Urhobo Extended Family System: Implications for Eco-social security amidst Capitalist Globalization

Abstract

The ravages caused by capitalist forms of globalization include the degradation of extended family values that fostered community, solidarity, humanistic  care for the elders and vulnerable, social succour, and ancestral ecological ethos. The Urhobo extended family system has been weakened  and the eco-social security it provides has been greatly reduced. Using a critical hermeneutical analytic method, the paper argues not for the recovery of  the exact extended family of the past but for the positive values that were embedded in it. This is a vital way to combat the negative aspects of capitalist  globalization. The moral values embedded in the Urhobo extended family systems are still needed in a world rife with moral decadence.