THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC FRAMEWORK, FAMILY PATTERNS AND HUMAN RIGHTS

In: International social science journal: ISSJ, Band 18, Heft 1, S. 41-54

Abstract

The central sociol'al problem is to ascertain what sac patterns will maximize the protection of human rights. These rights are conceived as a specific part of the soc structure & examined, at the fam level, as a set of role obligations. The following areas in which human rights within the fam have been recently extended are summarized: mate choice, bride price or dowry, inter-caste & inter-class marriage, control by elders & other kin, inheritance, contraception, abortion, divorce, & egalitarianism within the fam. The trends noted are steps toward the securing of human rights. The authoritarian & the collaborative style of fam control are contrasted re relations to the macrostructure of society & pol'al control & individual psychol. Authoritarian control of the fam by the father is r'ed with such traits as these: deification of the parent, high evaluation of the father role, the child's passive adjustment to the present situation, the suppression of the child's aggression, suppression of sexual impulses in the child, & the fostering of dependency in the child. Collaborative or democratic att's of fathers r with egalitarian treatment of children, encouragement of their independence, & affection as a means of control. Adults who exhibit intolerance of others' rights are more likely than other adults to have grown up under authoritarian parental control & to continue that tradition with their own children. In the collaborative fam, given greater security in affection, & the right to have pleasure without guilt, the individual's tolerance of frustration is greater, & his need to attack others when things go wrong will be less. Thus, he is less likely to approve any denial of human rights to those who differ in pol'al or other beliefs. However the relations between personality variables & those of the larger soc structure are ambiguous. Although adults who are reared under ideal conditions would probably be more inclined to support human rights, it is not clear that traditional, patriarchal, even authoritarian, fam relations necessarily create authoritarian pol'al & soc structures. Nonetheless, the changes in the fam patterns over the past half cent, important in themselves, may also act as a catalyst that will eventually transform the massive flux of modern revolution into a clear movement toward greater human freedom. S. Schwartz.