Family

Meaning of Family
 Family

• Is the basic social institution and the

primary group in society.
• According to Murdok, “family is a social
group characterized by common residence,
economic cooperation and reproduction.’’
 Family

• According to Burges and Locke, family is a

group of persons united by ties of
marriage, blood or adoption, consisting of
single household, interacting and
communicating with each other in their
respective social roles of husband and
wife, mother and father, son and daughter,
brother and sister, and creating and
maintaining a common culture.
 Family

• According to Murray and Zentner (1997),

family is a social system and primary
reference group made up of two or more
persons living together who are related by
blood, marriage or adoption or who are
living together by arrangement over a
period of time.
F father
A and
M mother
imply the presence of children
I
where
love must prevail between me
L
and
Y you
Classification of
Family
 Based on Descent
• Patrilineal – affiliates a person with a
group of relatives through his or her
father.
• Matrilineal - affiliates a person with a
group of relatives through his or her
mother.
• Bilateral - affiliates a person with a group
of relatives through both his or her
parents.
 Based on Authority
• Patriarchal – authority is vested on the
oldest male in the family, often the father.
• Matriarchal - authority is vested in the
mother or mother’s kin.
• Matricentric – prolonged absence of the
father gives the mother a dominant
position in the family, although the father
may also share with the mother in decision
making.
Based on Internal Organization
and Membership
• Nuclear Family – Also called a conjugal
family, this is the parents and their
children living in the same residence or
sharing the closest bonds.
• Extended Family - This type of family
includes all relatives in proximity, such as
grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins.
Based on Internal Organizaation
and Membership
• Step Family - This is a family where the
adults have divorced and remarried,
bringing children from other unions
together to form a new nuclear family.
• Adopted Family - This type of family
shares legal bonds but not genetic ones.
Two parents may adopt a child to whom
they share no blood relationship, or one
parent may adopt the child of the other
parent.
Based on Internal Organizaation
and Membership
• Foster Family: A foster family includes
one or more adult parent who serves as a
temporary guardian for one or more
children to whom they may or may not be
biologically related. In time, more formal
arrangements may be made and foster
children can be legally adopted.
 Based on Place of Residence
• Patrilocal – requires the newly wed to
reside near the groom’s parents.
• Matrilocal – near the bride’s parents.
• Bilocal – provides the couple the choice
to reside on either parents.
• Neolocal – permits the couple to reside
independently of their parents.