The Sociological Eye There Are Many Types Of Families

It is evident that the family structures have dramatically transitioned over the past 100 years. The “Leave it to the Beaver” family is a thing of the past standards and a number of variations have been formed over the years. In the United States, there are six particular kinds of family configurations that are recognized by the modern society. Some of these family structures are naturally falling into several categories. For instance, a single parent family living in a large, extended family set up. Even though these types of families differ in definition, the lines are not very clear when it comes to practice.

The first determinant of one’s fate is their family’s background. Almost none of the children from low-income families made it through college. With the expenses of college today, I’m actually not surprised by that statistic. Of the children from low-income families, only 4 percent had a college degree at age 28, compared to 45 percent of the children from higher-income backgrounds. "That 's a shocking tenfold

The word family has changed so much in the past century. A family back in the 1950’s was probably considered a husband, wife, and one or more children. Times have changed and families have become much different. The Interpersonal Communication: Relating to Others book defines family as a, “Unit made up of any number of persons who live in relationship with one another over time in a common living space who are usually, but not always, united by marriage and kinship” (Beebe, Beebe & Redmond, 243). Families can be broken up into five different types. The first is the traditional family, which includes a mother, father, and their biological children. Next, is the blended family which includes

The ideal traditional family consists of a father, a mother, a couple of kids and maybe a dog in a rather spacious home. We all know examples of families like this but are also aware that there are different renditions of it. There are single parent families, divorced/split families, and a family with a remarried couple with stepchildren and same sex couples with/without children. I, myself, have been included in a

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, a family is "a group of two or more people who reside together and who are related by birth, marriage, or adoption.” (Eutk). In the beginning, family was considered to be all of the individuals who contributed to the household as far as bringing in money; including servants and non-parental adults, who are also considered part of the family if they play a large role in the upbringing or care-taking of children other than their own. But in fact, over the last few centuries until present day, the institution of the family has completely changed. In the late-18th Century, marriage was considered just a union based on love, but as time passed, there were other financial, social, and political shifts in the

In the article “Who Gets to Graduate” by Paul Tough examines a problem about low income students are less likely to graduate from college than students from middle class or wealthier families. In the United States, school systems are not created equally. Middle and upper class students have access to safe and modern schools equipped with everything they possibly need to stay in that high rank because they came from a family who has the money to support their studies. Students from low-income families don’t have a lot of the support, stability, and money from home that higher-income students can take for granted.

Growing up I believed that the three bears in the tale of Goldilocks were a family because they lived under the same roof and ate at the same table. I also believed that Barbie and her little sister, Skipper, were family because they looked alike, and that Mr. Potato Head and Mrs. Potato Head were family because they were married. Now that I am grown, my understanding of family has matured, and many sources have helped shape my belief. Carol Shields points out in her article, “Family Is One of the Few Certainties We Will Take with Us Far into the Future,” that all around us there are different definitions and symbols of family (Shields 558). In short, a family does not have to conform to

Eveyone's family is shaped diffeent, and functions differently The first major one is marital arrangements of a family, that is the number of persons each sex is allowed to marry. This includes monogamy, which is one marriage, and polygamy which is two marriages. There are also sub catergories that includes polygyny, which includes multiple wives, polyandry, which include multiple husbands, and cenogamy, which is a group marriage. the household arrangements of a family is the expected household composition including marital units and blood. There are two major houseold arrangements of a family that most of us fit into. The first arrangemnet would be a nuclear familty. A nuclear family coud either be intact, childless or incomplete. In an intact family the memebers of the family include a husband, wife, and children. In a childless family this includes a couple without children. In a incompletee family, for example this would be a widower with a child. some would say that the nuclesr family is more intimate then a compounded family because nuclear family are more monagomous and conjugal, but that is not always the case. But it is safe to say that the nuclear family is the norm in all societies today, because family comes in all different shapes and sizes. The other type of household arrangement is a compounded family arrangement. This

The families in America are steadily changing. While they remain our most valued and consistent source of strength and comfort, some families are becoming increasingly unstructured. In the past, the typical family consists of a working father, a stay at home mother and, of course, well-rounded children. Today, less than 20 percent of American families fit nicely into this cookie cutter image. American households have never been more diverse. Natalie Angier takes stock of the changing definition of family in an article for the New York Times.

Depending on their cultural background, many families will often have different understandings or ideas of what a family is and how it should be structured.

In a sociological perspective, family is interpreted as a social group whose members are bound by legal, biological, or emotional ties or a combination of all three. The sociological theories the connect to this concept are functionalism, conflict theory, and symbolic interactionalism. First, functionalism states that the family socializes children, it provides emotional and practical support for its members, and it provides its members with a social identity. Secondly, conflict theory states that members create disagreements, and create emotional support and comfort. Finally, symbolic interactionism claims family members and intimate couples interact on a daily basis. "Families are defined as a relationship by blood, marriage, or affection" (Seccombe 5).

Determining family structure and dynamics as well as defining the family is a complex process. Personally, I come from a very traditional family. Much like the assumptions made by the students in the article Defining Family: Young Adults’ Perceptions of the Parent-Child Bond by Mellisa Holtzman (2008). This is what comes to mind when most people define family; a nuclear family, with married parents, and biological children. However, a family is a complex system and can take on many different forms.

First of all, they are many types of families were created over the last few years in American society. This is because there are few Americans that are getting married and more marriages are ending in divorce. This lead to a huge effect on changing the definition and concept of what

There are many different definitions about what the family is. Different theoretical positions influence these variations. For example, the functionalist sociologist George Peter Murdock defines the family as “a social group characterized by common residence, economic co-operation and reproduction. It includes adults of both sexes, at least two of whom maintain

The definition of family is defined in various ways to many different people. Many people may say their family includes the family of orientation, extended family, and family of procreation. It all depends on how the child is raised. Three important factors, out of six, that I consider to be the main functions of family are socialization, economic cooperation, and care, protection, and intimacy. Some families may very well address these functions, while others may not. And because of that, family may be quite hard to define because it goes above and beyond the surface.