Definition Of Family

Before answering the question we first need to understand what the term Family means. The term family has changed through the years in our society from a public social institution to a private one because of social, cultural, political, and economic situations. Before the industrial revolution the term family meant extend family. Extend family means a large group of relatives or “kin” usually three or more living together or close by. After the industrial revolution the term family changed again to nuclear family. Nuclear family means a heterosexual couple in their own house hold rising a child. The term family according to our text book is defined nowadays as a social group where the members are bound by some type of tie like legal, biological, …show more content…
An example of this would be the Walton’s T.V. series. In the Walton’s we see all the Walton’s living on Walton’s mountain. In one house we see Grandpa Walton and Grandma Walton living with John their son and his wife Libby and their children John-Boy, Marry Ellen, Jason, Erin, Ben, Jim-Bob, and Elizabeth and occasionally other members of the family would stay with them like their cousins. Then after the industrial revolution nuclear families started taking over for extend families. An example of a nuclear family would be Little House on the Prairie T.V. series where Charles and Caroline Ingalls live with their three little girls Marry, Laura, and Carrie.

Finally, in today’s society individuals have went from three or more Kin living together to fewer individuals living in family homes which is due to many different reasons. A few of those reasons are: divorce, women bearing fewer children than in the old days, being widowed, delayed marriage in our young adults. Also individuals who live in the family home live in less stable homes now than in the past because the Kinship now includes individuals who you are not blood related like: former spouses and in-laws, stepchildren, and not to mention more generations because life expectancy has lengthen in recent years. Another change we have seen in the family is the roles of women. Back in the day women stayed at home to …show more content…
If society defined family any clear that would give individuals one idea of what a family is, but it would most likely leave out certain aspects which would make people argue more. Individuals who argue now argue that the family is doomed because of cohabitation, the divorce rate, and same sex marriage because they only accept the traditional definition of family which is what our text calls nuclear family. Personally I believe family are the individuals that the person surrounds them self with blood or not like your trusted friends and even pets. I family consists all of my pets, my two best friends, my mom, grandma and my late grand pa. One of my best friends is actually my fiancé who I hope to marry next