THE INDIVIDUAL AND COMMUNITY

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COURSE CODE: SSE113

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NAME OF LECTURERS:

DR. SETH PETER FRIMPONG,

DR. ALFRED KURANCHIE,

MR. JACOB OPPONG NKANSAH &

DR FELICIA ESINAM PUFAA

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THE SELF- CONCEPT

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• Meaning of “Self”
• Most often when we ask the question, what is self, most people provide various answers which suit their comprehension.
• To young children, the self refers to their bodies.
• This means that “self” starts with the body, in the sense that people first develop an idea of self that is based on the physical self.
• On the contrary, adults and older children have notions of selfhood that go far beyond the physical self.
• These notions include social identity, reputation, personal values and other factors.
• Thus, adults think of the self as something that exists “inside” which is not visible to physical inspection and something separate from the physical body.

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cont.

• The discussion shows that when you are asked to identify yourself, you might respond in quite different ways depending on what you were doing and who was asking.
• Feelings about the self may change from time to time.

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• From the foregoing you can see why it is always difficult for researchers, psychologists, philosophers, poets, artists and others to come out with a single definition for the term “self” for several years now.
• This is because the term ‘self’ has many meanings and what one writer means by “self” is not the same as what another writer means by it.

The Self-Concept cont.�

• Self-concept has been defined by several authors
• Murphy (1947), defines it as the individual as known to the individual.
• According to Symonds (1951), it is the way or manner in which the individual reacts to himself or herself. He spells out four aspects of self;
• how a person perceives himself or herself,
• what he or she thinks of himself or herself
• how he or she values himself or herself and
• how he or she attempts through various actions to enhance or defend himself or herself.

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• According to Purkey (1998), self-concept is the cognitive or thinking aspect of self which generally refers to the totality of a complex, organized, and dynamic system of learned beliefs, attitudes and opinions that each person holds to be true about his or her personal existence.

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• Thus, self-concept refers to self-evaluation or self-perception, and it represents the sum of an individual’s beliefs about his or her own attributes

• It explains the individual in the light of his or her potentials (positive traits or attributes) and how they can be developed.
• It also includes what people come to know about themselves through experience, reflection and feedback from others.

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• It reflects how an individual evaluates himself or herself in areas in which he or she considers important. It also explains how an individual can change his weaknesses into positive achievements.

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• It represents the sum total of a person’s perceptions, beliefs and feelings about himself or herself. In other words, the concept of the self is the knowledge people have about themselves.
• It provides answers to the basic questions “who am I?”, “where do I belong?” and “how do I fit?”

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• Self-concept is not innate, but it is developed or constructed by the individual through interaction with the environment and reflecting on that interaction.
• Based on these interactions, the individual comes to a certain conclusion about himself or herself.
• For instance, he comes to the conclusion that he is timid, bold, intelligent or creative.
• The conclusion individuals come to after evaluating themselves is what is called self-concept.
• Teachers, parents and the child’s environment generally, can thus, affect his or self- concept either positively or negatively.
• For instance, if a teacher continuously labels a child as stupid or good-for-nothing, he or she may conclude that he or she is indeed stupid and this will become his or her self-concept.

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• On the other hand, if a parent always praises his or her child and tells him or her that he or she is intelligent, the child will form a self-concept based on the parent’s commendation.

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• It is however important to note that sometimes a child who believes that he is intelligent but not stupid will reject the teacher’s label of being stupid or good-for-nothing.

Types of Self�

• Real self: This refers to the true character or behavior an individual possesses.
• Other self: This is how an individual would-like to become. That is, the image an individual has in mind about who they want to be.
• A person’s other self helps them to strive hard to achieve their goals in life.
• Real other: This is the way a person thinks other people perceive him or her.
• Ideal other: This is the way a person thinks other people would like him or her to be.
• If you feel others expect you to be a great musician just because you are good at singing, then that becomes your ideal other.

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Areas that make the Self-Concept�

• An individual can have positive self-concept which could be linked to various markers of positive developments.
• This means that an individual can make targeted self- evaluations in a number of different domains. Researchers have identified the following eight domains that make up an adolescent’s self-concept:
• scholastic competence,
• athletic competence,
• physical appearance,
• peer acceptance,
• close friendship, romantic relationships,
• job competence and
• conduct/morality

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• It is significant to note that the levels of self-worth in each of these domains are associated with behaviors and accomplishments relevant to success in those areas of development.
• For instance, an adolescent’s high academic self-concept is associated with positive academic performance and having a high physical self-concept is closely related to increased physical activity.
• An adolescent who is scholastically competent is characterized with statements such as; I feel that I am very good at work; I do very well in my classwork; I feel like I am as smart as other kids.

Cont.

• An athletic competent adolescent is also associated with statements such as I do very well at all kinds of jobs; I feel that I am better than others of my age at sports. An individual who accepts his or her physical appearance is happy with his or her height and weight and the way he or she looks.
• An individual who is accepted by his or her peers feel popular with others of the same age and also have lots of friends. An adolescent who has a good conduct behaves very well most of the time and usually acts or do the right thing.
• An individual’s self-concept is dynamic, and causality is complex. This means problems and difficulties can lower self-concept but low self-concept can also cause problems. Thus, the kind of self-concept an individual has can affect him or her.

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Signs or characteristics of an individual with a negative self-concept.

• An individual’s self-concept is dynamic, and causality is complex.
• This means problems and difficulties can lower self-concept but low self-concept can also cause problems.
• Thus, the kind of self-concept an individual has can affect him or her either positively or negatively.
• Several signs or characteristics may indicate that an individual has a negative self-concept. These signs include:
• Having few friends which is commonly referred to as “anti-so”
• Doing poorly in school
• Rejecting compliments

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• Unwilling or hesitating to try new things
• Being excessively jealous,
• Putting down oneself and others
• Showing excessive amounts of anger
• Always appearing conceited
• Unwilling to take tasks
• Shirking of tasks
• Self –seclusion

Cont.

• Having a total negative self-concept in adolescence has been associated with depression, drug use and eating disorders in girls.
• Even though both male and female adolescents struggle with negative self-concepts, female adolescents tend to worry more about physical appearance than males do.
• Research has also shown that Black adolescents tend to have more positive self-concepts than do their white counterparts.

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�Strategies that can be used to address/ improve an individual with a negative self-concept.�

• Identify the domains in which the adolescent feels inadequate.
• For example, physical appearance, peer acceptance, scholastic competence, etc.
• Praise the adolescent’s accomplishments in specific domains. Friends, parents and teachers must praise the adolescent’s successes.
• For example, when the adolescent makes strides in a particular area, such as scoring a good grade or painting a picture beautifully, he or she must be praised.
• Praise the adolescents’ efforts. Teachers, friends and parents are to praise the slightest improvements the adolescent makes in his or her work. This will serve as an incentive for the adolescent to do better next time.

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• Teachers, friends and parents need to work with the adolescent to improve skills in domains in which he or she has a deficiency.
• Teachers can provide guidance and support to adolescents to improve their skills. The strategies include giving adolescents tips or clues to enhance their skills.

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• Refrain from negative comments or feedback.

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• Studies by psychologists have shown that praise and positive reinforcement are more effective in changing behavior and sustaining positive behavior.

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• Teachers, friends and parents must therefore be conscious of this fact and avoid negative comments that will dampen the spirit of the adolescent with a psychological anomaly

Sociological Approaches to the Self�

• Sociological approaches to the self are associated with Charles Horton Cooley (1963).
• Cooley described three phases by which an individual arrives at his or her own concept of himself or herself
• The first is perception: what do others see or sense in my personality and behavior?
• The second phase is interpretive: how do others evaluate what they see in me?
• In the third phase, the individual, on the basis of his or her own answer to these questions, derives feelings and builds a set of attitudes about himself or herself such as pride, disappointment or embarrassment.

Cont,

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• It is important to observe that in all three phases, as always, the individual deals with what he or she thinks and sees about himself or herself; such self-appraisal is commonly inaccurate or distorted.

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• A critical but subtle view of Cooley’s sociological analysis is that the self results from an individual’s imagination of how others view him or her. As a result, we develop self-identities based on incorrect perception of how others see us.
• For example, others may see us as stupid, but in actual fact we may not be so. We may also see ourselves as intelligent but others may see us differently. It therefore means that the self as known by us and others may not always be the same.

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Cont.

• Another sociologist known as Erving Goffman (1969) suggested that
• many of individuals’ activities involve attempts to convey impressions of who we are.
• According to Goffman:
• early in life, the individual learns to slant his or her presentation of the self in order to create a distinctive appearance and to satisfy a particular audience.
• He refers to this altering of the presentation of the self as Impression Management.

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�Psychological Approaches to the Self�

• Sigmund Freud (1962) helps us to understand the human personality better through his psycho-analytic expression.
• Freud sees personality as having three aspects which work together to produce all of our complex behaviors.
• These are
• the ID,
• Ego and
• Superego.
• All three components need to be well balanced in order to have a good amount of psychological energy for reasonable mental health.
• According to the psychoanalytic view, the conflict between the Id and Superego, negotiated by the Ego is one of the fundamental psychological battles all people face.

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• The ID�

• The ID functions in the irrational and emotional part of the mind.
• It is the part of the mind that seeks limitless pleasure.
• At birth, a baby’s mind is all ID- want, want, want.
• The ID is the irrational mind.
• It contains all the basic needs and feelings (food, sex and aggressive impulses).
• It is amoral and egocentric, ruled by the pleasure principle. It will not take “no” for an answer.
• The ID is uncaring to others.
• Whenever you see a child crying uncontrollably and rolling himself on the ground because an older sibling has taken his mother’s mobile phone, then you must understand that it is the ID that is at work.

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• The Ego�

• The Ego functions with the rational part of the mind.
• It develops out of the growing awareness that you cannot always get what you want.
• The Ego relates to the real world that operates via the “reality principle”.
• It realizes the need for compromise and negotiates between the ID and the Superego.
• The Ego’s job is to get the ID’s pleasures but to be reasonable and bear the long-term consequences in mind.
• It denies both instant gratification and pious delaying of gratification.

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• The Superego�

• The Superego is the last part of the mind to develop. It might be called the moral part of the mind.
• The Superego becomes an embodiment of parental and societal values. It stores and enforces rules.
• It constantly strives for perfection, even though this ideal may be quite far from reality or possibility.
• Its power to enforce rules comes from its ability to create anxiety.
• The superego feels guilty all the time and may even have an insufferably saintly personality.

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Healthy Self-Concept�

• A healthy self-concept is a growing belief about yourself that helps you to cope successfully with the events in your life, and then to make a positive impact on the lives of others.
• To possess a positive or healthy self-concept you must
• know yourself,
• love yourself and
• be true to yourself.
• For an individual to be able to meet the challenges of today’s world, the individual must build a solid foundation of self-knowledge, self-love and self-confidence.
• A healthy self-concept is more than just having high self-esteem. It is your self-image, either positive or negative at an emotional level.
• A healthy self-concept must derive from within.
• Instead of seeking validation from external sources, or the wavering opinions of others, one must obtain self-esteem as a result of one’s self-reflection and self-analysis.

Characteristics of a Healthy Self-Concept.

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• Various characteristics constitute a healthy self-concept. They include the following:
• The ability to know yourself; to be able to assess your strengths, weaknesses, talents and potentials.
• The ability to love and accept yourself
• The ability to be honest with yourself and be true to who you are and what you value; and
• The ability to take responsibility for your choices and actions

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Cont,,

• Developing a healthy self-concept takes deliberate planning and concerted effort.
• It also involves acquiring the necessary life skills to take on the many challenges and adversities we face.
• Developing a healthy self-concept takes deliberate planning and concerted effort.
• When an individual has a healthy self-concept, nothing can rattle him or her of his or her stride.
• You are poised, confident and assured, because you know you are equipped to handle whatever comes your way.

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• The healthy self is developed primarily through our communication with others.
• This is because as humans are social beings, we develop an understanding of ourselves as a result of our relationships with others.

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• For instance, the first people children establish relationships with are their parents and other family members such as uncles, aunts, grandparents and later when they go to school, they establish relationships with their teachers.

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• All these people who guide the child and take care of him or her during his or her primary socialization are known as significant others.

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The Concept of Personality�

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• It is significant to note some people equate personality with handsomeness or ugliness.
• Indeed, personality means more than handsomeness or ugliness. Handsomeness and ugliness are just two of the many attributes that define the personality of an individual.
• The concept of personality has different interpretations depending on the context in which it is used.
• In simple terms, the personality of an individual is everything that defines him or her.
• It refers to the qualities or attributes of an individual that make him or her totally different from others.
• These attributes or qualities are unique to the individual.
• It is important to underscore the point that sometimes two individuals may possess similar qualities or attributes but they may not be perfectly similar.
• Identical twins may even possess one or two traits that may make it possible to differentiate between them.

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Qualities/Attributes of Human Personality�

The attributes or characteristics that make up the personality of an individual include:

• The Name:
• All human beings have names which identify them.
• A name therefore is one of the attributes that human beings possess.
• Names do not however make individuals unique. This is because they may be shared by many people. We know that in your class, two or three individuals may bear the same name.
• In the larger community, many more individuals are likely to share the same name. For example, in many Akan communities names such as Poku, Osei, Duah, Boatemaa and Fosua may be shared by many people. In the same way, names such as Adongo, Apingri, Fuseina or Mamuna may be borne by many individuals in Northern Ghana.
• If names do not make individuals unique, then it stands to reason that names may not be sufficient distinguishing attributes of human personality.

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• Physical Appearance

• Physical appearance describes the personality of the individual in terms of his or her height, size and shape.
• It describes the personality of the individual by way of whether he or she is tall, short, fat, slim or timid-looking.
• In short, physical appearance describes the personal outlook of the individual.
• This means that even though two individuals may bear the same name, they will not possess similar or perfectly identical personal outlook.
• Even with twins, there may be minor differences in their personal outlook that may differentiate them.

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• Extrovert:

• The personality of an individual can be described in terms of whether he or she likes the company of others or not.
• Extroverts like working in groups and everywhere they are, they want to be heard and seen.
• They can easily make friends with others and are usually kind.
• They are outspoken and do not easily become angry.

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• Temperament

• An individual’s personality also includes his or her level of temperament.
• Individuals with bad temperament easily become angry and lose control of themselves.
• Individuals can also have good temperament.
• Those with good temperament are able to control their emotions or anger in the face of provocation.
• For instance, if your friend teases you in the classroom and you behave as if you did not hear the teasing, then you have good temperament.
• On the other hand, if you become excessively angry and insult him or her, then, you need to work on your temperament.
• It is significant to note that individual’s temperament can further be categorized into sanguine, choleric, melancholy and phlegmatic.

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• SANGUINE TEMPERAMENT

• It is sometimes referred to as the “Talker” personality.
• Someone with a Sanguine temperament tend to be lively, sociable optimistic cheerful and does not worry of become anxious.
• They love Adventure and have a tolerate high risk

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• CHOLERIC TEMPORAMENT
• It is sometime referred to as the “the doer” personality.
• They are usually goal oriented and good at making decisions.
• They are very analytical, logical and determined
• They dislike small talk or shallow discussion but enjoy deep and meaningful conversations.

• MELANCHOLIC TEMPERAMENT

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• Someone with a melancholic temperament is sometimes referred to as “the thinker personality”
• They are introverted and thoughtful. They are neat, conscientious and highly organized.

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• PHEGMATIC TEMPERAMENT
• It is sometimes referred to as “the watcher” personality. Someone with a choleric temperament tends to be relaxed and quiet. They are generally friendly, sympathetic, easy going and tolerant.

• Potentials

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• Another way of describing an individual’s personality is by looking at his or her potentials.
• Every individual has certain abilities or capabilities.
• Some of these abilities may be inherited, others may however be acquired.
• Some of the abilities individuals may possess include such manipulative skills as driving, drawing, painting and musical compositions.

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The Meaning of Capabilities

• Every human being is endowed with some potentials.

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• This means that every human being can do one thing or the other.

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• Helfat (2007), explains capabilities as the capacity to perform a particular task, function or activity.

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• Capabilities therefore, are inherent potentials in a person that enable him or her to perform certain tasks or achieve certain outcomes through a set of controllable and measurable faculties, features, functions, processes or services.

Cont.

• Capabilities and abilities are not the same.
• The ability to execute a particular task is normally the power or capacity to act.
• Ability is demonstrated only when capabilities are deployed.
• For instance, when the Armed Forces of Ghana showcases its military capabilities during a combat operation, the citizens will be convinced that Ghana has the ability to defend itself against any external aggression.
• In the same way, when the Ghana Black Stars team displays its tactical capabilities during a training session, Ghanaian soccer fans can say that Ghana has the ability to compete against any football team in the world.
• This, in effect means that it is when capabilities are exercised when abilities can be seen.

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Importance of Identifying Capabilities�

• To set realistic goals
• Avoid disappointment or frustration
• Develop self-confidence
• Help to make decisions and choices
• Strategic planning to develop capabilities

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How to develop Capabilities�

• Education and Training
• Goal setting
• Self-determination
• Risk taking

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Building Self-Esteem�

• Self-esteem is one of the most important aspect of self-concept.
• It is a term used to reflect a person’s overall evaluation or appraisal of his or her own worth.
• It encompasses beliefs (for example “ Am I competent” or “Am I incompetent”) and emotions such as triumph, despair, pride and shame.
• It refers to one’s evaluation of one’s own qualities.
• For example, an eight year old boy might have a concept of himself as someone who fights a lot. If he values his ability to fight and stand up for him, that quality might add to his self-esteem. If he is unhappy about himself or has tendency to get into conflicts then this form of aggression might detract from his self-esteem.

Cont,,

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• Thus, self-esteem refers to the extent to which we like, accept or approve of ourselves or how much we value ourselves.
• Self-esteem always involves a degree of evaluation and we may have either a positive or a negative view of ourselves.
• Thus a person’s self-esteem may be reflected in their behavior, such as assertiveness, shyness, confidence or caution.
• Synonyms or near-synonyms of self-esteem include: self-worth, self-regard, self-respect, self-love and self-integrity.
• A person’s self-esteem is high if he or she has a positive view of himself or herself. When self-esteem goes up, the individual feels happy, whereas events that lower self-esteem generally make people terrible. High self-esteem leads to:

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Features of a person with high self-esteem

• High self-esteem leads to:
• Confidence in our own abilities
• Self-acceptance
• Not worrying about what others think
• Optimism

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Features of a person with low self-esteem

• A person has low self-esteem if he or she has a negative view of himself or herself. Low self-esteem tends to lead to:
• Lack of confidence
• Wanting to be or look like someone else
• Always worrying about what others might think
• Pessimism

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Factors that influence self-esteem�

• Argyle (1948) believes that there are 4 major factors that influence self-esteem. They are:
• The reaction of others
• If people admire us, flatter us, seek our company, listen attentively and agree with us we tend to develop a positive self-image.
• If they avoid us, neglect us and tell us things we do not want to hear, we develop a negative self-image.

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• Comparison with others
• If the people we compare ourselves with (our reference group) appear to be more successful, happier, richer, better looking than ourselves we tend to develop a negative self-image,
• but if they are less successful than us, our image will be positive.

Cont.

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• Social roles
• Some social roles carry prestige (eg, doctor, airline pilot, TV presenter, premiership footballer) and these promote self-esteem.
• Other roles carry stigma. For example, prisoner, mental hospital patient and refuse collector.

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• Identification
• Roles are not just “out there”. They also become part of our responsibility, that is, we identify with the positions we occupy, the roles we play and the groups we belong to.

Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Brief History of Abraham Maslow�

• Abraham Harold Maslow was born on April 1, 1908, in Brooklyn, New York.
• His parents were Jewish immigrants from Russia who were quite destitutes and rather uneducated.
• As the first born of seven children, he was the son of Samuel and Rose (Schilofsky).
• Maslow was the sole Jewish boy in his neighborhood; therefore, this made him unhappy throughout the majority of his childhood days and as a result, he solicited refuge and comfort in books.
• Abraham Maslow developed the hierarchy of needs model in 1940-50s in USA, and the Hierarchy of Needs theory remains valid today for understanding human motivation, management training, and personal development.

Assumptions behind Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory�

• Maslow‘s theory of personality rests on several basic assumptions regarding motivation.
• First, Maslow adopted a holistic approach to motivation, repeatedly pointing out that the whole person, not any single part or function, is motivated.
• Second, motivation is usually complex, meaning that a person’s behaviour may spring from several separate motives.
• For example, the desire for sexual union may be motivated not only by a biological need but also by needs for dominance, companionship, love and self-esteem.

Cont.

• A third assumption is that people are continually motivated by one need or another.
• When one need is satisfied, it ordinarily loses its motivational power and is thus replaced by another need.
• For example, as long as people’s hunger needs are frustrated, they will strive for food, but when they do have enough to eat, they move on to other needs such as safety, friendship and self-worth.
• Another assumption is that all people everywhere are motivated by similar needs.
• The manner in which people in different cultures obtain food, build shelter, express friendship, and so forth may vary widely, but the fundamental needs for food, safety and friendship are common to the entire species.
• A final assumption concerning motivation is that needs can be arranged in a hierarchy.

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Maslow hierarchy of needs

Explanation of the concepts in Maslow’s theory�

• Physiological Needs:
• Physiological needs are the most basic needs in the pyramid.
• They include tangible physical needs necessary for living.
• These needs include oxygen, food, water, sex, maintenance of body temperature, shelter and so on.
• Physiological needs are normally met on an everyday basis; however, when these key needs are not met, all of the other levels are threatened.
• This is because perpetually hungry people are motivated to eat but not to make friends or gain self-esteem. They do not see beyond food, and as long as this need remains unsatisfied, their primary motivation is to obtain something to eat.
• In affluent societies, most people satisfy their hunger needs as a matter of course. They usually have enough to eat, so when they say they are hungry, they are really speaking of appetite, not hunger.

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Cont.

• A truly hungry person will not be overly particular about taste, smell, temperature, or texture of the food.
• When people do not have their physiological needs satisfied, they live primarily for those needs and strive constantly to satisfy them. Starving people become preoccupied with food and are willing to do nearly anything to obtain it.
• Physiological needs differ from other needs in at least two important respects.
• First, they are the only needs that can be completely satisfied or even overly satisfied.
• One can get enough to eat so that food completely loses its motivational power. For someone who has just finished a large meal, the thought of more food can even have a nauseating effect.
• A second characteristic peculiar to physiological needs is their recurring nature.
• After we have eaten, we will eventually become hungry again. We constantly need to replenish our water supply, and one breath of air must be followed by another.

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• Safety and Security Needs

• Once physiological needs are met, an individual next focuses on safety and security needs.
• These needs involve job security, insurance, living in a safe area, dependency, protection, freedom from such threatening forces as illness, fear, anxiety, danger and chaos, the need for law, order and security etc
• It is based on the safety provided by the family, economic stability, freedom from pain, physical attack, protection from danger, deprivation and predictability or orderliness.
• When these needs are unfulfilled, an individual is unable to focus on higher levels in the hierarchy.

Cont.

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• Safety needs differ from physiological needs in that they cannot be overly satisfied. We can never have too much safety. We can never be completely protected from meteorites, fires, floods or the dangerous acts of others.
• Children are more often motivated by safety needs because they live with such threats as darkness, animals, strangers, and punishment from parents.
• For both healthy and unhealthy people, safety needs become activated during emergency situations such as natural disasters, injury, accidents and war.
• During periods of immediate danger or threats to physical well-being, higher level needs such as love, esteem and self- actualization lose their potency and people become motivated primarily by safety needs.

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• Love, Affection and Belongingness Needs

• When the needs for safety and physiological well-being are partially satisfied, the next class of needs for love, affection and belongingness such as the desire for friendship, the wish for a mate and children, the need to belong to a family, a club, a neighborhood or a nation emerge.
• people seek to overcome feelings of loneliness and alienation. This involves both giving and receiving love, affection and the sense of belonging.
• Motivation for love is ordinarily strongest when the need is only partially satisfied.
• People who have never received love, who have never been kissed or cuddled, can go for long periods without these things and not panic.
• Conversely, people who have had love and belongingness needs adequately satisfied from early years also will not panic when denied love. These people have confidence that they are accepted by those who are important to them.

Cont.

• Children need love in order to grow psychologically, and their attempts to satisfy these needs are usually straight forward and direct.
• Adults too need love, but their attempts to attain it are sometimes cleverly disguised. They often engage in self-defeating behaviors such as pretending to be aloof from other people or adopting a cynical, cold, and calloused manner in their interpersonal relationships.
• They may give the appearance of self- sufficiency and independence, but in reality they have a strong need to be accepted and loved by other people.

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• Esteem Needs:

• Upon the first three needs being met, a fourth domain of actualization surfaces: esteem and recognition from oneself, and from those around them.
• People are free to pursue esteem needs, such as self-respect, confidence, competence and the esteem of others.
• When esteem needs are met, one feels confident in himself or herself as a person, and that they have a place in the world. If they stop feeling this way, they will become unstable on their path to self-actualization.
• Maslow identified two levels of esteem needs.
• reputation and
• self-esteem.
• Reputation is the perception of prestige, recognition of fame people have achieved in the eyes of others,
• whereas self-esteem is the person’s own feelings of worth and confidence.

• Self-Actualization

• It is the desire to realize one’s full potential:
• "A musician must make music, an artist must paint, and a poet must write."
• Self- actualization needs include the desire for fulfillment to realize all of one’s potentials, to become everything that one can, and to become creative in the full sense of the world.

• According to Maslow, an individual who has reached the self- actualization stage exhibits the following characteristics:�

• Keen sense of reality - aware of real situations - objective judgment, rather than subjective
• See problems in terms of challenges and situations requiring solutions, rather than see problems as personal complaints or excuses.
• Need for privacy and comfortable being alone
• Reliant on own experiences and judgment
• Independent
• Not susceptible to social pressures - non-conformist
• Democratic, fair and non-discriminating - embracing and enjoying all cultures, races and individual styles
• Socially compassionate
• A few close intimate friends rather than many surface relationships
• Spontaneous and natural - true to oneself, rather than being how others want
• Excited and interested in everything, even ordinary things
• Creative, inventive and original; seek peak experiences that leave a lasting impression.

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Reflection

• Discuss the implications of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs for the classroom.

The Meaning of Time Management�

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• Do you know that all human beings have 24 hours a day but some people are able to achieve a lot within this period while others allow their 24 hours to pass without achieving much?
• There are some people who are busy throughout the day but they have nothing to show at the end of the day.
• Others utilize their time properly and therefore are able to produce results with the time available to them.
• You can therefore see that the differences among individuals lie in how they manage their time.
• Do you remember how you utilized the last two hours before you settled down to read this book?

What is time management?

• Time management is therefore a set of principles, practices, skills, tools and systems that help you to use your time to accomplish what you want.
• It is also defined as a set of principles, practices, skills, tools and systems working together to help you to get more value for your time with the aim of improving the quality of your life.
• Time management is not necessarily getting more things done in a day but getting done in a day things that really need to be done.
• Good time managers choose to focus and spend their time doing a few vital projects or assignments that will really make a difference, rather than spending all their time doing many trivial things that do not really matter all that much.

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The Importance of Time Management�

• Time is Limited
• Time is Scarce
• You need time to get what you want out of Life
• Too many Choices

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How Individuals can manage their time�

• Write things down
• Prioritize your List
• Plan your Week
• Learn to say no
• Think before Acting
• Identify Bad Habits
• Continuously improve yourself

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The Institution of Family�

• We begin our study of the family by first looking at the meaning of descent and the two descent groups that are found in Africa.

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• Descent may be seen as the process by which direct genealogical connection is traced between an individual and his forbears or offspring for the purpose of recruitment into kin groups.

• There are two (2) main descent groups, namely:
• CLANS and LINEAGES.

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• A Clan

• A clan is a group of people, male and female, who are believed to have descended through one line only (male or female) from a common putative ancestor or ancestress.
• The members are only believed to have descended from their common source mainly because
• the clan is such a large and inclusive group that genealogical ties connecting all the members to the founder are not clearly known.
• The exact genealogical connections between the members with the founder may not be known (Nukunya, 2004).

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• Usually as a large and inclusive group, it is dispersed in the sense that all the members are neither found in the same settlement nor in contiguous ones.

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• In some societies, the clan is said to be exogamous,
• that is, marriages are forbidden among members.
• Eg Akan, Tallensi, and some northern Ewe groups.

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• According to Nukunya (2004), among the Anlo of the Volta Region, there are no restrictions on members about marriage of their clan “sisters”.

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• Clans are also associated with totems and taboos.
• A totem is anything, usually a plant or animal, which is believed to have some ritual association with a group, and as a result, members of the group are expected to treat it in a particular way.
• A taboo is anything forbidden. The group may be forbidden to eat a particular plant, animal or fish.
• Usually totems, are taboos in the sense that members of the group may be under instruction to refrain from eating them or handling them in any way.
• The number of clans differs from society to society. The Akans have 8 while the Anlo have 15.

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• Lineage�

• A lineage may be regarded as a group of people, male and female, who are descended through one line only from a common ancestor or ancestress.
• The difference between the clan and the lineage lies, for most part, the fact that members of lineage are
• localized and
• they know the genealogical ties that connect them to the founding ancestor or ancestress, and theoretically, the ties among themselves.
• However, in the case of the clan, these ties are not known.

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• The lineage is a corporate group. A group is corporate when it has one or more of the following characteristics:

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• When it has a leader.
• When it owns property.
• When its members or a significant number of them meet regularly to discuss matters of common interest.
• In this sense, the lineage can be said to have a legal personality and, in legal jargon, it can sue and be sued.

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• Land is the property usually vested in lineages.
• The lineage is also usually, though not invariably, an exogamous groups and thus marriages are forbidden between members.
• It can be seen as a localized property-owning group, the relations among its members are likely to be active.
• Co-residence and co-activity, however, sometimes breed conflict, especially when rights over property are in dispute.
• Seen from the outside, the lineage looks like a single unit, but from the inside it does not.
• It is highly segmented, that is, the relations among members are not all uniform but vary relative to their genealogical positions, the closer they are on the chart the more intimate the relationship.

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Kinship Structure and Function

• In every society, a male at a point in his life, plays the roles of a husband, a father (unless he decides to remain a bachelor) and a son and a brother in some families; and
• a female plays the roles of a wife, a mother (unless she decides not to marry) and a daughter and a sister.
• It must be noted that due to incest taboo, a man cannot play the roles of a father and a husband in the same nuclear family in which he is a son and a brother.
• In the same way, a woman cannot play the roles of a mother and a wife in the same nuclear family in which she is a daughter and a sister.

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• For these reasons, every adult individual belongs to two nuclear families.
• These are:
• the family of orientation in which he was born and brought up
• the family of procreation which he establishes by marriage.
• It is this fact of individual membership in two nuclear families that gives rise to kinship system.
• By virtue of the fact that individuals belong to two nuclear families, every person forms a link between the members of his family of orientation and those of his family of procreation.

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• Such links bind individuals to one another through kinship ties.
• Kinship may thus, be defined as “a social relationship based on family relatedness”.
• The nature of relationship which may be consanguineal (based on blood ties) or affinal (based on marriage) determines the rights and obligations of related persons,.
• A kin group may be explained as “a group related by blood ties or marriage”.

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Kinship Categories�

• There are four kinship categories:
• primary kin,
• secondary kin,
• tertiary kin and
• distant kin.
• The primary kin are those kin who belong to the Ego’s nuclear families of orientation and procreation.
• Thus, father (Fa), mother (Mo), sister (Si) and brother (Br) in one’s family of orientation, and husband (Hu), wife (Wi), son (so), and daughter (Da) in one’s family of procreation, are one’s primary kin

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• Each of Ego’s primary kin will have his or her own primary kin, who will not be primary kin of Ego.
• These are called secondary kin. For example, FaFa, FaMo, MoFa, MoBr, etc. There are 33 types of secondary kin.
• The primary kin of the secondary kin are called tertiary kin. For example, Fa-FaFa, FaFaBr, etc. There are 151 types of tertiary kin.
• Lastly, the primary kin of tertiary kin are called distant kin.
• For example, FaFaFaFa, FaMoFaFa, etc. Their number is very large.

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Kinship Terminologies �

These are used to distinguish one system from the other. They include the following:

Decent

• Descent is seen as the process by which direct genealogical connection is traced between an individual and his forbears for the purpose of recruitment into kin groups.

Unilineal descent system

• When an individual uses one line only to trace his or her descent, it is referred to as unilineal descent.
• The patrilineal and matrilineal systems are examples of the unilineal descent system.
• This is because recruitment into both groups is through one line only: male or female. The Akan of Ghana and Ewe are societies that practice this system.

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• Double unilineal system
• Every child has two parents and in this system, both are used.
• In this descent system, the two unilineal groups, that is, patrilineal and matrilineal exist side by side.
• In other words, an individual in this system belongs simultaneously to two descent groups that is to his father’s patrilineal descent group and his mother’s matrilineal descent group.
• The best known examples of dual descent are those found in Yako of the Cross River State of Nigeria, the Afikpo Igbo of Nigeria and the Nuba of the Republic of Sudan.
• It is also found among the Lo Dagaaba of northwestern Ghana, and the Mo of the western borders of Northern and Brong Ahafo Regions.

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• For instance In the Lo Dagaaba system as in others, movable property is transmitted through the mother’s side.
• That is, an individual can inherit property such as jewellery, and cattle from the mother while immovable property such as land, houses and farms are transmitted through the father’s side.
• This arrangement exists in the constitutions and customs of those societies to avoid conflict over inheritance.
• The residential pattern however provides that those who form the local community are agnates rather than uterine kin.

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Cognatic/Bilateral/Non-Unilineal descent system�

• This is the descent system that provides the individual the flexibility to belong to either the mother’s matrilineal system or the father’s patrilineal system.

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• the cognatic system allows individuals the mobility and flexibility to explore resources at either the mother’s side or the father’s side.

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• For example, an individual with chiefly ambitions will place much emphasis on where he or she can satisfy this ambition. Another in need of land will draw closer to where he or she can obtain this resource and patrilineal.

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• If after sometime, he or she finds that land is no longer what he requires, he will shift camp and align himself to the side where he can maximize his interests

• The system thus allows members to move in and out depending on the benefit they want to derive. The Dagomba operates this kind of system. In Dagbon, with the exception of the major skins, Yendi, Karaga, Mion, Nantom, Savelugu etc. which are patrilineal, the others are both matrilineal and patrilineal

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• The Dagomba state, until the arrival of their current overlords, was a matrilineal society.

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• It was the warriors who introduced the patrilineal system.

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• That partly explains why the Dagomba’s do not emphasize any side as it is the case with the unilineal system.

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• The bilateral, non –unilineal or cognatic descent system is the system where both sides of the family are used without any emphasis on a specific line.

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• Agnatic/Uterine systems�

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• Agnatic descent is another name for patrilineal descent.

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• As a result, persons who are patrilineally related or belong to the same patrilineal descent group are also called agnates.

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• Uterine kinship is used in place of matrilineal kinship.

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• Therefore those who are matrilineally related or belong to the same matrilineal descent group are called uterine kin.

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Terms used to Designate Ambiguous Categories�

• The Concept of Parent.
• A father, under normal circumstances should refer to a person who is biologically responsible for the birth of a child
• but sociologists make a distinction between a biological father and a sociological father.
• The term ‘father’ is thus ambiguous if we refuse to state which of the two we are referring to. The biological father, also known as the genitor is the one who sleeps with a woman and produces children with her.
• The child’s sociological father, also known as the pater is the one with moral rights and obligations towards the child.

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• Among the Akan, a child’s biological father is not necessarily the pater. His uncles will have jural rights over him or her.
• They may be responsible for the child’s upkeep and sometimes they may even discipline him or her.
• The biological father alone cannot take certain important decisions about his children without reference to the wife’s maternal brothers.
• For example, during marriage, the biological father will have to seek the concurrence of the wife’s brothers before the child can marry.
• This means that among the Akan a man does not have complete authority over his own children.
• He may be fond of them but he does not control them.

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• The Concept of Siblings.
• Another term that is often used is “sibling” which refers to children of one person or of a couple.
• To give precision to the term, we refer to children of the same father and mother as full siblings;
• those of the same mother but of different fathers or of the same father but different mothers as half siblings.

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Explanation of some terms used in Kinship Studies�

• Ego is a person who is the basic point of reference in determining and tracing kinship or genealogy.
• Affinity is the relationship through marriage. It is an in-law relationship.
• It is sometimes called affinal relationship. It therefore means that your husband’s brothers are your affines.
• In the same way, your wife’s sisters are your affines.
• Local Agnatic Incidence (in patrilocal residence). This is the number of adult male resident members of a patrilineage, calculated as a percentage of all adult males living on the land associated with the patrilineage.

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• Filiation is a term closely associated with Meyer Fortes: it means the fact of being the recognized child of one’s parents.

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• Thus, patrifiliation refers to the fact of being a recognized child of one’s father while matri-filiation means the recognized ties between mother and child.

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• For example, an individual uses patri-filiation for membership of a patrilineage and matri-filiation for a matrilineage. (A step child cannot use patrifiliation to seek membership in a patrilneage). Patrifiliation or matrifiliation is needed by an individual to state a claim to a parent.

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The Meaning of Family�

• Family is an important social institution and every human being belongs to one.
• The concept is not easy to define since its nature and composition differ from society to society.
• Different sociologists have defined the concept differently sometimes to reflect their own social backgrounds.
• Gould and Kolb (1964) define the human family as an institutionalized bio-social group made up of adults (at least two of whom, unrelated by blood and of the opposite sex, are married) and children, the off-spring of the maritally related adults.
• The minimal functions of this group are the provision of satisfaction and control of affectional needs, including sexual relations, and the provision of a socio-cultural situation for the procreation, care and socializing of offsprings.

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• Stephens (1963) defines a family as a social arrangement based on marriage contract, including recognition of the rights and duties of parenthood, common residence for husband, wife and children, and reciprocal economic obligations between husband and wife.
• Christensen (1964) views the family as “marriage plus progeny; family in other words, signifies a set of statuses and roles acquired through marriage and procreation”.
• According to Burgess (1949), the family as a universal institution is characterized by the following to distinguish it from other social groups:
• The family is composed of persons united by ties of marriage, blood or adoption
• The members of a family typically live together under one roof and constitute a single household; or if, they live apart, they consider the household their home
• The family is composed of persons who interact and communicate with each other in their social roles, such as husband and wife, mother and father, son and daughter, brother and sister.

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• The family has also been defined by Reiss (1965) as a small kinship-structure group with the key function being nurturant socialization of the newborn.
• According to Murdock (1949), “the family is a social group characterized by common residence, economic co-operation and reproduction. It includes adults of different sexes at least two of whom maintain a socially approved sexual relationship and one or more children, owned or adopted of the sexually cohabiting adults”.
• Perhaps the most acceptable definition which we will adopt is the one provided by Nukunya (2004). He defines family as a group of individuals related to one another by ties of consanguinity (blood), marriage or adoption the adult members of which are responsible for the upbringing of children. It may or may not form an economic unit and is usually, but not always localized.

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�Types of Family�

• There are basically two types of family. These are the nuclear and extended families.
• The Nuclear Family
• The nuclear family refers to a married couple and their children.
• Such a unit is also called the monogamous family. A husband and a wife can be correctly described as a nuclear family.
• In the same way, a brother and sister, one parent and one child or both parents and any number of children can also constitute a nuclear family.
• You may have heard about the term conjugal family”. The term conjugal implies marriage or the relation between husband and wife as the basis of a family structure.
• Conjugal family is sometimes used interchangeably with nuclear family. For example, a husband and wife can be correctly described as nuclear or conjugal family.
• But siblings living together would be nuclear family but not conjugal. Similarly, siblings living together with a parent would constitute a nuclear but not a conjugal family.
• Thus, for a family to qualify as conjugal, the basic unit of husband and wife (parents) must share common residence with their children.

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The Extended Family�

• The term extended family implies that this family traverses or extends beyond the boundary of the nuclear or conjugal family.
• Specifically, the extended family comprises parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, grandparents and cousins.
• Sometimes joint and consanguine families are used interchangeably with extended families
• The extended family is characterized by corporate concern. In other words, when calamity befalls any one member, all the other members are affected. They all share expressive ties.
• In the case of the demise of a member, the funeral expenses are shared among all adult members of the family.
• Thus, the extended family is economically sufficient. It usually has large tracts of land and cheap domestic labour.

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• The nuclear family is the type of family that is associated with the western industrialized countries.
• However, when mention is made of the family in the African sense, it means the extended family.
• The extended family is still very strong in the rural areas of Ghana.
• In the urban areas, its presence is only felt occasionally particularly during funerals.
• Migration, modernization and education, among other factors which play down the extended family system in favour of the nuclear family, are gradually making the extended family unpopular.

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• It is important to point out at this stage that whether nuclear or extended, we can divide families into
• families of orientation
• A family of orientation is the one in which the individual is a child, that is the one into which he or she is born.
• families of procreation.
• Family of procreation on the other hand is the one in which the individual is a parent or adult and into which a new generation of children is brought up.

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• Another aspect of the family that needs to be pointed out is the domestic group.
• A domestic group refers to persons who occupy a particular dwelling. It may be a family but not all domestic groups are families.
• Households are also different from both families and domestic groups.
• A household is a group who share the same housekeeping and eating arrangements. These are persons who “eat from the same pot”.
• It may be a domestic group or family but not necessarily.
• In general, a household consists of a man, his wife, children and some other relatives or a house help who may be living with them (Ghana Population and Housing Census, 2010).

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The Family Life Cycle�

• The other point we want to make at this stage is that the domestic group or family is never static.
• According to Meyer Fortes (1949), the domestic group has a growth or developmental cycle during which its composition changes considerably.
• This first phase comes about through the marriage of a couple. This is known as the phase of expansion.
• The expansion phase occurs when the couple gives birth to a child, and lasts until the couple completes their childbearing activities.

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• The second phase of the developmental cycle is called the phase of fission or dispersion which is marked by the marriage of the children and lasts until the last one marries out.
• During this period, the house begins to assume a more complex character because some of the married daughters might not have moved out to join their husbands.
• Others who had actually moved out would have returned with their children as a result of divorce, widowhood or quarrels with their husbands.

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• The last stage is the phase of replacement,
• when in some societies one of the sons is expected to come and live in the parents’ home after their death.
• Fortes emphasizes that the three phases are not discrete points in the developmental cycle. They do overlap.
• For instance, the couple need not finish their child bearing activities before the children start marrying out.
• Also, they do not have to die before their children return to the house.

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Functions of the Family� �

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• The family provides the generally accepted relationships for the procreation of children.

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• When children are brought into the world they must be trained in the accepted modes of behaviour of the society. This is the responsibility of the parents.

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• Where the nuclear family lives by itself, the socialization functions of the parents are paramount. The entire functions fall on their shoulders.

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• The family is also an economic unit in the sense that members contribute to make a living.
• The family provides care, protection and emotional support for its members.
• Human infants have long period of dependency, unlike other animals.
• Families provide the basic necessities of food, shelter and clothing to their members.
• They also provide the physical closeness and enduring interaction needed to develop intimacy and the sense of being emotionally close to people

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The Role of members of the Family�

• The Roles of the Husband/ Father in the Home
• The father also has the responsibility of providing security for his family.
• Another responsibility of the father is to ensure that he sexually satisfies his wife and provides her with all her emotional needs
• The father also needs to take care of the family’s spiritual needs.
• The husband must also be able to settle conflicts that may arise among members of the family etc.

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• The Roles of the Wife/Mother in the Home�

• The wife or mother must also ensure that she does not only perform her domestic chores but also assign duties to the children so that she coordinates the activities of all the children.
• It is also the responsibility of the wife to bring up and nurture her children.
• The mother also needs to be responsible for the moral and character training of the children.
• A woman should also not forget to satisfy her husband sexually etc.

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The Roles of Children in the Home�

• children must have responsibilities towards their parents.
• It means that family members have reciprocal obligations towards one another. Children are to support their parents in all domestic chores.
• They should also assist their parents by running errands for them.
• They should assist with cooking, washing, cleaning and scrubbing.
• A child stands the risk of being neglected by the parents, if they find that he or she does not obey their instructions or respect them.
• Children are to provide economic support to their parents.
• For example, if a mother prepares kenkey for sale, the child is expected to help her after school to grind the corn and also roll the dough into balls before it is cooked and sent to the market to be sold.

The Changing Roles of Members of the Family�

• It must be pointed out that the roles are changing as a result of education, modernization, urbanization and the economic situation in the country.
• Another area where the role of the family is changing is in the area of family expenditure.
• As a result of education, many women are now in paid employment. Their role as house wives has now changed.
• Another area where the role of the family is changing is in the area of family expenditure.

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Inheritance system

• Inheritance means the transmission of property.
• It is different from succession which refers to the transmission of status or office.
• The Matrilineal System of Inheritance
• In matrilineal system, an individual has more to do with his mother’s people than his father’s because the descent group to which he belongs is traced lineally through the female line.

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• Inheritance and succession also pass in the female line from a man to his brothers or to his sister’s children
• while status and offices go first to younger brothers before going down to the sister’s children.
• In practice however, even offices find their way to the sister’s son rather than the brother. This type of inheritance is mainly practiced by the Akan- speaking people, the largest ethnic group in the country.
• The groups generally considered as Akan include Asante, Akyem, Akwapim, Brong, Kwahu, Assin-Twifo, Wasa, Fante-Agona, Nzema and Ahanta.

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• The matrilineal system is defended by the Ashanti and Akans on the grounds of purity of the system
• The Asante matrilineal inheritance system thus, prevents a situation where a stranger will inherit a man’s property and title.
• It is argued that the system encourages laziness on the part of some nephews and brothers
• It is important to stress that it was as a result of the unfairness inherent in the matrilineal inheritance system that the Intestate Succession Law (PNDC Law 111) was passed in 1985.
• It was to correct injustices in the inheritance system by recognizing the contributions of a woman and her children to a man’s self-acquired property and give a substantial portion of the property to them

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The Patrilineal System of Inheritance�

• In patrilineal societies both inheritance and succession pass in the male line. In this system, an individual belongs to his father’s descent group.
• Such a descent group is made up of persons, male and female, who are descended through the male line only from a common ancestor.
• Thus, the children of male members of the group belong to it but those of the females do not.
• It follows that as the lineage is usually exogamous (that is, members cannot marry from within the group) children of brothers will be forbidden to marry one another since they are members of the same descent group.
• However, the children of brother and sister can marry. Cross-cousin marriage, as this is known, is quite common not only in patrilineal societies but also in matrilineal ones.

• In a patrilineal system, where lineage is traced through the father, the woman on marriage becomes a member of her husband’s extended family, and so are the children born in the marriage.
• However, in some patrilineal societies, such as those of the Ga and Dangme of Ghana, a woman is never a member of her husband’s family although her children are.
• Societies that practice the patrilineal system in Ghana include the Gonja, Dagomba, Mamprusi, Wala, Konkomba, Ewe, Ga, Adangme and Krobo.

• One obvious advantage is that it encourages hard work.
• This is because a man’s children know that when they assist their father to acquire property, they will have the right to enjoy it when their father dies.
• The system also ensures fairness as a woman and her children who assist their husband and father to acquire property are not thrown out upon the death of the man, but are made to enjoy the property.
• It means that in this system, people are not made to reap where they have not sown.
• The patrilineal system also enables a man’s biological children to inherit what is rightly theirs when their father dies.
• The patrilineal system however generates jealousy among the extended family members.
• This is because a man’s property is transmitted directly to his children.

��THE INSTITUTION OF MARRIAGE� �

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• The Meaning of Marriage
• The institution of marriage is a very important one in all human societies.
• It is the recognized institution for the establishment and maintenance of family all over the world.
• Despite the fact that marriage is a universal institution, there is no generally accepted definition for it.

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• One of the often-quoted definitions is the one provided by Notes and Quotes in Anthropology, the official handbook of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain, which sees marriage as “a union between a man and a woman such that children born to the woman are recognized as legitimate children of both parents” (1951:110).

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• Stephens (1963), a renowned anthropologist describes marriage as a socially legitimate sexual union, began with a public announcement, undertaken with some idea of permanence, and assumed with more or less explicit marriage contract, which spells out reciprocal obligations between spouses and their children.

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• Marriage is thus regarded as a union between two people of the opposite sex who have gone through all the procedures recognized in the society for the purposes of sexual intercourse, raising of a family, or companionship.

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Types of Marriage�

• Throughout Africa, there are three types of marriage that a man may opt for.
• These are :
• marriage under customary law,
• moslem marriage and
• ordinance marriage.

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• Customary law marriage is the type in which a man can marry as many women as he feels he can support financially;
• Moslem marriage is the type in which a man can marry up to four women; and
• Ordinance marriage (including Christian marriage) is the type in which a man can only have one wife at a time. These reflect the three major cultures that have influenced African societies (Dolphyne, 1991).

Choice of partners�

• The marriage market is a broad one with all sorts of persons ready to offer themselves for sale.
• Some of these people have good character, but others have dubious character who can ruin the life of anyone who joins himself or herself to them.
• it is therefore important for suitors to approach the mate-selection exercise with considerable care, patience and prayer.

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• The following are ways by which an individual can choose a partner:

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• Arranged marriage
• Throughout Ghana, and indeed sub-Saharan Africa as a whole, women are traditionally given in marriage through the initiative of their parents, sometimes without their consent, or even knowledge of their prospective husbands.

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• As a result of arranged marriages, conflicts often arise between parents and their children, especially the girls, when the latter prefer their suitors to those chosen for them.

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• In northern Ghana, elopement has been a long-standing practice.

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• Free choice of spouse with parental approval

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• A totally free choice of partner is practically non- existent anywhere in the world.
• Limited free choice, that is, choosing a partner with parental approval happens to be the most popular way of mate selection in Ghana nowadays.
• With the upsurge of education, migration, urbanization and communication, this process has become the most widespread in Ghana.
• Free choice with parental approval is a process which expresses a major democratic value. That is, the right of choice.
• It also avoids the problem of incompatibility which sometimes emanates from the arranged marriages.
• The process however, becomes a problematic when the choice violates the rule of endogamy and exogamy. Under such circumstances, parental approval becomes difficult.

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Residential propinquity�

• Residential propinquity as a factor in the choice of a partner means that prospective spouses tend to choose mates who are near to them in terms of distance, time, and cost.

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• Cultural groups, according to this theory, tend to be residentially segregated.
• Thus in looking for a marriage partner, the most immediate choice falls within ones culture as defined by the rules of exogamy.

• Social status�

• Status here means that people of similar status tend to marry.
• Higher-status parents prefer their children marrying among their class.
• This is essential to preserve family lineage and status.
• Hence, children of higher class people such as Chief Executives, Bank Managers and Vice Chancellors marry among themselves.
• This does not however rule out messalliance, that is marriage with a person of an inferior position.
• Messalliance is in two forms-hypergamy and hypogamy.
• In hypergamy, the female marries up into a higher social stratum.
• For hypogamy, on the other hand, the female marries downward into a lower social stratum. It must be noted that hypogamy is rare.

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• This is because men, more often than not, are attracted to women by their economic power, maturity and wisdom.
• Ones these factors are found in a man, all other considerations are less important to a woman in selecting him as a spouse.
• It would be extremely strange for thirty-eight old woman, for instance, with a university degree to marry a young man of about twenty two years of age with only a Junior High School qualification.
• Hypergamy is however very common both in Ghana and the world at large.
• The reason is that women are generally attracted to men by their physical looks and character.
• It is therefore not uncommon to see a fifty-year old man with a masters degree marrying a Junior High School certificate holder of about nineteen years of age because of her irresistible beauty and impeccable.

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Religion�

• Before the advent of colonialism, when every Ghanaian was an adherent of traditional religion, religion was not a factor in choosing a partner.
• However, with the coming of the European colonialists into Ghana with its subsequent introduction of Christianity and Islam, religion has become an important factor in choosing a spouse.

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• The questions that usually arise cover inter-faith, intra-faith, inter-denominational and intra-denominational. Within the purview of inter-faith

Age�

• Age as a factor in mate selection has comparative dimensions.
• In other words, a prospective spouse compares his or her age with the prospective partner before endorsing a choice.
• It is generally observed that, the age of marriage for males is higher than that for females.
• It therefore follows that, grooms are older than their brides.

Physical appearance and personality trait

A major factor that influences a potential spouse to choose a particular individual as a husband or wife is the physical appearance of that individual.

• The facial expression is the first to catch one’s attention.
• One’s height, dental formula, complexion, and size, among others, because the other targets for inspection.

Bride wealth�

• Before a marriage is effected, gifts are normally exchanged between the families of the bride and those of the groom.

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• However, what is provided by the groom is always substantially higher in value than what is provided by the bride, which in some societies like the Ga or Akan of Ghana, consists of a meal that is shared by both families.

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• In some South African societies such as the Swazi of Swaziland, the bride gives expensive colourful blankets for selected in–laws.

• In the predominantly traditional non-literate society, the exchange of gifts is meant to be evidence of a contract of marriage between the two families.

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• The goods or gifts that are transferred during marriage are known as prestations.
• Prestations are payments made to fulfil the marriage contract, and they come in various forms. They include bride wealth or bride price and dowry.
• The bride wealth or bride price is a payment by the groom’s family to the bride’s family at marriage.

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• The term “bride price” is rarely used in contemporary marriages because of the implications that the woman is being purchased.

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• The term gives the impression that the woman is a “commodity” being purchased and paid for by the man.

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• Dowry is a gift or money brought by a bride to her husband on their marriage.

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• The difference between bride wealth or bride price and dowry lies in the direction from which the gift flows.

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• If the gift flows from the groom and his family to the bride and her family, it is known as bride wealth.

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• On the other hand, if it flows from the bride and her family to the groom and his family, it is called dowry.

Various Factors That Determine The Value Of The Bride Wealth�

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• The status of the woman’s family in the particular community where the marriage is taking place.

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• Another is the status of the woman herself

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• The other factor that determines the value of the bride wealth a man pays is whether the society concerned is matrilineal or patrilineal

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Importance of Bride wealth�

• The bride wealth is important in any marriage contract for the reasons stated below:
• It is viewed as payment to the bride’s parents for expenses incurred in bringing her up and as compensation for the loss of her services.

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• In cases where the bride is a virgin, the bride wealth is viewed as payment to the parents for successfully guarding and instilling in their daughter the virtue of chastity.

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• It symbolizes the man’s love for the bride and protection of the marriage since dissolution of the marriage on good grounds on the part of the man means a refund of his bride wealth to him.

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• In addition, the bride wealth symbolizes the man’s social and economic status and his ability to care for the wife and children.

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• It also seals the marriage contract and legitimizes the children born out of the marriage.

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• It establishes exclusive sexual rights between the man and his wife.

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• Finally, the bride wealth raises the social prestige of the woman.

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�Debate on the payment of Bride wealth�

•  Some gender activists believe that the practice must be abolished so that, men do not pay any bride wealth to their wives’ families upon marriage.

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• The arguments they advance for the abolishment of bride wealth payment include the following:

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• Bride wealth, according to gender activists, constitutes the purchase price of women and they argue that since men pay so much money in marrying their wives, they use this as a pretext to maltreat them.

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• They also argue that the payment of bride wealth creates an impression in the minds of men that they own the women they have married

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• The activists further contend that expensive bride wealth demanded by some families in Ghana have prevented many young men who are willing to marry from marrying, and according to them, this has increased the number of unmarried women in Ghana.

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• Finally, they argue that in some societies, parents who want to receive bride wealth push their daughters into early marriages.

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The Meaning of a Successful Marriage.�

• A successful marriage, therefore, is not about the fact that two people have decided to stay together until death.
• In other words, longevity is not an index of a successful marriage.
• Many marriage partners find their marriage painful but are only enduring or coping because they do not find divorce a wise option.

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• The definition of a successful marriage, therefore, is the one in which a couple is able to find enough qualities in their partner so that they will rather stay together for the rest of their lives than live without that person.

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• To help our understanding of successful marriage, we shall utilize the following marriage theories;

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�Marital Enhancement through Cognitive Self-disclosure. �

• The first theory of what it takes to make a successful marriage was developed by Edwards Waring.

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• His theory is that marital intimacy increases couple’s relationship and family functioning.
• He believes the way to increase intimacy is through cognitive self-disclosure.
• Waring’s definition of intimacy includes the following eight dimensions

• The conflict Resolution: That is, how easily couples can resolve differences of opinion.
• Affection: This defines the degree of emotional closeness the couple expresses.

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• Cohesion: The feeling that both spouses are committed to the marriage.

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• Sexuality: This is how much sexual needs are communicated and fulfilled in the marriage.
• Identity: This describes the couple’s level of self-confidence and self-esteem.

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• Compatibility: This explains the degree the couple can work and play together.
• Autonomy: This defines how couples become independent from their families of origin and their offspring.
• Expressiveness: This defines the degree that thought, beliefs, attitudes and feelings are shared between the partners (Waring, 1988).

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• When a couple is intimate with each other, they gain predictability in their relationship, an emotional feeling of closeness, a cognitive feeling of understanding, and their attitude changes to commitment

Triangular Theory of Love �

• The next theory that attempts to define aspects of a loving relationship are the triangular theory of love which was a research based theory developed by Sternberg.

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• This theory describes three different dimensions that are often seen in relationships.

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• These three concepts are commitment, passion and intimacy.

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• Commitment �

• Commitment is described as the thinking or cognitive aspect of love.
• Being in a committed relationship means making a conscious decision to love one another and to decide to maintain that love despite any difficulties that may arise (Crooks & Baur, 2014).

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• Passion
• Passion is described as the component that fuels the romantic feelings, physical attraction, and desires for sexual interaction.
• When passion is present in a relationship, it motivates the couple to be united with each other (Crooks & Baur, 2014).

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• Intimacy
• Intimacy is the third part of the triangle.
• Intimacy is the emotional side of love.
• It gives the sense of a bond with another person by feeling warmth, sharing, and emotional closeness.
• In intimate relationships, each partner is willing to help one another and they are willing to share their most private thoughts and feelings with each other (Crooks & Baur 2014).

Triangular Theory of Love

Functions of Marriage�

• It develops family
• Provides Security
• Satisfaction of affiliation needs
• Provides for Economic Cooperation
• Regulation of Sex relations

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 �Social Change and the Institution of Marriage�

• Social change is the alteration that takes place in a society over a period of time.
• These alterations may be cultural, social, political, and economic.

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• Marriage is one social institution affected by social change and innovations of all kinds.
• These changes have been brought about by several factors such as education, modernization, western influence, Christianity, Islam and colonization.

Areas of change

• One noticeable change in marriage is the age at which people marry.  
• Another effect of contemporary social change is the diminishing role of parents in the selection of marital partners.
• According to Nukunya (2008), new forms of marriage also came in the wake of factors of social change. Christian missions, for example, introduced what has come to be known as Christian marriage, while the colonial administrators also came with marriage under ordinance of 1884.
• Christianity and formal education have contributed in a large measure to the decline of polygamous marriages.
• Divorce is another aspect of marriage which is often thought to have been affected by social change and urbanization.

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�The meaning of community�

• Human beings are social beings.
• This means that they cannot live alone. This is the reason why from the beginning of creation, human beings sought the company of others.

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• Much in the same ways as individuals want to enjoy the company of others, they also become attracted to areas where others have already settled.
• When people come together to live at a particular place, they form a community.

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• The word community comes from the Latin word communis which means common, “public” and shared by all or many (Haper, 2001).

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• The Latin term communitatus, from which the English word, “community” comes, comprises three elements; ‘com”- a Latin prefix which means with or together, munis- the change or exchanges that link, and tatus- a Latin suffix which suggests small, intimate or local.

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• Definition
• Nick Wates defines the word community in The Community Planning Handbook, as a group of people sharing common interests and living within a geographically defined area.

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• Nabeel Hamdi in his book (with Reinhard Goethert), Action Planning for Cities: A guide to Coomunity Practice, points out that the term community has both “social and spatial dimensions” and that generally, the people within a community come together to achieve a common objective, even if they have certain differences.

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• Another definition worth considering is the one given by Charles Abrams.
• He defines community as “that mythical state of social wholeness in which each member has his or her place and in which life is regulated by co-operation rather by competition and conflict”.

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• Adaboh and Adaboh (1999) see a community as a total grouping within which people carry out a full round of life activities. The Ghana Statistics Service (1993) defines a community as a group of households in the same locality or a group of localities acknowledging the authority of the head or a chief.

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• The most cited definition of a community is that, a community is a relatively large group of people with common values, interests, enduring ties, frequent interactions and a sense of closeness to one another.

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• The following points are clear in all the definitions given so far:
• A community is a grouping of people.
• The people in a community share common values and interests.
• A community has a geographical location or defined territory.
• The members of a community are conscious of their unity. That is, they are aware of their membership of the group, and usually, act together for their common good.

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�Historical development of communities�

• According to Hughes and Kroachler (2005), before communities emerged, human beings led nomadic lifestyles.
• People thus moved from one place to another to satisfy their needs for adequate food supply through hunting, vegetable or fruit gathering, fishing, among others.
• The people continued to do these until the advent of the Neolithic Revolution or the New Stone Age.

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• The Neolithic Revolution or the New Stone Age was a period where basic tools and equipment were invented for food production.
• The method of production therefore changed from food gathering to food cultivation.

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• The new way of life of the people led to an increase in food supply which also brought about food surpluses, and this made it possible for people to enjoy some amount of leisure.
• Can you explain why? As you have already seen, before the Neolithic Revolution, people always moved about in search of food.
• However, with the advent of food surpluses, they had enough to eat for several days, so they started enjoying rest.
• Due to the leisure hours they enjoyed, they had free time which they used for other things such as the building of huts and other structures to accommodate themselves.
• The above changes led to the emergence of communities that is, rural communities or villages.
• It is believed that food surpluses sparked population increase which in turn led to urbanization.

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�TYPES OF COMMUNITY�

• Rural Communities
• The term “rural” comes from the Latin word “rus”, and it means village.
• By rural community is meant any settlement in which most of the people are engaged in agriculture and its related economic activities such as farming, hunting, fishing and fruit gathering.
• Globally, most nations use population size to distinguish between rural and urban communities.
• But, it is important to state that all these countries do not use the same population size for categorizing a community as rural.
• In Ghana, for example, settlements or communities with less than 5000 people are considered rural.

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• In Nigeria, communities with less than 20,000 people are also classified as rural.
• The United Nations (UN) uses the same standard as that of Nigeria for describing a community as rural.
• Other examples include Canada where communities are classified as rural if their populations are less than 1000 people, and USA if it is less than 2500.
• In India, if a community has a total population of 5000 with 90 percent of the inhabitants being farmers, then that community is considered rural.

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Urban communities

• The term “urban” originates from the Latin word, “URBS” and it means town or city where the people, to a large extent, engage in secondary and tertiary economic activities such as manufacturing, insurance, banking, retail and wholesale activities and information technology.

• That is, an urban community, a town or city is to any settlement in which most of the working populations are engaged in non-agricultural occupations.

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• A city is thus, a place in which a large number of people are permanently based and they do not produce their own food.

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• Various countries define communities as urban based on their population sizes.
• In Ghana, communities with more than 5000 people are referred to as urban.
• In Nigeria, communities with more than 20,000 are classified as urban. This classification is the same for the UN.

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• In Canada, it is 1,000 and above and for the USA, it is 2,500 and above, while for Denmark, it is 250 inhabitants or more.

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The UN hierarchy of settlements

• The UN Hierarchy of settlements is the ranking of settlements from the smallest to the largest as presented below:
• Hamlet: This is a simple homestead, hut or small house especially with a family of between 4 and 20 people. In most cases, it consists of a single house. A homestead is a house with land around it which is usually used for farming.
• Village: This is a collection of houses and other buildings up to 20
• Town: This is a settlement or a community with a population of 20,000 and above but less than 100,000
• City: A city has a population of 100,000 people and above.

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Other types of settlements�

• Other types of settlement as classified by UN are as follows:
• Agglomeration: This is an individual town with industrial and residential suburbs expanding to become an urban centre.
• Conurbation: This occurs where two or more towns come together to form one large urban area such as Sekondi-Takoradi as well as Accra-Tema all in Ghana.
• Megalopolis: This occurs where villages, towns and cities come together into an almost a continuous and sprawling urban region. For example, from Boston through New York to Philadelphia in USA is one continuous urban region.

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• Millionaire city: This is a city with inhabitants of at least, one million people. Kumasi and Accra-Tema in Ghana are millionaire cities.
• Megacity: A megacity is a city of 10 million or more residents. Examples are Mexico city, Cairo, New York and Lagos.
• Dormitory Town: This is a settlement which serves as a habitat or sleeping place for people who work in a nearby industrial or urban center. For example, in Ghana, Kasoa, Nsawam and Aburi serve as dormitory towns. Most people live in Kasoa but work in Accra.
• Metropolis: This is a major or chief city of important activities or a capital city usually surrounded by smaller cities. In Ghana, Kumasi and Accra are examples of metropolis

Characteristics of rural communities�

• They are homogenous.
• They provide little opportunity for personal anonymity
• They are, to a large extent, controlled by the customs, beliefs and practices shared by the people which are passed on from generation to generation.
• There is relatively little division of labour
• The pattern of social interaction involves relatively fewer contacts per individual in a period of time
• Due to their geographical location, rural people are closely associated with nature.

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Characteristics of urban communities�

• They lack close family ties.
• They are heterogeneous in nature.
• Most of the people in towns and cities engage in secondary and tertiary economic activities.
• There is extensive division of labour which can be found there

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Levels of community�

The levels of communities at the national and international levels are as follows:

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• Neighbourhood: A neighbourhood is usually, a small area which forms part of a community.
• Two or more neighbourhoods constitute a community.
• In a community, various areas are identified by particular names and each of these areas is called a neighbourhood.

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• Village: A village is usually bigger than a neighbourhood.
• A village is a very small community located far away from cities.
• Traditionally, villages in Ghana are headed by chiefs who are supported by some selected elders.
• It is important to state that some villages have single neighbourhoods while others have very few.

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• Town: A town or city is another level of community.
• Towns are usually bigger than villages with much better amenities such as good roads, regular supply of electricity and better educational facilities.
• In Ghana, a community with a population of 5,000 and above is classified as a town.

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• District: A district is a group of related towns and villages.
• In Ghana, there are 216 districts
• . Each district is headed by a District Chief Executive who acts as the political head of the district.
• He or she is, therefore, responsible for the day-to-day running of the district. In Ghana, a district is either a :
• Metropolitan with a population of over 250,000 people;
• Municipal with a population of 95,000 people; or
• District with a population of less than 95,000 people.

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• Currently, there are 6 Metropolitan Assemblies, 56 Municipal Assemblies and 154 District Assemblies in Ghana. That is, in all, there are 216 Assemblies in Ghana.

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• Regional:
• When several districts are put together, we get a regional community. Ghana is divided into ten regions, and all these regions have their regional capitals.
• Usually, regional capitals are well developed, and have very good infrastructure.
• A region is headed by a Minister, that is, a Regional Minister who ensures the effective co-ordination of all the districts in the region.
• All state institutions have their regional offices at the regional capital.
• There are ten regions in Ghana and they are Central, Western, Eastern, Ashanti, Greater Accra, Volta, Brong-Ahafo, Northern, upper East and Upper West.

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At the international level, the following levels of communities exist:

• Sub-regional: Sub regional community is made up of a group of nations in a defined geographical location.
• Examples of sub-regional communities in Africa include West Africa, South Africa, North Africa and East Africa.
• Ghana is located in West Africa.
• The countries that constitute West Africa belong to a sub-regional organization called the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). ECOWAS is made up of 16 countries.

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• Regional: All the countries in a sub-region form a regional community or a continent.
• There are six regions or continents in the world; namely Africa, Asia, North America, South America, Europe and Oceania.
• It must be noted, however, that there is the seventh region or continent called the Antarctica and this is not inhabited by human beings because its temperature is very cold.

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• World or Global: All the countries in all the regions or continents constitute themselves into a global community called the world.
• In order to promote peaceful co-existence among themselves, all the countries of the world have formed an organization known as the United Nations.
• The Headquarters of the UN is at New York. There are 193 countries that form the UN.

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Community development

• Development as an economic concept entails growth in a country’s Gross Domestic Product(GDP) accompanied by relevant social and institutional changes by which the growth can be sustained.

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• These changes include reduction in poverty, a better quality of life, high literacy level, improved productivity of labour and other factors of production, development of physical and commercial infrastructure, higher savings increase in employment opportunities, positive attitudes towards life and a stale political system.

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• Development can only come about when individuals are determined to play their parts as responsible community members.

What is community development?

• Community development thus involves positive change in attitudes and values which will culminate in the development of projects in a given area to improve the standard of living of the people.

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• It is must be noted that it is only when individuals living in a community develop a positive attitude that their community can witness progress.

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• They do not sit on the fence and wait for the government or an NGO to initiate basic amenities such as community toilet or market for them.

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• However, a community where the people only look up to the government or the NGO for development is likely to lag behind.

Factors to be considered in Community Decision -Making

• Just as individuals make decisions, communities also make decisions from time to time.
• Community decisions are not made by one individual but are made by all community members or at least a significant proportion of them
• Let us explore the factors we need to consider in community decision- making.
• Identification of needs
• Sensitization of the people
• Prioritization of needs
• Study of alternative solutions
• Mobilizing support and funds

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Community Project Development Process

• Community projects go through several phases from the time the idea is conceived till it is completed.
• Nabeel Hamdi divides the process into four stages. These are:

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• Initiation- where the project goals are defined
• Design- working at the project details, budgeting and resource identification.
• Implementation -the stage where the project will move from paper and transferred to the ground.
• Maintenance-the routine upkeep of facilities to make them always functional and in good condition.

How to contribute to community development

• Individuals can contribute to community development by initiating projects than can raise the standard of living of citizens.
• Individuals can also contribute ideas and suggestions to improve community development.
• By assisting to construct community projects to reduce project cost.
• Individuals can also contribute funds and other resources for community development.
• To ensure that community project or property is well taken care of.
• By ensuring that the environment is protected and safeguarded.

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The End

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