Research Paper in Society and Culture

Society and Culture Research Paper Marriage and Family: Nature and Scope (Belgium) Submitted by: Kate Danica M. De Jesus Submitted to: Ms. Sherryl Pajulas OUTLINE Topic: Marriage and Family: Nature and Scope (Belgium) Introduction: History Subtopics: a. the nature of marriage b. the selection of marriage mates c. the nature of family d. basic function of the family (Belgium) e. changes in the family f. family organization and disorganization g. culture and custom (Belgium) Conclusion: Acknowledgement I’m not a perfect person for me not to seek a help for others.To do a research paper is not an easy task that’s why I do acknowledge fist, God for never getting tired for giving me His guidance, strength and wisdom while I’m doing this. Second is my family who always there for me and for their support financially and morally. Also because they never stop loving me as what I am and who I am. Third is my friends who never let me down, they never get tired to cheer me u p that I can do this, they make me inspired. Fourth, I acknowledge those who also help me to have reference in this research paper, also because of they give patience to me, because without hem maybe I didn’t finish this research paper. 1 History Belgium According to its history, the name ‘Belgium' is derived from  Gallia Belgica, a  Roman province  in the northern most part of  Gaul  that before Roman invasion in 100  BC, was inhabited by the Belgae, a mix of  Celtic  and  people. A  gradual immigration  by Germanic  Frankish  tribes during the 5th century brought the area under the rule of the  Merovingian  kings. A gradual shift of power during the 8th century led the kingdom of the Franks to evolve into the Carolingian Empire.The  Treaty of Verdunin 843 divided the region into  Middle  and West Francia  and therefore into a set of more or less independent  fiefdoms  which, during the  Middle Ages, were  vassals  either of the  King of France  or of the  Holy Roman Emperor. Many of these fiefdoms  were united in the  Burgundian Netherlands  of the 14th and 15th centuries. [18]  Emperor Charles  V  extended the  personal union  of the  Seventeen Provinces  in the 1540s, making it far more than a personal union by the  Pragmatic Sanction of 1549  and increased his influence over the  Prince-Bishopric of Liege.The  Eighty Years' War  (1568–1648) divided the Low Countries into the northern  United Provinces  (Belgica Foederata  in  Latin, the â€Å"Federated Netherlands†) and the  Southern Netherlands  (Belgica Regia, the â€Å"Royal Netherlands†). The latter were ruled successively by the Spanish  and the  Austrian  Habsburgs  and comprised most of modern Belgium. This was the theatre of most  Franco-Spanish  and Franco-Austrian wars  during the 17th and 18th centuries.Following the  campaigns of 1794 in the French R evolutionary Wars, the Low Countries—including territories that were never nominally under Habsburg rule, such as the Prince-Bishopric of Liege—were annexed by the  French First Republic, ending Austrian rule in the region. The reunification of the Low Countries as the  United Kingdom of the Netherlands  occurred at the dissolution of the  First French Empire  in 1815, after the defeat of Napoleon. And in 1830, the  Belgian Revolution  led to the separation of the Southern Provinces from the Netherlands and to the stablishment of a Catholic and bourgeois, officially French-speaking and neutral, independent Belgium under a  provisional government  and a  national congress. Since the installation of  Leopold  I  as king on  21 July  1831 (which is now celebrated as Belgium's  National Day, Belgium has been a  constitutional monarchy  and  parliamentary democracy, with a  laicist  constitution based on the  Napoleonic code. Alth ough the franchise was initially restricted,  universal suffrage  for men was introduced after the  general strike of 1893  (with  plural voting  until 1919) and for women in 1949. The main political parties of the 19th century were the  Catholic Party  and the  Liberal Party, with the  Belgian Labour Party  emerging towards the end of the 19th century. French was originally the single official language adopted by the  nobility  and the  bourgeoisie. It progressively lost its overall importance as Dutch became recognized as well. This recognition became official in 1898 and in 1967 a Dutch version of the  Constitution  was legally accepted. [23] The  Berlin Conference  of 1885 ceded control of the  Congo Free State  to  King Leopold  II  as his private possession.From around 1900 there was growing international concern for the extreme and savage treatment of the Congolese population under Leopold  II, for whom the Congo was primarily a source of revenue from ivory and rubber production. In 1908 this outcry led the Belgian state to assume responsibility for the government of the colony, henceforth called the  Belgian Congo. [24]  Germany invaded Belgium in 1914 as part of the Schlieffen Plan  to attack France and much of the  Western Front  fighting of World War  I occurred in western parts of the country. The opening months of the war were known as the  Rape of Belgium  due to German excesses.Belgium took over the  German colonies  of  Ruanda-Urundi  (modern day  Rwanda  and  Burundi) during the war, and they were mandated to Belgium in 1924 by the  League of Nations. In the aftermath of the First World War, the  Prussian districts  of  Eupen and Malmedy were annexed by Belgium in 1925, thereby causing the presence of a German-speaking minority. The country was again invaded by Germany in 1940  and was occupied until its  liberation by the Allies  in 1944. After World W ar  II,  a general strike  forced king  Leopold  III, who many viewed as collaborating with Germany during the war, to abdicate in 1951. The Belgian Congo gained independence in 1960 uring the  Congo Crisis; Ruanda-Urundi followed with its independence two years later. Belgium joined  NATO  as a founding member and formed the Benelux group of nations with the Netherlands and Luxembourg. Belgium became one of the six founding members of the  European Coal and Steel Community  in 1951 and of the  European Atomic Energy Community  and  European Economic Community, established in 1957. The latter is now the European Union, for which Belgium hosts major administrations and institutions, including the  European Commission, the  Council of the European Union  and the extraordinary and committee sessions of the  European Parliament. Nature of marriage According to the catholic, the true nature of marriage, a husband and wife living in openness to life, is a lso a witness to the precious gift of the child and to the unique and irreplaceable roles of both a mother and a father. In creating new life, the unitive and procreative purposes of marriage come together. Marriage, therefore, is not confined wholly to the loving intimacy of husband and wife but strives in generosity to go beyond this to bring new life into being. This procreative meaning of marriage involves not only the conception of children but also their upbringing and education.The loving communion of marital spouses is the primary context in which children are both conceived and brought up in love. It is true that some marriages will not result in procreation due to infertility, even though the couple is capable of the natural act by which procreation takes place. Indeed, this situation often comes as a surprise and can be a source of deep sadness, disappointment, anxiety, and even great suffering for a husband and wife. When such tragedy affects a marriage, a couple may be tempted to think that their union is not complete or truly blessed.This is not true. The marital union of a man and a woman is a distinctive communion of persons which even infertile couples continue to manifest. 4 Selection of marriage mates According to my research, Selecting a mate is a process that is to a large extent culturally defined. Who is considered as a suitable marriage partner differs across societies. Various criteria can be used in the evaluation of a suitable partner. Some of these are physical beauty, personality, education, wealth, social class, ethnic or racial identity and more.The relative importance of one criterion over another depends on the type of marriage that is being considered – an arranged marriage or one based on the Western concept of romantic love. Arranged marriages have been very popular worldwide and are still being practised today. This is so because an arranged marriage represents more than a union of two individuals; it is in fact the union of two families. It can also be a basis for creating alliances between important families, communities or even countries and nations. Therefore, arranged marriages usually require careful choice and negotiations.Another reason why arranged marriages have been and are still being practised is that young people have sometimes been considered as being too inexperienced to make such a decision as that of selecting a life-long partner. The parents and other older relatives then take the responsibility of finding a suitable mate for the young people. Even though arranged marriages are still being widely practiced, marriages based on romantic love are growing in popularity. This is so because of the influence of the mass media and its effectiveness in spreading the Western image of romantic love across the world.Exclusive emotional attachments are now greatly desirable in a marriage. 5 Basic Function of Family The Belgian standard living is one of the highest in Europe, per capita in come is high increasing, and a large part of economy is directed toward production for the consumer market. Housing is less crowded than in most of Europe. The pace of life in the cities is hectic, yet the Belgians know how to relax, and they do so at side walk cafes and at the restaurants known throughout Europe for the preparation of the Belgians favorite dishes; mussels, deep-fried potatoes, oysters, endive, and Flemish waterzoei (chicken). is an important consideration for anybody to grow up with a  family. Household camping along the Meuse. Although modern informality is making in roads among the students generations, the traditions of the tight family circle and formal relations with others is maintained. The whole is still focus of life. Regionalism is strong, and while they may visit the capital on occasion, many Belgians prefer not to wonder far from their place of birth. 6 Changes in the family Sociologists study society and how it is organized. They study what a society believes and how it is changing.They explain how people behave, but not how they ought to behave. Almost every society is based on the family. Some societies have nuclear families. In the nuclear family, the parents and children live together in one house. Other societies have extended families. In this kind of family, there are grandparents, parents, children, uncles, and other relatives all living together. In some societies, there are tribes. A tribe is a group of extended families that have the same ancestors. Throughout history there have been slow changes in the family and in family life, but today the family is changing quickly.This change causes many problems for the society and the individual. One of the major reasons for this fast change in the family is the change in how people earn their money. Today more and more people work in factories that make automobiles, furniture, clothes, and thousands of other products. Fewer people work on farms or make products at home. Peop le work in industry instead. This change is called industrialization. The ownership of land in an industrial society is not as important as it was when people lived in villages. 7 Family Organization and DisorganizationAccording to my reference, in Belgium, the population can be broadly divided into three linguistic groups. A majority are Flemings of Germanic stock who speaks dialect similar to Dutch. The Walloons, of Celtic antecedents, originally spoke dialect that differed markedly from Parisian French. These dialects have now nearly disappeared and have been replaced by a slightly belgicized version of French. Although in the countryside near mons (Bergen) and liege (luik) they still may be heard occasionally. The German speaking population of Belgium numbers less than 90,000 people.Yet because it is concentrated about Eupen and malmedy and near the boarder with luxem, bourg, it has been able to win language rights in those areas. Also in Belgium, the religion of both Flemish an d Walloons is Roman Catholic, but with markedly different attitudes. Many Walloons give roman doctrine a liberal interpretation and are not strict in their attendance at mass. In the Flemish areas of Belgium the churches are crowded. Roman Doctrine is strictly adhered to and seldom questioned, and the local clergy have considerable influence within their parishes.On a higher level the arch- bishop of Mechelin (Malines) enjoys universal respect and is one of the national leaders a portion of the salaries of the Roman Catholic, Protestant, Anglican, and Jewish clergy the protestant denomination in Belgium are not strong, although they have grown since World War II. 8 Culture and Custom The Flemish of Germanic bloods, and the Walloons, with the Latin ties, have been less than odds in cultural endeavors than the linguistic situation would seem to indicate. Belgium’s artistic output has coincided with the years of its greatest economic expansion for example, the Burgundian period. The 15th century was especially rich in painting, music, architecture, and literature. By the end of the 17th century, artistic production was nearly at a stand still. After 1830, with Belgian independence, a rebirth of the arts began and gathered momentum toward the close of the century. The 20th century has witnessed ever-increasing cultural activity. The traditions of Flemish school were carried on into the Italians. In the 17th century Peter Paul Pubens and his baroque school evaded a direct Italian influence. He painted religious and pagan scenes as well as landscapes and portraits. The 18th century showed little interest in painting.Romanticism in the 19th century was represented by Gustav Wappers, Louis Gallait and Hendrick Seys. An impressionist school produced Rik Wouters, who was a sculptor. In the 20th century, James Ensor, the father of Flemish expressionism, was very influential with his experimental forms. While Flanders produced the most outstanding works of painting, it was Walloons territory, Hainaut and Liege that produced the musical genius of the country. The musical contribution of Belgium to European culture is less well known than its painting but no less remarkable. The art of modern music was born on what is now Belgian soil.Because of the linguistic division of the country, Belgium has always possessed two literatures, French and Flemish. The Matter is further complicated by the fact that Flemings have, at times, written their works in French. The literature of this meeting ground of Germanic and Romance civilizations must be considered under its two divisions, French and Flemish 9 Conclusion Belgium is a constitutional monarchy in Western Europe. An independent nation since 1830. The labor there was only about 6 percent of their population is employed in agriculture, and there has been a continuing slow decrease in the number of farmers.Increments in the labor supply have generally occurred in the manufacturing industries. Most farme rs own their own land. Many find it necessary to supplement the income gained from their small acreage by taking part-time jobs in the towns. In the economic expansion of the first half of the 1960’s, employment in manufacturing went up approximately 12 percent, laborers from abroad especially Italy, have been attracted by these conditions, yet unemployment has continued to exist in the Borinage and West Flanders. Also in Belgium, income is also gained from Belgium’s transportation facilities.Although the rail system is the densest in Europe and successfully handles a high- volume freight and passenger service, as much or more freight is transported on the inland waterway system. Belgium’s educational system is highly developed despite the ill of two major controversies. The law established that it is the national government’s responsibility to see that satisfactory schools of all kinds are within reach of all children. 10 Table of contents pageAcknowled gement 1 History 2-3 Nature of marriage 4 Selection of marriage mates 5 Nature of the family 6 Basic function of the family 7 Changes in the family 8 References: http://vcampus. uom. ac. mu/soci1101/571marriage_partner_selection. html http://mycatholicweb. org/marriage/the-true-nature-of-marriage http://www. okanagan. bc. ca/Assets/Departments+(Education)/International+Students/Documents/ESL+Quiz. pdf Belgium Map 11 Belgium places 12 The Belgium Flag 14 13