Is the nuclear family universal nowadays?

Functionalist Murdock suggested an idea of universality of the family as family is the basic and vital institution in all societies. He looked at 250 societies and found four the most significant functions of the family: sexual, economic, reproduction and socialization. These functions are essential and meet needs in all societies and institution who best fits in performing them is family. Murdock defined the family as social group characterized by common residence, consisting of adults both sexes and depended children. We can consider family as being universal since all children in order to have an adequate socialization have to have their parents with them in early stage of life.

The figures are increasing around the world, since people are tolerating the other forms of family. Governments are start to admit all type of family especially in Western countries, for example, the Civil partnership Act in 2005 in Britain which grant same-sex couple identical rights and responsibilities as the opposite-sex couples do. Many believes we are now live in the postmodern era. According Stacey, she sees family diversity as a reflection of postmodern society. There is no one family form to which everyone aspires. There are no generally agreed norms and values directing family.

All evidences seem to prove that nuclear family is not the dominant type of family. However, living in a nuclear family is a phase that most people, as children and adults, go through in the course of their life. The majority of British children still live in couple-headed households, up to 76% in 2006.(Social Trends, 2007).Most Asian households are based on nuclear families. Most importantly, the idea of the Universal Nuclear Family is so widely accepted due to the attention receives in the media. And the Governments seem to be more preferable to nuclear family, as the nuclear family can be a nurturing environment in which to raise children as long as there is love, time spent with children, emotional support, low stress, and a stable economic environment. So, although there is an increasing diversity of family, nuclear family is still universal now.