In human Humans are a species of animal known taxonomically as Homo sapiens , and are the only extant member of the Homo genus of bipedal primates in Hominidae, the great ape family. However, in some cases "human" is used to refer to any member of the genus Homo context, a family (from Latin Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. With the Roman conquest, Latin was spread to countries around the Mediterranean, including a large part of Europe. Romance languages such as Aragonese, Corsican, Catalan, French, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, Sardinian, Spanish and others, are descended from Latin, while: familiare) is an exclusive group of people Because the word people often refers to abstract and general types of groups, the word persons is sometimes used in place of people, especially when it would be ambiguous with its collective sense . It can collectively refer to all humans or it can be used to identify a certain ethnic or religious group. For example, "people of color" is who share a close relationship —a unit typically (or "traditionally") composed of a mated In biology, mating is the pairing of opposite-sex or hermaphroditic organisms for copulation and in social animals it also includes the raising of their offspring. For animals, mating methods include random mating, disassortative mating, assortative mating, or a mating pool couple and their dependent children Biologically, a child is generally a human between the stages of birth and puberty. The legal definition of "child" generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person younger than the age of majority. "Child" may also describe a relationship with a parent or authority figure, or signify group membership in a clan, tribe, (procreation Reproduction is the biological process by which new individual organisms are produced. Reproduction is a fundamental feature of all known life; each individual organism exists as the result of reproduction. The known methods of reproduction are broadly grouped into two main types: sexual and asexual) in co-residence The household is "the basic residential unit in which economic production, consumption, inheritance, child rearing, and shelter are organized and carried out"; [the household] "may or may not be synonymous with family". Families create generations Generation , also known as procreation, is the act of producing offspring. In a more generic sense, it can also refer to the act of creating something inanimate such as electrical generation or cryptographic code generation—each of which gain in maturity and self sufficiency Self-sufficiency refers to the state of not requiring any outside aid, support, or interaction, for survival; it is therefore a type of personal or collective autonomy. On a large scale, a totally self-sufficient economy that does not trade with the outside world is called an autarky such as to create and provide for subsequent generations.

Extended from the human "family unit" by affinity Affinity in terms of sociology, refers to "kinship of spirit", interest and other interpersonal commonalities. Affinity is characterized by high levels of intimacy and sharing, usually in close groups, also known as affinity groups. It differs from affinity in law and canon law which generally refer to the marriage relationship. Social, economy An economy consists of the economic system of a country or other area, the labor, capital and land resources, and the economic agents that socially participate in the production, exchange, distribution, and consumption of goods and services of that area. A given economy is the end result of a process that involves its technological evolution,, culture Culture is a term that has different meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions. However, the word "culture" is most commonly used in three basic senses:, tradition A tradition is any established routine. Usually, routines established in order to preserve a wide range of culturally significant ideas. The word tradition comes from the Latin traditio [meaning: giving up , surrendering, instructing, relating] Today, the word tradition is commonly used to designate specific practices and the various methods used, honor Honour or Honor is the evaluation of a person's trustworthiness and social status based on that individual's espousals and actions. Honour is deemed exactly what determines a person's character: whether or not the person reflects honesty, respect, integrity, or fairness. Accordingly, individuals are assigned worth and stature based on the harmony, and friendship In a comparison of personal relationships, friendship is considered to be closer than association, although there is a range of degrees of intimacy in both friendships and associations. Friendship and association can be thought of as spanning across the same continuum. The study of friendship is included in sociology, social psychology, are concepts of family that are metaphorical, or that grow increasingly inclusive extending to nationhood A nation is a group of people who share common history, culture, ethnic origin and language, often possessing or seeking its own government. The development and conceptualization of a nation is closely related to the development of modern industrial states and nationalist movements in Europe in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, although and humanism Humanism is an approach in study, philosophy, or practice that focuses on human values and concerns. The term has a complex history and is used to mean several things, most notably, an educational movement, associated especially with the Italian Renaissance, that emphasized the study of Greek and Roman literature, rhetoric, and moral philosophy –. There are also concepts of family that break with tradition within particular societies, or those that are transplanted via migration to flourish or else cease within their new societies.

As a unit of socialisation Socialization is a term used by sociologists, social psychologists, anthropologists, politicians and educationalists to refer to the process of inheriting norms, customs and ideologies. It may provide the individual with the skills and habits necessary for participating within their own society; a society itself is formed through a plurality of and a basic institution Institutions are structures and mechanisms of social order and cooperation governing the behavior of a set of individuals within a given human collectivity. Institutions are identified with a social purpose and permanence, transcending individual human lives and intentions, and with the making and enforcing of rules governing cooperative human key to the structure of society, the family is the object of analysis for sociologists of the family The Sociology of the family examines the family unit through various sociological perspectives, particularly with regard to the relationship between the nuclear family and industrial capitalism, and the distinct gender roles and concepts of childhood which arose with it. The sociology of the family is a common component on introductory and pre-. Genealogy Genealogy is the study of families and the tracing of their lineages and history. Genealogists use oral traditions, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kinship and pedigrees of its members. The results are often displayed in charts or written as narratives is a field which aims to trace family lineages through history. In science Science is a systematic enterprise of gathering knowledge about nature and organizing and condensing that knowledge into testable laws and theories. As knowledge has increased, some methods have proved more reliable than others, and today the scientific method is the standard for science. It includes the use of careful observation, experimentation,, the term "family" has come to be used as a means to classify groups Biological classification, or scientific classification in biology, is a method by which biologists group and categorize organisms by biological type, such as genus or species. Biological classification is a form of scientific taxonomy, but should be distinguished from folk taxonomy, which lacks scientific basis. Modern biological classification of objects as being closely and exclusively related. In the study of animals Animals are a major group of mostly multicellular, eukaryotic organisms of the kingdom Animalia or Metazoa. Their body plan eventually becomes fixed as they develop, although some undergo a process of metamorphosis later on in their life. Most animals are motile, meaning they can move spontaneously and independently. All animals are also it has been found that many species form groups that have similarities to human "family"—often called "packs."

Procreation

One of the primary functions of the family is to produce and reproduce persons, biologically and socially.^[1][2] Thus, one's experience of one's family shifts over time. From the perspective of children Biologically, a child is generally a human between the stages of birth and puberty. The legal definition of "child" generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person younger than the age of majority. "Child" may also describe a relationship with a parent or authority figure, or signify group membership in a clan, tribe,, the family is a family of orientation: the family serves to locate children socially and plays a major role in their enculturation Enculturation is the process by which a person learns the requirements of the culture by which he or she is surrounded, and acquires values and behaviours that are appropriate or necessary in that culture. As part of this process, the influences which limit, direct, or shape the individual include parents, other adults, and peers. If successful, and socialization.^[3] 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.^[4] However, producing children is not the only function of the family; in societies with a sexual division of labor, marriage Marriage is a social union or legal contract between individuals that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found. Such a union may also be called matrimony, while the ceremony that marks, and the resulting relationship between two people, it is necessary for the formation of an economically productive household The household is "the basic residential unit in which economic production, consumption, inheritance, child rearing, and shelter are organized and carried out"; [the household] "may or may not be synonymous with family".^[5][6][7]

A conjugal family includes only the husband, the wife, and unmarried children who are not of age. The most common form of this family is regularly referred to in sociology Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—that uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop and refine a body of knowledge about human social activity, often with the goal of applying such knowledge to the pursuit of social welfare. Subject matter as a nuclear family A nuclear family is a family group consisting of only a father and mother and their children, who share living quarters. This can be contrasted with an extended family. Nuclear families can be of any size, as long as there are only children and two parents. Nuclear families meet their individual members’ basic needs because available resources.^[8]

A consanguineal family consists of a parent and his or her children, and other people. Although the concept of consanguinity originally referred to relations by "blood", Cultural anthropologists Cultural anthropology is one of four or five fields of anthropology . It is the branch of anthropology that examines culture as a meaningful scientific concept^[who?] have argued that one must understand the idea of "blood" metaphorically and that many societies understand family through other concepts rather than through genetic distance Genetic distance refers to the genetic divergence between species or between populations within a species. It considers a variety of parameters used to measure the genetic distance. Smaller genetic distances indicate a close genetic relationship whereas large genetic distances indicate a more distant genetic relationship. Genetic distance can be.

A matrilocal family consists of a mother A mother is a woman who has, conceived, given birth to, or raised a child in the role of a parent. Because of the complexity and differences of a mothers' social, cultural, and religious definitions and roles, it is challenging to define a mother to suit a universally accepted definition. The masculine equivalent is a father 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.

History of the family

The diverse data coming from ethnography Ethnography is a research strategy often used in the social sciences, particularly in anthropology and in some branches of sociology. It is often employed for gathering empirical data on human societies/cultures. Data collection is often done through participant observation, interviews, questionnaires, etc. Ethnography aims to describe the nature, history, law and social statistics, establish that the human family is an institution and not a biological fact founded on the natural relationship of consanguinity Consanguinity ("con- sanguine (blood) -ity (noun marker)") refers to the property of being from the same kinship as another person. In that respect, consanguinity is the quality of being descended from the same ancestor as another person. Consanguinity is an important legal concept in that the laws of many jurisdictions consider.^[9][10]

Early scholars of family history applied Darwin Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist[I] who established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestors, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection. He published his theory with compelling evidence for evolution in his 18's biological theory of evolution Evolution is the change in the inherited traits of a population of organisms through successive generations. After a population splits into smaller groups, these groups evolve independently and may eventually diversify into new species. A nested hierarchy of anatomical and genetic similarities, geographical distribution of similar species and the in their theory of evolution of family systems.^[11] American anthropologist Lewis H. Morgan Lewis Henry Morgan was a pioneering American anthropologist and social theorist, and one of the greatest social scientists of the nineteenth century in the United States. He is best known for his work on kinship and social structure, his theories of social evolution, and his ethnography of the Iroquois. Due to his study of kinship, Morgan was an published Ancient Society Ancient Society is a book written by Lewis H. Morgan published in 1877. In this book, Morgan developed his famous theory of the three stages of human progress, i.e., from Savagery through Barbarism to Civilization. Friedrich Engels based his Origin of the Family on this book in 1877 based on his theory of the three stages of human progress from Savagery through Barbarism to Civilization Civilization is a term used to describe a certain kind of development of a human society. A civilized society is often characterized by advanced agriculture, long-distance trade, occupational specialization, and urbanism. Aside from these core elements, civilization is often marked by any combination of a number of secondary elements, including a.^[12] Morgan's book was the "inspiration for Friedrich Engels Friedrich Engels was a German social scientist, author, political theorist, philosopher, and father of communist theory, alongside Karl Marx. Together they produced The Communist Manifesto in 1848. Engels also edited the second and third volumes of Das Kapital after Marx's death' book" The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State published in 1884.^[13] Engels expanded Morgan's hypothesis that economical factors caused the transformation of primitive community into a class-divided society.^[14] Engels' theory of resource A resource is any physical or virtual entity of limited availability that needs to be consumed to obtain a benefit from it. In most cases, commercial or even ethic factors require resource allocation through resource management control, and later that of Karl Marx Karl Heinrich Marx was a German philosopher, self-taught political economist, historian, political theorist, sociologist, communist, and revolutionary, whose ideas played a significant role in the development of modern communism and socialism. Marx summarized his approach in the first line of chapter one of The Communist Manifesto, published in 184, was used to explain the cause and effect of change in family structure and function. The popularity of this theory was largely unmatched until the 1980s, when other sociological theories, most notably structural functionalism Structural functionalism is a broad perspective in the social sciences which addresses the social structure in terms of the function of its constituent elements, namely norms, customs, traditions and institutions. It studies society as a structure with interrelated parts. A common analogy, popularized by Herbert Spencer, regards these interrelated, gained acceptance.^[11]

Hunting and Gathering families

At an early stage of development societies may practice hunting and gathering. Ideal type characteristics for these societies include:^{[citation needed]}

• Small groups (30-100 people)
• Open, elliptical camps
• Simplistic technology
• Children spaced apart 4–5 years in age (due to low fat diet and regular lactation)

Ideal type characteristics for labor division is as follows:

• Women
  • Gather 80% of food supply
  • Plant
  • Manage distribution of food
  • Care for children
  • Build/repair shelters
• Men
  • Hunt
  • Prepare the fields
  • Care for children
  • Build structures
• Children
  • Help to gather food
  • Discipline is passive
  • Cared for by siblings, parents, and other adults

The general ideology of these groups is typically:

• Egalitarian (no hierarchy of power; men, women, children cooperate)
• Monogamus and bilineal
  • Trial marriage
  • Divorce not common, nor traumatic
    • No wealth to divide
    • Children continue to be cared for by multiple adults

Modern industrialised families

Industrialisation Industrialisation is the process of social and economic change that transforms a human group from a pre-industrial society into an industrial one. It is a part of a wider modernisation process, where social change and economic development are closely related with technological innovation, particularly with the development of large-scale energy and dramatically changed the role of the family as an institution and unit of socialisation. With the development of capitalism, the "nuclear family" and contemporary notions of "childhood" arose:

• Physical context
  • Solid permanent structures; doors close off families from one another
  • Small scale agriculture and flocks
  • Private property
  • Wider political and social contact for boys
• Division of labor
  • Women and girls
    • Preserve and prepare foods
    • Begin to be seen as domestic
  • Men and boys
    • Care for flocks
    • Broader social knowledge and ties
    • Begin to be seen as public leaders
• Ideology
  • Hierarchy
    • Stratification by gender
    • Stratification by class
  • Marriage and divorce
    • Become more formalized (parents take control)
    • Reinforces class privilege
    • Divorce becomes more problematic

Kinship terminology

Archaeologist Lewis Henry Morgan (1818–1881) performed the first survey of kinship terminologies in use around the world. Although 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 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 that 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.^[15]

Morgan identified six basic patterns of kinship terminologies:

• Hawaiian: only distinguishes relatives based upon sex and generation.
• Sudanese: no two relatives share the same term.
• Eskimo: in addition to distinguishing relatives based upon sex and generation, also distinguishes between lineal relatives and collateral relatives.
• Iroquois: in addition to sex and generation, also distinguishes between siblings of opposite sexes in the parental generation.
• 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: like a Crow system but patrilineal.

Western kinship

Most Western societies employ Eskimo kinship terminology. This kinship terminology commonly occurs in societies based on conjugal (or nuclear) families, where nuclear families have a degree of relative mobility.

Members of the nuclear 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)
• Brother: a male child of the same parent(s)
• Sister: a female child of the same parent(s)
• Grandfather: father of a father or mother
• Grandmother: mother of a mother or father
• Cousin: two people that share the same Grandparent(s)

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).

However, in the western society the single parent family has been growing more accepted and has begun to truly make an impact on culture. The majority of single parent families are more commonly single mother families than single father. These families face many difficult issues besides the fact that they have to rear their children on their own, but also have to deal with issues related to low income. Many single parents struggle with low incomes and must cope with other issues, including rent, child care, and other necessities required in maintaining a healthy and safe home.

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:

• 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 prefixes "great-" or "grand-" modifies these terms. Also, 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 they 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 they 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 one can refer to a "third cousin once removed upwards".

Cousins of an older generation (in other words, one's parents' first cousins), although technically first cousins once removed, are often 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, in some uses, 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.

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.

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 out 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 meant that children reared in such atmospheres tended to distrust strong, authoritarian leaders. According to del Giorgio, European democracies have their roots in those ancient ancestors.

Family in the West

Family types

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. Sociologists have a special interest in the function and status of these forms in stratified (especially 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 kindred of the parents and of other families in general) and nuclear families (which maintain relatively close ties with their kindred).

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 (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, historical and 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.

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".^[17]

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 same-sex couples,^{[citation needed]} 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.^[18]

Sociological views

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." During industrialization, "[t]he family as a repository of warmth and tenderness (embodied by the mother) stands in opposition to the competitive and aggressive world of commerce (embodied by the father). The family's task was to protect against the outside world."^[19] However, Zinn and Eizen note, "The protective image of the family has waned in recent years as the ideals of family fulfillment have taken shape. Today, the family is more compensatory than protective. It supplies what is vitally needed but missing in other social arrangements".^[20]

“The popular wisdom,” Zinn and Eitzen say, is that the family structures of the past were superior to those today and families were more stable and happier at a time when they did not have to contend with problems such as illegitimate children and divorce. They respond to this, saying, “there is no golden age of the family gleaming at us in the far back historical past”.^[21] "Desertion by spouses, illegitimate children, and other conditions that are considered characteristics of modern times existed in the past as well."^[22]

Still others argue that whether or not we view the family as "declining" depends on our definition of "family." The high rates of divorce and out-of-wedlock births indicate a decline in the institution of the family. No longer are marriages arranged for political or economic gain, and children are not expected to contribute to family income. Instead, people choose mates based on love. This increased role of love indicates a societal shift toward favoring emotional fulfillment and relationships within a family, and this shift necessarily weakens the institution of the family.^[23]

Oedipal family model and fascism

The model, common in the western societies, of the family triangle, husband-wife-children isolated from the outside, is also called oedipal model of the family, and it is a form of patriarchal family.

Many philosophers and psychiatrists analyzed such a model. One of the most prominent of such studies is Anti-Œdipus by Deleuze and Guattari (1972). Michel Foucault, in its renowned preface, remarked how the primary focus of this study is the fight against contemporary fascism.^[24]

In the family, they argue, the young develop in a perverse relationship, wherein they learn to love the same person who beats and oppresses them. The family therefore constitutes the first cell of the fascist society, as they will carry this attitude of love for oppressive figures in their adult life.^[24][25] Kindship and family forms have often been thought to impact the social relations in the society as a whole, and therefore been described as the first cell or the building social unit of the structure of a society.^[26][27] Fathers torment their sons.^[27][28] Deleuze and Guattari, in their analysis of the dynamics at work within a family, "track down all varieties of fascism, from the enormous ones that surround and crush us to the petty ones that constitute the tyrannical bitterness of our everyday lives".^[24]

As it has been explained by Deleuze, Guattari and Foucault, as well as other philosophers and psychiatrists such as Laing and Reich, the patriarchal-family conceived in the West tradition serves the purpose of perpetuating a propertarian and authoritarian society.^[29] The child grows according to the oedipal model, which is typical of the structure of capitalist societies,^[9][10] and he becomes in turn owner of submissive children and protector of the woman.^{[28][30][31][32][33]}

Some argue that the family institution conflicts with human nature and human primitive desires and that one of its core functions is performing a suppression of instincts,^[9][10] a repression of desire commencing with the earliest age of the child.^[29] As the young undergoes physical and psychological repression from someone for whom they develop love, they develop a loving attitude towards authority figures. They will bring such attitude in their adult life, when they will desire social repression and will form docile subjects for society.^[29]

Michel Foucault, in his systematic study of sexuality, argued that rather than being merely repressed, the desires of the individual are efficiently mobilized and used,^[24] to control the individual, alter interpersonal relationships and control the masses. Foucault believed organized religion, through moral prohibitions, and economic powers, through advertising, make use of unconscious sex drives. Dominating desire, they dominate individuals.^[34]

According to the analysis of Michel Foucault, in the west:

the [conjugal] family organization, precisely to the extent that it was insular and heteromorphous with respect to the other 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

Civil rights movements

The Family Equality Council^[35] envisions a future in which all families, regardless of creation or composition, will be able to live in communities that recognize, respect, protect, and celebrate individuals for supporting one another and sustaining loving families.

Inbreeding

A study performed by scientists from Iceland found that mating with a relative (incest) can significantly increase the number of children in a family. Many societies consider inbreeding unacceptable. Scientists warn that inbreeding may raise the chances of a child inheriting two copies of disease-causing recessive genes, leading 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 eighth cousin, then the number of children declined, showing an average of 3.3 children and 7.3 grandchildren.^[36]

Size

Natalism is the belief that human reproduction is the basis for individual existence, and therefore promotes having large families. Many religions, e.g., Islam, Catholicism and Judaism,^[37] encourage their followers to procreate and have many children. In recent times, however, 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 national efforts to reverse declining populations.

See also

References

1. ^ Schneider, David 1984 A Critique of the Study of Kinship. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. p. 182
2. ^ Deleuze-Guattari (1972). Part 2, ch. 3, p.80
3. ^ Russon, John, (2003) Human Experience: Philosophy, Neurosis, and the Elements of Everyday Life, Albany: State University of New York Press. pp 61-68.
4. ^ George Peter Murdoch Social Structure page 13
5. ^ Wolf, Eric. 1982 Europe and the People Without History. Berkeley: University of California Press. 92
6. ^ Harner, Michael 1975 "Scarcity, the Factors of Production, and Social Evolution," in Population. Ecology, and Social Evolution, Steven Polgar, ed. Mouton Publishers: the Hague.
7. ^ Rivière, Peter 1987 "Of Women, Men, and Manioc", Etnologiska Studien (38).
8. ^ Oregonstate.edu, Nuclear family- "A family group consisting of wife, husband (or one of these) and dependent children." - Definitions of Anthropological Terms - Anthropological Resources - (Court Smith) Department of Anthropology, Oregon State University
9. ^ ^{a b c} Lacan 1938-2001, pp.24-25, 56
10. ^ ^{a b c} Fugier Pascal, 2007, p.226-8
11. ^ ^{a b} "Sociology/Founding the discipline". Encyclopedia Britannica. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/551887/sociology/222961/Founding-the-discipline#ref=ref748622. Retrieved 2009-07-26.
12. ^ Morgan 1877
13. ^ Encyclopedia, Britannica. "Cultural Anthropology". http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/146165/cultural-anthropology/38786/Marxism-and-the-collectors#ref=ref423234. Retrieved 2009-07-22.
14. ^ "The Marxists Internet Archive". http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1884/origin-family/index.htm. Retrieved 2009-07-17.
15. ^ Tooker, Elisabeth. “Another View of Morgan on Kinship.” Current Anthropology 20, no. 1 (March 1979): 131-134.
16. ^ Williams, Brian; Stacey C. Sawyer, Carl M. Wahlstrom (2005). Marriages, Families & Intinamte Relationships. Boston, MA: Pearson. 0-205-36674-0.
17. ^ "The Collapse of Marriage by Don Browning - The Christian Century, (February 7, 2006, 24-28.)". Religion-online.org. http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=3322. Retrieved 2007-07-10.
18. ^ Blended and Blessed - Encouraging Step-Families, blendedandblessed.com
19. ^ Zinn and Eitzen (1987) Diversity in American families, p. 3
20. ^ Zinn and Eitzen (1987) Diversity in American families, p. 3
21. ^ Zinn and Eitzen (1987) Diversity in American families, p. 8
22. ^ Zinn and Eitzen (1987) Diversity in American families, p. 8
23. ^ Coontz, Stephanie. 2005. Marriage, A History: How Love Conquered Marriage. New York: Viking/Penguin Books.
24. ^ ^{a b c d} Foucault (1984) Preface to the American edition of Anti-Œdipus pp. xiii-xvi).
25. ^ Wilhelm Reich (1933) The Mass Psychology of Fascism, Chapter V, The Sex-Economic Presuppositions of the Authoritarian Family
26. ^ Alfred Radcliffe-Brown, 1930s works
27. ^ ^{a b} John Phillips Structural Linguistics and Anthropology, courses.nus.edu.sg
28. ^ ^{a b} Wilhelm Reich [1936] The Sexual Revolution, Chapter V, The compulsive family as educational apparatus, pp. 71-77
29. ^ ^{a b c} Deleuze-Guattari (1972). Part 2, ch. 7, pp.129-31
30. ^ (Italian) Gianni Vattimo Tutto in famiglia (article appeared on Il Manifesto October 15, 2004), feltrinelli.it (Italian)
31. ^ (Italian) Luttazzi, Daniele Bollito misto con mostarda (2005) p.262, books.google.com
32. ^ Theodor W. Adorno and Stephen Crook Adorno ISBN 0-415-27099-5, p. 9-10, books.google.com
33. ^ E. James Anthony, The Family and the Psychoanalytic Process in Children (1980). Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 35:3-34, pep-web.org
34. ^ Foucault, The History of Sexuality
35. ^ Family Equality Council, familyequality.org
36. ^ Related Couples Have More Children, infoniac.com
37. ^ Joys of A Large Family, by Rebbetzin Faige Twerski. angelfire.com

Notes

• 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 978-0-679-72469-8
• 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), mis en ligne le 17 juillet 2005. Consulté le 15 juin 2007, terrain.revues.org (French)
• Jack Goody (1983) The Development of the Family and Marriage in Europe (Cambridge University Press); translated into Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese. review: {{cite web dcvbxcbvg

Further reading

• Mattox, William R., Jr., "America's family time famine", Children Today, Nov-Dec, 1990

External links

• Family Research Laboratory, unh.edu
• Family evolution and contemporary social transformations, seres.fcs.ucr.ac.cr (Estación de Economía Política)
• Family Facts: Social Science Research on Family, Society & Religion (a Heritage Foundation site). familyfacts.org
• Families Australia - independent peak not-for-profit organisation. familiesaustralia.org.au
• Unitedfamilies.org, International organisation
• UN.org, Families and Development
• Wiktionary entries for Western kinship terminology providing multilingual translations
  • Mother, father, son, daughter, brother, sister
  • Grandmother grandfather grandson granddaughter
  • Uncle aunt nephew niece
  • Xousin
• Family, marriage and "de facto" unions, Vatican.va

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