reveal that having high attitudinal familism predicts fewer classes missed and greater academic effort. Also, when mothers' educational level is low, attitudinal familism is positively associated to students' academic grades. This study underscores the need for additional research on cultural measures that can help us better understand Latino adolescents' educational experiences.

Hispanic college students' adjustment: The influence of familism, acculturation, and social support - Regina Jean-Van Hell, Boston College
Abstract: Hispanic college students' value of familism, acculturation, and social support were examined in relation to these students' adjustment to college. Ninety-one Hispanic college students completed a questionnaire that included demographics, two scales of familism (Valenzuela & Dornbusch questionnaire) and the Bardis Familism Scale (BFS), the Bidimensional Acculturation Scale (BAS), the Social Provisions Scale (SPS), and the College Adjustment Scale (CAS). The questionnaires were coded and the data were entered in SPSS. The analyses of the data revealed that familism attitudes of Hispanic college students were not related to their college adjustment, which was contrary to the expectations of previous research. Acculturation to the Anglo culture was found to be related to college adjustment. Levels of familism were not related to acculturation to the Anglo culture or to the Hispanic culture. Consequently, it was not demonstrated whether familism remains constant or changes as individuals become more acculturated to the Anglo culture. The majority of the sample were acculturated to the Anglo culture (94.4 percent); only 76.7 percent were acculturated to the Hispanic culture. The sample contained 63 participants who were bicultural and 27 participants who were not bicultural. Thus, these findings show that acculturation is resolved multidimensionally and is the result of the individual's context, personality, and abilities, as has been previously discussed. This study found that familism in Hispanic college students is not related to social support, as it was expected since the value of familism implies social support. Thus, questions are raised regarding familism and social support among different generations because familism incorporates respect for elders and obedience to parents. Relationships among familism, income, and education were investigated. The findings revealed slight relationships between familism, income and education. Income and father's and mother's education were moderately correlated; father's and mother's education were also moderately correlated. Gender differences in familism were not found. The homogeneity and the size of the sample may have influenced the results of this study. Recommendations are given to clarify the questions raised by these findings.

Acculturation, familism, and alcohol use among Latino adolescent males: Longitudinal relations - Andres G. Gil, Eric F. Wagner, William A. Vega
Abstract: This article advances our understanding of factors associated with patterns and consequences of early alcohol involvement among Latino teens, with an emphasis on how nativity may influence longitudinal relations among variables including acculturation, familism, and alcohol involvement. Following a comparative presentation of alcohol use prevalence rates, the current study offers a culturally founded theoretical model of early adolescent drinking. Specifically, this article extends existing models such as gateway theory and esteem enhancement theory and explores the effects of acculturation and acculturative stress on the intensity of alcohol use among immigrant (n= 1,051) and U.S.-born (n= 968) Latino males attending middle school in South Florida. Results from structural equation modeling suggest acculturation and acculturative stress influence alcohol use primarily through the deterioration of Latino family values, attitudes, and familistic behaviors. However, the relationship between acculturative stress and alcohol use differs in important ways depending on the adolescent's birthplace. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications of our findings for education, prevention, treatment, and research with Latino adolescents. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

FAMILY, BOURGEOIS
A family system first emerging in the 16th and 17th centuries in the towns of Europe among the growing middle class of merchants, professionals and administrators. It later spreads to the working class during the industrial revolution. This family type is centred on private homelife, the relationship of the couple and their children and based on a clear division of gender roles, with men as chief income earners and women centred in the domestic world of home and family. For many conservatives this remains the ideal form of family .
FAMILY, CONJUGAL
A nuclear family of adult partners and their children (by birth or adoption) where the family relationship is principally focused inwardly and ties to extended kin are voluntary and based on emotional bonds, rather than strict duties and obligations.
FAMILY, CONSANGUINEAL
A family system of nuclear families linked through shared descent from a common ancestor. The individual nuclear families are bound into complex ties of obligation and daily activity with each other. Consanguineal families can be linked either matrilineally or patrilineally.
FAMILY, EGALITARIAN
A family system based on the equality of the participants and in direct contrast to the patriarchal family. It usually refers to an equal relationship between the adult partners, though it can mean permissive, rather than authoritarian, parent-child relationship. In North American families this family form is most likely to be found among young and well-educated couples. The term ‘symmetrical family’ is sometimes used as an equivalent. The concept is in many respects an ideal, rather than descriptive of typical or usual family relationships.
FAMILY, NUCLEAR
This has the same composition as the conjugal family, but the term ‘nuclear’ does not imply that the family is inwardly focused and relatively autonomous from extended kin as in the case of the conjugal family. Extended, or consanguineal (based on shared blood descent), families can be thought of as composed of linked nuclear families.

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