This is where children are socialised to societal norms and values through intra- and inter-family interactions. The family's position and role in the social structure provides a point of reference from which a nation's social system - networks, relationships, and values - can be understood.
Whilst modernisation may tend to diminish the family's role, notably in a nation that is changing fast such as Vietnam, this paper looks at the nature of social relationships in a Vietnamese family to gain a deeper understanding of its key characteristics and provide insights on the consequences of the social and economic changes taking place.
Indispensable to this study is a knowledge of the values and influences that helped shape the form of the Vietnamese family through the centuries. Its geography as a nation at the crossroads of Indochina, to the east of India and south of China, has opened it to these two cultures. Its long eastern coastline likewise opened it to a Western wave of Portuguese, Dutch, English, and French colonisation beginning in the 17th century. These conquests and occupations shaped present Vietnamese society into a complex mixture of East and West.
The predominant religions in Vietnam are Buddhism from India and Confucianism and Taoism, both from China. ...Show more