A family is a social group where the adults cooperate for the well-being of the group; it can include those related by blood, marriage, or adoption, and also those who live together in an intimate relationship. The family structures that were very common a century ago are not nearly as common today. A family of orientation is the family into which an individual is born. Most people grow up and start their own families. The family of procreation is the family an individual forms by marriage and or having children. In the U.S. around the year 1900, most families had three generations living in one home (e.g., children, parents, and uncles, aunts, or grandparents) and most participated in the manual labor that maintained the household. Today, many families fall into one of two types: the first is a nuclear family or a family group consisting of a mother and or a father, or both, and their children; the second most common family form is the blended family, or the family created by a marriage of two adults where one or both of them has one or more children from a prior relationship. The rest are many variations of family types including single parent households (somewhere around 41% of births are to ‘single parents’ [though, this includes cohabiting partners]). Very few families are multiple generational beyond parents and their children. All the family relations past the nuclear or blended family we call extended family (e.g., cousins, aunts and uncles, and grand and great-grandparents).100
Family households predominated in 1970, when they made up 81 percent of all households. This proportion dropped to around 66 percent by 2012. The most noticeable trend is the decline of married- couple households with their own children, from 40 percent of households in 1970 to 20 percent in 2012. Indeed, the number of married couples without children has grown in recent years, from 28 percent of households in 2005 to 29 percent in 2012. This change is likely related to the aging of householders and delays in childbearing.
Figure \(6.6.1\) Households by Type, 1970-2012
Researchers in the sociology of family today often point out the path to marriage and family is varied and nonlinear for many. While many of us learn the song as children about “so-and-so and so-and-so sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g” as a children’s song (and socialization technique into the appropriate path towards marriage and children) not all of us will take that path (at least not in that order). Today’s family landscape is multifaceted and filled with options (especially notable in that this now includes women). Several trends have been identified enabling these options: with the change in the economy toward an information based service economy, young people of all genders require more schooling. This pushes back marriage into the late twenties. Since it is now far more acceptable and easier for young people to engage in premarital sex and there is less rush to have children, we’re doing so later and later. With the aid of reproductive technologies childbearing can be pushed back as well. While it used to be that women needed to be married to effectively begin adulthood, now women can choose other routes to adulthood.101
In studying the family, Functional Theorists have identified some common and nearly universal family functions. That means almost all families in all countries around the world have at least some of these functions in common. Table \(6.6.2\) shows many of the global functions of the family.
Table \(6.6.2\) Functions of the Family.
| Function |
What it provides |
| Economic support |
food, clothing, shelter |
| Emotional support |
intimacy, companionship, belonging |
| Socialization of children |
raising children, parenting |
| Control of sexuality |
defines and controls when and with whom (e.g., marriage) |
| Control of reproduction |
the types of relationships where children should be born |
| Ascribed status |
contexts of race, socioeconomic tatus, religion, kinship |
By far, economic support is the most common function of today’s families. When your parents let you raid their pantry, wash clothes in their laundry, or pay for health insurance, that’s economic support.
Emotional relationships are also very common, but there is a tremendous amount of cultural diversity in how intimacy is experienced in various families around the world. Intimacy is the social, emotional, spiritual, intellectual, and physical trust that is mutually shared between family members. Family members share confidences, advice, trust, secrets, and ongoing mutual concern. Many family scientists believe that intimacy in family relationships functions as a strong buffer to the ongoing stresses experienced by family members outside of the home.
Socialization of children is important so that they grow up to be fully functioning members of society. Children are born with the potential to be raised as humans. They will realize this potential if older family members or friends take the time to protect and nurture them into their cultural and societal roles. Today the family is the core of primary socialization, but many other societal institutions contribute to the socialization process as well.
Controlling sexuality and reproduction has traditionally been sanctioned within the context of a family. In some cultures, the father and mother selected the spouse of their children in many countries although it has never been that common in the U.S. Older family members tend to encourage pregnancy and childbirth within marriage or long-term relationships.
The instrumental family roles include leadership and decision-making responsibilities. The expressive family role sees to it that the emotional needs of the family are met. In traditional families among societies throughout the world the husband is more likely to provide material support and primary leadership authority within the family and the wife is more likely to provide affection and moral support. Although this general role pattern has been historically true, these roles are undergoing some degree of change today, particularly as more women enter the labor force and as family types are changing.
100 Hammond, R & Cheney, P. (2011). Introduction to Sociology.
101 http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/22/ma...d-t.html?pagew anted=all
