Emma Micallef
Topic: Family
To what extent does a universal family exist?
First to argue in favour of universality within the family is Murdock. After studying a sample of 250 societies he came to a particular definition of the family. The family is a social group that share a common residence, co-operate economically and produces offspring. It is also important that it includes adults of both sexes whose sexual relationship is socially approved, with one or more children, be they biological or adopted. He believes that the nuclear family exists in every society and it is where more complex family structures stem from. Hence Murdock strongly believes that the family is universal. The real question now is whether or not these conclusions are valid keeping in fact that he only took a sample of 250 societies around the world and that a portion of his investigations relied on the observations of ordinary people and not sociologists and this is what the following sociologists will argue.