View source for Family


[[Image:Family Ouagadougou.jpg|thumb|A family of 5 in [[Ouagadougou]], [[Burkina Faso]] in [[1997]].]]
:''This article deals with relations among humans. For other use, see [[Family (disambiguation)]]''
'''Family''' denotes a group of [[people]] affiliated by consanguinity, affinity, and co-residence. Although the concept of consanguinity originally referred to relations by "blood," many [[cultural anthropology|anthropologists]] have argued that one must understand the notion of "blood" metaphorically, and that many societies understand 'family' through other concepts rather than through [[genetic distance]]. 
 
Many [[sociology|sociologists]] and [[anthropology|anthropologists]] believe the primary function of the family is to reproduce society, either biologically, socially, or both. Thus, one's experience of one's family shifts over time. From the perspective of children, the family is a '''family of orientation''': the family serves to locate children socially, and plays a major role in their [[enculturation]] and socialization. From the point of view of the parent(s), the family is a '''family of procreation''' the goal of which is to produce and enculturate and socialize children.<ref>George Peter Murdoch ''Social Structure'' page 13</ref> However, producing children is not the only function of the family; in societies with a sexual division of labor, [[marriage]], and the resulting relationship between two people, is necessary for the formation of an economically productive household. 

A '''conjugal''' family consists of one or more mothers and their children, and/or one or more spouses, usually husbands. The most common form of this family in the western world is regularly referred to as a '''[[nuclear family]]'''.

A '''consanguineal''' family consists of a mother and her children, and other people &mdash; usually the family of the mother, like her husband. This kind of family is common where mothers do not have the resources to rear their children on their own, and especially where property is inherited. When important property is owned by men, consanguineal families commonly consist of a husband and wife, their children and other members of the husband's family.

A '''matrifocal''' family consists of a mother and her children. Generally, these children are her biological offspring, although adoption of children is a practice in nearly every society. This kind of family is common where women have the resources to rear their children by themselves, or where men are more mobile than women.

==Economic functions==

Anthropologists have often supposed that the family in a traditional society forms the primary economic unit. This economic role has gradually diminished in modern times, and in societies like the [[United States]] it has become much smaller — except in certain sectors such as agriculture and in a few [[upper class]] families. In [[China]] the family as an economic unit still plays a strong role in the countryside. However, the relations between the economic role of the family, its socio-economic mode of production and cultural values remain highly complex.

[[Image:US-hoosier-family.jpg|thumb|300px|left|Extended [[middle-class]] [[Midwest]]ern U.S. family of Danish/German extraction]]

==Political functions==
On the other hand family structures or its internal relationships may affect both state and religious institutions. J.F. del Giorgio in ''[[The Oldest Europeans]]'' points that the high status of women among the descendants of the post-glacial Paleolithic European population was coherent with the fierce love of freedom of pre-Indo-European tribes. He believes that the extraordinary respect for women in those families made that children raised in such atmosphere tended to distrust strong, authoritarian leaders. According to del Giorgio, European democracies have their roots in those ancient ancestors.

==Kinship terminology==
{{Main|Kinship terminology}}
Anthropologist [[Lewis H. Morgan|Lewis Henry Morgan]] (1818–1881) performed the first survey of kinship terminologies in use around the world.  Though much of his work is now considered dated, he argued that [[kinship]] terminologies reflect different sets of distinctions. For example, most kinship terminologies distinguish between sexes (the difference between a brother and a sister) and between generations (the difference between a child and a parent). Moreover, he argued, kinship terminologies distinguish between relatives by blood and [[marriage]] (although recently some anthropologists have argued that many societies define kinship in terms other than "blood").

Morgan made a distinction between kinship systems that use ''classificatory'' terminology and those that use ''descriptive'' terminology. Morgan's distinction is widely misunderstood, even by contemporary anthropologists. Classificatory systems are generally and erroneously understood to be those that "class together" with a single term relatives who actually do not have the same type of relationship to ego. (What defines "same type of relationship" under such definitions seems to be genealogical relationship. This is more than a bit problematic given that any genealogical description, no matter how standardized, employs words originating in a folk understanding of kinship.) What Morgan's terminology actually differentiates are those (classificatory) kinship systems that do not distinguish lineal and collateral relationships and those (descriptive) kinship systems which do. Morgan, a lawyer, came to make this distinction in an effort to understand Seneca inheritance practices. A Seneca man's effects were inherited by his sisters' children rather than by his own children.<ref>Tooker, Elisabeth. [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0011-3204%28197903%2920%3A1%3C131%3AAVOMOK%3E2.0.CO%3B2-E “Another View of Morgan on Kinship.”] ''Current Anthropology'' 20, no. 1 (March 1979): 131-134.</ref>      
 
Morgan identified six basic patterns of kinship terminologies:

*[[Hawaiian kinship|Hawaiian]]: only distinguishes relatives based upon sex and generation.
*[[Sudanese kinship|Sudanese]]: no two relatives share the same term.
*[[Eskimo kinship|Eskimo]]: in addition to distinguishing relatives based upon sex and generation, also distinguishes between lineal relatives and collateral relatives.
*[[Iroquois kinship|Iroquois]]: in addition to sex and generation, also distinguishes between siblings of opposite sexes in the parental generation. 
*[[Crow kinship|Crow]]: a matrilineal system with some features of an Iroquois system, but with a "skewing" feature in which generation is "frozen" for some relatives.   
*[[Omaha kinship|Omaha]]: like a Crow system but patrilineal.

===Western kinship===
{{seealso|Cousin chart}}
[[Image:Relatives Chart.svg|thumb|right|The relationships and names of various family members in the English language.]]
Most Western societies employ [[Eskimo kinship]] terminology. This kinship terminology commonly occurs in societies based on [[conjugal family|conjugal]] (or [[nuclear family|nuclear]]) families, where nuclear families have a degree of relatively mobility.

Members of the nuclear family (or immediate family) use descriptive kinship terms:
*'''[[Mother]]''': a female parent
*'''[[Father]]''': a male parent
*'''[[Son]]''': a male child of the parent(s)
*'''[[Daughter]]''': a female child of the parent(s)
*'''[[Sibling|Brother]]''': a male child of the same parent(s)
*'''[[Sibling|Sister]]''': a female child of the same parent(s)
*'''[[Grandfather]]''': father of a father or mother
*'''[[Grandmother]]''': mother of a father or mother


Such systems generally assume that the mother's husband has also served as the biological father. In some families, a woman may have children with more than one man or a man may have children with more than one woman. The system refers to a child who shares only one parent with another child as a "half-brother" or "half-sister". For children who do not share biological or adoptive parents in common, English-speakers use the term "stepbrother" or "stepsister" to refer to their new relationship with each other when one of their biological parents marries one of the other child's biological parents.
 
Any person (other than the biological parent of a child) who marries the parent of that child becomes the "stepparent" of the child, either the "stepmother" or "stepfather". The same terms generally apply to children adopted into a family as to children born into the family.

Typically, societies with conjugal families also favor [[neolocal]] residence; thus upon marriage a person separates from the nuclear family of their childhood (family of orientation) and forms a new nuclear family (family of procreation). This practice means that members of one's own nuclear family once functioned as members of another nuclear family, or may one day become members of another nuclear family.

Members of the nuclear families of members of one's own (former) nuclear family may class as lineal or as collateral. Kin who regard them as lineal refer to them in terms that build on the terms used within the nuclear family:
[[Image:My Grandfather edit.jpg|200px|thumb|A father with his daughter]]
[[Image:Grandson.JPG|200px|thumb|A Grandmother with her grandson]]
*[[Grandparent]]
**'''Grandfather''': a parent's father
**'''Grandmother''': a parent's mother
*'''Grandson''': a child's son
*'''Granddaughter''': a child's daughter

For collateral relatives, more classificatory terms come into play, terms that do not build on the terms used within the nuclear family:
*'''Uncle''': father's brother, mother's brother, father's/mother's sister's husband
*'''Aunt''': father's sister, mother's sister, father's/mother's brother's wife
*'''Nephew''': sister's son, brother's son, wife's brother's son, wife's sister's son, husband's brother's son, husband's sister's son
*'''Niece''': sister's daughter, brother's daughter, wife's brother's daughter, wife's sister's daughter, husband's brother's daughter, husband's sister's daughter
When additional generations intervene (in other words, when one's collateral relatives belong to the same generation as one's grandparents or grandchildren), the prefix "grand" modifies these terms. (Although in casual usage in the USA a "grand aunt" is often referred to as a "great aunt", for instance.)  And as with grandparents and grandchildren, as more generations intervene the prefix becomes "great grand", adding an additional "great" for each additional generation.

Most collateral relatives have never had membership of the nuclear family of the members of one's own nuclear family.
*'''Cousin''': the most classificatory term; the children of aunts or uncles. One can further distinguish cousins by degrees of collaterality and by generation. Two persons of the same generation who share a grandparent count as  "first cousins" (one degree of collaterality); if they share a great-grandparent they count as "second cousins"  (two degrees of collaterality) and so on.  If two persons share an ancestor, one as a grandchild and the other as a great-grandchild of that individual, then the two descendants class as "first cousins once removed" (removed by one generation); if the shared ancestor figures as the grandparent of one individual and the great-great-grandparent of the other, the individuals class as "first cousins twice removed" (removed by two generations), and so on. Similarly, if the shared ancestor figures as the great-grandparent of one person and the great-great-grandparent of the other, the individuals class as "second cousins once removed". Hence the phrase "third cousin once removed upwards".

Distant cousins of an older generation (in other words, one's parents' first cousins), though technically first cousins once removed, often get classified with "aunts" and "uncles".

Similarly, a person may refer to close friends of one's parents as "aunt" or "uncle", or may refer to close friends as "brother" or "sister", using the practice of '''[[fictive kinship]]'''.

English-speakers mark relationships by marriage (except for wife/husband) with the tag "-in-law". The mother and father of one's spouse become one's mother-in-law and father-in-law; the female spouse of one's child becomes one's daughter-in-law and the male spouse of one's child becomes one's son-in-law. The term "[[Sister-in-law]]" refers to three essentially different relationships, either the wife of one's sibling, or the sister of one's spouse, or the wife of one's spouse's sibling.  "[[Brother-in-law]]" expresses a similar ambiguity.  No special terms exist for the rest of one's spouse's family.

The terms "half-brother" and "half-sister" indicate siblings who share only one biological or adoptive parent.

== Family in the West ==
[[Image:Families US.png|thumb|300px|Family arrangements in the [[United States]] have become more diverse with no particular household arrangement representing half of the United States population.<ref name="Marriages, Families & Intinamte Relationships">{{cite book | last = Williams | first = Brian | authorlink = | coauthors = Stacey C. Sawyer, Carl M. Wahlstrom | year = 2005 | title = Marriages, Families & Intinamte Relationships | publisher = Pearson | location = Boston, MA | id = 0-205-36674-0}}</ref>]]
[[Image:Stephaniehaynes family.jpg|thumb|200px| family.]]
The different types of families occur in a wide variety of settings, and their specific functions and meanings depend largely on their relationship to other social institutions. [[Sociology|Sociologists]] have a special interest in the function and status of these forms in stratified (especially [[Capitalism|capitalist]]) societies. 

The term "[[nuclear family]]" is commonly used, especially in the United States and Europe, to refer to conjugal families. Sociologists distinguish between conjugal families (relatively independent of the kindreds of the parents and of other families in general) and nuclear families (which maintain relatively close ties with their kindreds).

The term "[[extended family]]" is also common, especially in the United States and Europe. This term has two distinct meanings. First, it serves as a synonym of "consanguinal family". Second, in societies dominated by the conjugal family, it refers to '''[[kindred (disambiguation)|kindred]]''' (an egocentric network of relatives that extends beyond the domestic group) who do not belong to the conjugal family.

These types refer to ideal or normative structures found in particular societies. Any society will exhibit some variation in the actual composition and conception of families. Much sociological, [[history|historical]] and [[cultural anthropology|anthropological]] research dedicates itself to the understanding of this variation, and of changes in the family form over time. Thus, some speak of the '''bourgeois family''', a family structure arising out of 16th-century and 17th-century European households, in which the family centers on a marriage between a man and woman, with strictly-defined gender-roles. The man typically has responsibility for income and support, the woman for home and family matters. 

Philosophers and psychiatrists like [[Gilles Deleuze|Deleuze]], [[Félix Guattari|Guattari]], [[Ronald David Laing|Laing]], [[Wilhelm Reich|Reich]], explained that the [[patriarchal]]-family conceived in the West tradition (husband-wife-children isolated from the outside) serves the purpose of perpetuating a [[propertarian]] and [[authoritarian]] society. The child grows according to the [[Oedipal model]] typical of capitalist societies and he becomes in turn owner of [[submissive]] children and protector of the woman.<ref name="patriarchal_proprietary">{{it}} [[Gianni Vattimo]] ''[http://www.feltrinelli.it/FattiLibriInterna?id_fatto=3891 Tutto in famiglia]'' (article appeared on ''[[Il Manifesto]]'' October 15 2004)</ref><ref name="luttazzi_patriarchal_family">{{it}} [[Daniele Luttazzi|Luttazzi, Daniele]] ''[http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN8807840545&id=H19BcLL2thEC Bollito misto con mostarda]'' (2005) p.262</ref><ref name="Deleuze_Guattari">[[Gilles Deleuze]], [[Félix Guattari]] ''[[Capitalism and Schizophrenia]]'' (1972-80) see in particular volume ''[[Anti-Œdipus]]'' at the second chapter on the "family triangle".</ref><ref name="WReich">[[Wilhelm Reich]] ''[http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0374502684/ The Sexual Revolution]'' 1975 - Pocket Books (p. 71-77)</ref><ref name="Adorno_family">[[Theodor W. Adorno]] and Stephen Crook ''[http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0415270995&id=STuD7NFAYy8C Adorno]'' ISBN 0415270995, p. 9-10</ref><ref name="EJAnthony">E. James Anthony, ''[http://pep-web.org/document.php?id=psc.035.0003a The Family and the Psychoanalytic Process in Children]'' (1980). Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 35:3-34</ref>

According to the analysis of [[Michel Foucault]], in the west: 
{{Quote|the [conjugal] family organization, precisely to the extent that it was insular and heteromorphous with respect to the other [[Power (sociology)|power]] mechanisms, was used to support the great "maneuvers" employed for the [[Malthusian]] control of the birthrate, for the populationist incitements, for the medicalization of sex and the psychiatrization of its nongenital forms.|Michel Foucault|''[[The History of Sexuality]]'' vol I, chap. IV, sect. ''Method'', rule 3, p.99}}

According to the work of scholars [[Max Weber]], [[Alan Macfarlane]], [[Steven Ozment]], [[Jack Goody]] and [[Peter Laslett]], the huge transformation that led to modern marriage in Western democracies was "fueled by the religio-cultural value system provided by elements of Judaism, early Christianity, Roman Catholic canon law and the Protestant Reformation".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=3322 |title=The Collapse of Marriage |accessdate=2007-07-10 |format= |work=}}</ref>

In contemporary Europe and the United States, people in academic, political and civil sectors have called attention to single-father-headed households, and families headed by [[gay|same-sex]] couples,{{Fact|date=July 2007}} although academics point out that these forms exist in other societies. Also the term blended family or ''[[stepfamily]]'' describes families with mixed parents: one or both parents remarried, bringing children of the former family into the new family.<ref>http://www.blendedandblessed.com/BlendedBlog.dsp</ref>

===Contemporary views of the family===
Contemporary society generally views family as a haven from the world, supplying absolute fulfillment. The family is considered to encourage "intimacy, love and trust where individuals may escape the competition of dehumanizing forces in modern society from the rough and tumble industrialized world, and as a place where warmth, tenderness and understanding can be expected from a loving [[mother]], and protection from the world can be expected from the [[father]]. However, the idea of protection is declining as civil society faces less internal conflict combined with increased civil rights and protection from the state. To many, the ideal of personal or family fulfillment has replaced protection as the major role of the family. The family now supplies what is “vitally needed but missing from other social arrangements”.<ref>Ibid., Zinn and Eitzen(1987)</ref> 

[[Social conservative]]s often express concern over a purported decay of the family and see this as a sign of the crumbling of contemporary society. They feel that the family structures of the past were superior to those today and believe that families were more stable and happier at a time when they did not have to contend with problems such as illegitimate children and divorce. Others dispute this theory, claiming “there is no golden age of the family gleaming at us in the far back historical past”.<ref> Ibid., Zinn (1987)</ref>

A study performed by scientists from Iceland found that mating with a relative can significantly increase the number of children in a family. A lot of societies consider inbreeding unacceptable. Scientists warn that inbreeding may rise the chances of a child getting two copies of disease-causing recessive genes and in such a way it may lead to genetic disorders and higher infant mortality.

Scientists found that couples formed of relatives had more children and grandchildren than unrelated couples. The study revealed that when a husband and wife were third cousins, they had an average of 4.0 children and 9.2 grandchildren. If a woman was in relationship with her eight cousin, then the number of children declined, showing an average of 3,3 children and 7,3 grandchildren . <ref>[http://www.infoniac.com/science/related-couples-have-more-children.html Related Couples Have More Children]</ref>

==Size==
[[Natalism]] is the belief that [[human reproduction]] is the basis for individual existence, and therefore promotes having large families.

Many religions, e.g., [[Judaism]]<ref>[http://www.angelfire.com/ca2/NipponDawn/torah.html Joys of A Large Family] by Rebbetzin Faige Twerski</ref>, encourage their followers to procreate and have many children. 

In recent times, there has been an increasing amount of [[family planning]] and a following decrease in [[total fertility rate]] in many parts of the world, in part due to concerns of [[overpopulation]].

Many countries with [[population decline]] offer incentives for people to have large families as a means of [[Population_decline#National_efforts_to_reverse_declining_populations|national efforts to reverse declining populations]].

==See also==
[[Image:Expecting family.jpg|thumb|A small family expecting another child.]]
*[[Child]]
**[[Illegitimacy]]
*[[Clan]]
*[[Consanguinity]]
**[[Kin selection]]
**[[Pedigree collapse]]
*[[Domestic violence]]
*Family
**[[polygamy]]
**[[Complex family]]
**[[Dysfunctional family]]
**[[Elderly care]]
*[[Family (economics)]]
**[[Family history]]
**[[Family life in literature]]
**[[Family as a model for the state]]
**[[Family law]]
**[[Family name]]
**[[Family therapy]]
**[[Grandfamilies|Grandfamily]]
**[[Grandparent]]
**[[Mother]]
**[[Parenting]]
*[[Family tree]]
**[[Genealogy]]
**[[Genogram]]
**[[Ancestor]]
**[[Kinship terminology]]
**[[Cousin]]
*[[Household]]
*[[Interpersonal relationship]] and [[Intimate relationship]]
**[[Incest]]
**[[Cohabitation]]
**[[Common-law marriage]]
**[[Divorce]]
**[[Marriage]]
*[[Sociology of the family]]
*''[[The Family: A Proclamation to the World]]''
*[[Familycentrics]]
*[[Hindu joint family]]
*[[Survivalism]]

==References==
{{reflist|2}}
* ''American Kinship'', [[David M. Schneider]]
* ''A Natural History of Families'', Scott Forbes, Princeton University Press, 2005, ISBN 0-691-09482-9
* Foucault, Michel (1978). ''The History of Sexuality: Volume I: An Introduction''. New York Vintage Books. ISBN-13: 978-0679724698
* ''More Than Kin and Less Than Kind'', Douglas W. Mock, Belknap Press, 2004, ISBN 0-674-01285-2
*Denis Chevallier, « Famille et parenté : une bibliographie », Terrain, Numéro 4 - Famille et parenté (mars 1985) , [En ligne], mis en ligne le 17 juillet 2005. URL : http://terrain.revues.org/document2874.html. Consulté le 15 juin 2007. {{fr icon}}
*[[Jack Goody]] (1983) ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=LVkYFGqylfQC The Development of the Family and Marriage in Europe]'' (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press); translated into Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese. review: {{cite web |url=http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0304-2421%28198505%2914%3A3%3C371%3ANWOTHO%3E2.0.CO%3B2-F&size=LARGE&origin=JSTOR-enlargePage |title=JSTOR: Theory and Society: Vol. 14, No. 3 (May, 1985), pp. 371-379 |accessdate=2007-07-10 |format= |work=}}

==External links==
* ''Cousins'': http://www.tedpack.org/cousins.html
* [http://www.unh.edu/frl/ Family Research Laboratory]
* [http://www.familyfacts.org Family Facts: Social Science Research on Family, Society & Religion] (a Heritage Foundation site)
* [http://www.oneplusone.org.uk/ One Plus One]
* [http://www.familiesaustralia.org.au/ Families Australia] - independent peak not-for-profit organisation
* [http://www.unitedfamilies.org United Families International] International organisation
* [http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/family UN - Families and Development]
* ''Wiktionary entries for Western kinship terminology providing multilingual translations''
** [[Wiktionary:mother|mother]], [[Wiktionary:father|father]], [[Wiktionary:son|son]], [[Wiktionary:daughter|daughter]], [[Wiktionary:brother|brother]], [[Wiktionary:sister|sister]]
** [[Wiktionary:grandmother|grandmother]] [[Wiktionary:grandfather|grandfather]] [[Wiktionary:grandson|grandson]] [[Wiktionary:granddaughter|granddaughter]]
** [[Wiktionary:uncle|uncle]] [[Wiktionary:aunt|aunt]] [[Wiktionary:nephew|nephew]] [[Wiktionary:niece|niece]]
** [[Wiktionary:cousin|cousin]]
*[http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/family/documents/rc_pc_family_doc_20001109_de-facto-unions_en.html Family, marriage and "de facto" unions - vatican.va]
* [http://project-science-fair.com/blog/ Family blog]

{{Articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights}}
{{Humanrightsfooter}}

[[Category:Family| ]]
[[Category:Family therapy]]

[[als:Familie (Verwandtschaft)]]
[[ar:أسرة]]
[[az:Ailə]]
[[bm:Somɔgɔw]]
[[bn:পরিবার]]
[[bs:Porodica]]
[[bg:Семейство]]
[[ca:Família]]
[[cs:Rodina]]
[[da:Familie (menneske)]]
[[de:Familie]]
[[et:Perekond]]
[[el:Οικογένεια]]
[[es:Familia]]
[[eo:Familio]]
[[eu:Familia]]
[[ext:Família]]
[[fa:خویشاوندی]]
[[fr:Famille]]
[[fur:Famee]]
[[ga:Teaghlach]]
[[ko:가족]]
[[hr:Obitelj]]
[[io:Familio]]
[[is:Fjölskylda]]
[[it:Famiglia]]
[[he:משפחה]]
[[rw:Miryango]]
[[lo:ຄອບຄົວ]]
[[la:Familia]]
[[lb:Famill]]
[[lt:Šeima (sociologija)]]
[[jbo:lanzu]]
[[hu:Család]]
[[ms:Keluarga]]
[[mn:Гэр бүл]]
[[nl:Familie (verwanten)]]
[[nds-nl:Femilie (verwanten)]]
[[ja:家族]]
[[no:Familie]]
[[nn:Familie]]
[[oc:Familha (parentala)]]
[[pl:Rodzina (socjologia)]]
[[pt:Família]]
[[ro:Familie (societate)]]
[[qu:Ayllu]]
[[ru:Семья]]
[[sco:Faimlie]]
[[sq:Familja]]
[[simple:Family]]
[[ss:Umndeni]]
[[sk:Rodina]]
[[sl:Družina]]
[[sr:Породица]]
[[sh:Porodica]]
[[fi:Perhe]]
[[sv:Familj]]
[[tl:Pamilya]]
[[th:ครอบครัว]]
[[vi:Gia đình]]
[[tr:Aile]]
[[uk:Сім'я]]
[[yi:פאמיליע]]
[[zh:家族]]
{{WikiDoc Help Menu}}
{{WS}}