There have been deviations on the subject of a family containing one wife and one husband, as it is common in some cultures for there to be Polygamy – meaning that the relationship contains more than one of each sex. Kibbutzim are small communities that serve to combine the members into one big family, where they care for each other and share responsibilities to make an efficient working unit that can support itself. All supplies, clothes and other privileges are distributed equally between the members of the community; women and men work as equals in the fields and children consider those they grow up with to be their brothers and sisters, they do not come in contact with their parents as often as most children and don’t seem to consider them anymore than close friends. It is obvious that although they have not created a nuclear family, it can still be considered a family.
The counterpart to this example is the Nayar communities, where one woman can take one or more husbands, who are often brothers. This provides an economically stable family as in the event of death or illness of one of the husbands, another can take over. It also helps that they are brothers and although they argue, they get on most of the time and there is not as much chance of rivalry between them.
The legality of divorce has allowed there to be more single parent families and reconstituted families, and although in some cases it may be harder for a single parent to provide for their children, often the children receive just as much attention and help from the one parent as they would from both. Another cause of single parent families is promiscuity, adoption, artificial insemination and the choice not to marry or live with the other parent. The definition of a family should consider that a family does not always have two parents like it would have done one hundred years ago but the unit can still function efficiently.
The traditional view of the family is one that considers there to be two adults of opposite sexes who have one or more children and are provided for by the man – or head of the family. The woman would stay at home and nurture the children, and the family would function as a caring social group who would support each other financially, physically and mentally. This is a popular view of the family and that is because it is common and works well economically in most cultures, it is also the view that is introduced to children when they are young.
The word ‘family’ is particularly vague and it could be suggested that there are different types of family, the last example I have given being a ‘nuclear family’ that has two adults of opposite sexes and one or more children. This is not the only type of family but it would be possible for all my examples so far to be described as different kinds of family.
It is clear from the examples I have used that there is no particular definition that can efficiently cover all the types of family I have looked. The definition of a family varies with culture, tradition and how a person looks at their own family. The one common factor seems to be that a family is a social group where the members share responsibility and support each other. They do not have to be related by blood although that is often the case and there is usually an adult in the family.
Jo Samways
