Marriage and the Family

The family is a basic social institution found in all societies. All families are embedded in larger networks known as kinship networks, which consist of individuals who are related by blood, marriage, or adoption. Patterns of marriage and the process of mate selection differ from culture to culture. However, whatever the culture, with marriage comes a new social role for the individual along with certain expectations regarding behavior, attitudes, privileges, and obligations.

This chapter discusses the nature, function, and changing patterns of the family and its related structures. The last few decades have brought striking changes to the American family. Individuals are having earlier sexual experiences but getting married at a later age, adolescent pregnancies have doubled, divorce rates and single-parent families have increased, and the percentage of couples who choose to cohabit, (live together, unmarried) is growing rapidly. With these changes in family structure and pattern have come changes in the functions families serve for both the individual and society.

The Family

The family may be thought of as an organized pattern of social relationships. Defining the word "family" is difficult because it is used to describe so many different patterns of relationships, such as one individual living with his/her children, a married man and woman with children, a married man and woman without children, an unmarried couple living with children, and a married man and women living with their children, parents, aunts, and uncles.

The family is a kinship group that has primary responsibility for the socialization of its children and the fulfillment of certain other basic needs. Unlike other social institutions, however (e.g., religious and economic institutions), the family can be defined as both a biological and a social group within society. It consists of a relatively permanent group of people who are embedded in an organized system of social relationships; are related to one another by blood, marriage, or adoption; and who live together for an indefinite period of time. An individual can be biologically related to other members of his/her family or can be related by some socioculturally defined ceremony such as marriage, adoption, or social categorization. In most Western societies, the members of a family usually collaborate financially and share responsibility in the socializing of children (if present).

Types of Families

The family exists in several different forms.

Nuclear Family

The nuclear family, also referred to as the "conjugal" family, is the basic family unit of husband, wife, and their offspring. Americans tend to see this form as an ideal type, being rather ethnocentric about its virtues and disregarding its limitations.

Extended Family

The extended family, sometimes also referred to as the "consanguine" family, is composed of more than two generations of family members. It is based upon the biological and social relationships of a large number of people, including parents, children, grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins. The extended family is more prevalent in societies or segments of society that face economic hardships. In such societies, the family members must work together and assist one another in order to survive, even to the extent of sharing economic resources and food.

Single-Parent Family

The single-parent family is one in which one parent is living with his/her offspring, either because of divorce, the death of one parent, single status adoption, or planned pregnancy. The proportion of single- parent families has recently increased in the United States. The term "single-parent family" is used even in cases of divorce where the other (noncustodial) parent plays an active role in the rearing of the children. Some sociologists suggest that such families be called "single-custody families."

Reconstituted (or Blended) Family

The reconstituted or blended family is a family formed by the remarriage of a parent following divorce or the death of the children's parent. These blended families, particularly those in which both individuals have children from a previous marriage, embrace new challenges for both the parents and the children. For example, parents may still have ties to ex-spouses; a parent may be making child support or alimony payments to another household; and the children may now have two natural parents but be living with one natural parent and a stepparent.

Cohabitation

In the United States, the unmarried couple who is childless and living together (cohabiting) is a social relationship that is becoming more common. Cohabitation, while prevalent in all age groups, seems to be the most popular among college-age individuals and senior citizens. Cohabitation usually refers to unmarried adults who are living together and presumably having a sexual relationship with one another. They may cohabit for an indefinite period of time, share financial responsibilities, and eventually bear and rear children

together.

The U.S. Census Bureau, however, does not consider the cohabiting couple a family, but categorizes it separately as a POSSLQ: persons of the opposite sex sharing living quarters. There has been much criticism of this category. First, the definition does not specify that the two persons who are living together have a sexual relationship with one another; a POSSLQ may include households where males and females live together but are just platonic roommates. Second, it fails to include persons of the same sex living together. Third, it does not indicate how long a couple must live together to qualify.