Nuclear Family "Debate"
A family is a group of people who live together. They share the housework and take care of one another.
There are three types of family: nuclear family, single-parent family and extended family.
A Nuclear Family is made up of father, mother and one or more children living together.
A Joint Family made up of father, mother, grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins, nieces, and nephews.
The "nuclear" family is not a recent phenomenon, but has existed in many cultures throughout human history. Indeed, the extended family of several generations is found mostly in relatively advanced, stable, and affluent, but not yet industrialized societies. Very primitive and very sophisticated societies seem to prefer the nuclear family model.
However, nuclear families can vary in the degree of their isolation and restrictedness. For example, before the Industrial Revolution the Western nuclear family was often embedded in a larger social unit, such as a farm or estate, an aristocratic court, or a village populated by relatives. Many older city neighbourhoods also kept kinship ties strong, and thus even very small families remained open to the community. Family visits might be frequent and extended; children might freely circulate and feel at home in several households.
The traditional nuclear family basically is made up of a father, mother and a couple of children or so, and hence is compact and small. The father’s role is of providing for the family as well as protecting it, while also being the family’s disciplinary role model. The woman’s role within the traditional nuclear family consists of housework and motherhood.
In recent decades, this traditional form of the family has undergone major changes, with increasing rates of divorce leading to single-parent families, remarriages, resulting in extended families. These trends and the resulting problems that they cause, especially for the children, has brought the advantages of traditional nuclear families back into focus.
There are three types of family: nuclear family, single-parent family and extended family.
A Nuclear Family is made up of father, mother and one or more children living together.
A Joint Family made up of father, mother, grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins, nieces, and nephews.
The "nuclear" family is not a recent phenomenon, but has existed in many cultures throughout human history. Indeed, the extended family of several generations is found mostly in relatively advanced, stable, and affluent, but not yet industrialized societies. Very primitive and very sophisticated societies seem to prefer the nuclear family model.
However, nuclear families can vary in the degree of their isolation and restrictedness. For example, before the Industrial Revolution the Western nuclear family was often embedded in a larger social unit, such as a farm or estate, an aristocratic court, or a village populated by relatives. Many older city neighbourhoods also kept kinship ties strong, and thus even very small families remained open to the community. Family visits might be frequent and extended; children might freely circulate and feel at home in several households.
The traditional nuclear family basically is made up of a father, mother and a couple of children or so, and hence is compact and small. The father’s role is of providing for the family as well as protecting it, while also being the family’s disciplinary role model. The woman’s role within the traditional nuclear family consists of housework and motherhood.
In recent decades, this traditional form of the family has undergone major changes, with increasing rates of divorce leading to single-parent families, remarriages, resulting in extended families. These trends and the resulting problems that they cause, especially for the children, has brought the advantages of traditional nuclear families back into focus.