Socio-Cultural and Family Change in Africa: Implications for Adolescent Socialization in Kisii County, South Western, Kenya

Abstract

This paper focuses on the individual and institutional responses to the changing cultural landscape in rural south western Kenya. These changes result not only from new conditions in worldwide economic, political and cultural relations, but also human interactions within national and local contexts. By concentrating solely on the family, the findings indicate that the local people have responded by: firstly, abandoning some of their traditional norms and replacing them with modern values, giving rise to problems as these new values are either partially or totally incompatible with present local circumstances. Secondly, blending previously accepted social values with emerging ones is fraught with great difficulties. As is observed, whereas a solution lies in abandoning the ‘moribund’ values and continuing with those that are necessary for modern living, the common practice in the study area has been to discard the more important component of the values. This is illustrated by, for example, “shedding off” the educational component and concentrating on the role of boys’ and girls’ genitals in rites of passage with far reaching implications on the socialization of the young people in the community. In the same vein, the spontaneous elimination of the “institutional defense mechanisms”, which traditionally served to provide individuals with the ability to adapt normally to psychological, social and physical environments and protect the society from disruption, has led to the disintegration of traditional family and marriage systems. This has led to a social crisis with all indications pointing to the emergence of a generation of young people totally unprepared to fit into contemporary society.