What is Family?

Family is a social group connected by biological relatedness (consanguinity) or through marriage and adoption (affinity). In this entry, we will focus on a sociological exploration of the family in the West in the last two centuries, while more information about ethnological and anthropological exploration of family can be found in the entry kinship.

The sociology of the family examines a wide range of issues, including courtship, marriage, childrearing, marital adjustment, and divorce. It also explores how gender, sexuality, intimacy, and affection are expressed within family relationships.

Definitions of what constitutes a family vary considerably across societies and cultures. While some societies have a broad and inclusive understanding of family, others define it more narrowly. In some cases, the concept of family is limited to the nuclear family living together in a single household. However, families can take many different forms, including single-parent families, extended families, stepfamilies, blended families, same-sex families, polyamorous families, and others.

Marriage has traditionally been associated with having a home, financial stability, and a social celebration involving family, friends, and neighbors. Because of these expectations, poverty has often led some couples to cohabit without marrying. However, in the Western world, nonmarital cohabitation increasingly became a socially accepted institution after World War II, as traditional family norms weakened. Today, many couples, especially in Scandinavia, live together for years before marrying, contributing to later marriages and fewer marriages overall. Another emerging arrangement is “living apart together” (LAT), where couples consider themselves intimate partners but maintain separate homes. Although such relationships existed in the past, they have become more common and socially recognized. LAT relationships became possible partly because the traditional links between marriage, living together, sexual relations, and childbearing weakened. Changes in divorce laws also reflect changing family patterns and longer life expectancy.

                     Early Sociological Research of Family

Walter Wilcox, in The Divorce Problem: A Study in Statistics (1891), argued that family is a strong but flexible institution, while divorces are dependent on changing social conditions. Similarly, William Thomas and Florian Znaniecki, in The Polish Peasant in Europe and America (1929), portray family as a socializing force that has to endure pressures of urbanization, industrialization, and migration.

During the 1930s, Angell Robert researched the effects of the Great Depression on families, culminating in The Family Encounters Depression (1936). In this work, Angell pioneered the integration of small-scale case studies with large statistical surveys, beginning with student projects that documented family histories during the Depression using student essays as data.

George Peter Murdock coined the term nuclear family in his book Social Structure (1949) to refer to a married couple (a man and a woman) who live with their minor children. Murdock argued that the nuclear family was the basic family form in almost all cultures.

Michael Young and Peter Willmott published a book, Family and Kinship in East London (1957), based on an ethnographic study of the members of one working-class community. Family and Class in a London Suburb (1960) was the sequel to the previous study, and it dealt with the lives of individuals and families who moved to the suburbs.

Peter Laslett researched premodern family patterns and family life in the books The World We Have Lost (1965), Household and Family in Past Time (1972), Family Life and Illicit Love in Earlier Generations (1977), and Family Forms in Historic Europe (1983). Using local historical evidence, Laslett concluded that the small nuclear family was the predominant family form in premodern times, and that the earlier view that the extended family with several generations living together was a predominant form was wrong. 

                     Theoretical Approaches to Family

                                     Marxist Approach

Friedrich Engels's The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State (1884) is the most important early Marxist work on the family. Engels studies the historical conditions of marriage, family, private property, and the economy, as well as political relations and states. Engels posits that, with the emergence of civilization and the formation of the state, there is the development of a monogamous family. Monogamous marriage is characterized by the greatest strength of the marital relationship; the woman is completely separated from the public sphere, and her role is only to maintain the household and give birth to children. Although marriage is very difficult to dissolve, men are allowed to have sexual intercourse outside of marriage, primarily in the form of prostitution or sexual exploitation of slaves. In this sense, monogamy and prostitution, although seemingly in opposition, are inextricably linked and caused by the same socio-economic circumstances. With the emergence of the state and the disintegration of kinship gentes, marriage ceases to be controlled by complex kinship ties but begins to be based only on the material and class interests of the fathers of future newlyweds. With the development of industrial capitalism in the modern age, family control over marriage declined, and the freedom of choice of marital partners grew, but class origin was still crucial for the choice of marital partners. In civil law, marriage begins to be treated like any other contractual relationship, which has its own precisely defined economic obligations and duties.

Engels believes that proletarian marriages no longer fall into the category of monogamous marriages because proletarians left the domestic sphere and entered the public sphere by being employed in factories. In an envisioned communist society, the patriarchal monogamous family will disintegrate, and all women will participate in the economy, which will give them political and economic equality, and men's concern about leaving an inheritance to direct biological descendants will disappear, because all means of production will be socially owned. The care and upbringing of children will become a public thing because society will take care of its children, whether they were born in or out of wedlock. Instead of double moral standards of sexual behavior for men and women, there will be a free expression of sexual behavior, unlimited by hypocritical moral scruples. Marriages will be concluded completely freely, without any class or other restrictions, and the marriage itself will last only as long as both parties want it, otherwise, it will be easily resolved.

In his first book, Authority and the Family (1936), Horkheimer explores how the relationship between authority and cultural values ​​leads to subordinate strata of society accepting their own subordinate position. The main role in reproducing these values ​​and maintaining the status quo is not physical force, but social institutions such as the family, church, and school. These institutions, which work together, strengthening each other, are accepted by the people, and then they shape the character traits of the people, the most important of which is submission to authority. Authority is the one that plays a key role in the process in which people passively accept their destiny as a given. Horkheimer believes that the family is the basic unit of society, not the class. The authority of family and marriage continues to enable a man to dominate a woman and demand her obedience.

                              Social Exchange Theory

Social exchange theory views the individual as the main focus of analysis, assuming that people make rational decisions by weighing the rewards and costs of their actions. In relationships, individuals consider benefits gained from their family as well as from alternatives outside it. A marriage may end when one or both partners believe that remaining together is less rewarding than other options. Divorce decisions are influenced by two comparisons. First, people compare the benefits of their own marriage with those experienced by others, and feelings of disadvantage may increase dissatisfaction. Second, they consider the potential rewards and costs of alternatives, such as divorce or remarriage, including finding a more suitable partner or facing social disapproval.

The family life course development framework views family life as a dynamic process that changes over time. It examines the patterns and changes families experience as they move through different stages and events. The framework has evolved from viewing families as passing through fixed stages, to focusing on family careers, and more recently, on individual life courses and how they influence one another.

                   Reflexive Modernization Approach

The reflexive modernization approach to family was developed by the married pair Ulrich Beck and Elizabeth Beck-Gernsheim, and Anthony Giddens. Beck and Beck-Gernsheim argue that the long-term process of individualization has significantly transformed family life in modern societies by providing individuals with greater autonomy and freedom of choice. Individualization involves the gradual liberation from traditional obligations and the pursuit of personal independence. As a result, individuals have greater control over shaping their own lives and making decisions about whether and whom to marry, whether to have children, and how to express their sexual preferences. Consequently, the traditional family model, based on a lifelong, officially recognized relationship between a father, mother, and child, is increasingly being replaced by a diverse range of family forms and ways of living. Difficulties in career development under capitalism and the disappearance of traditional gender roles (both at work and in the household) are the source of the biggest family conflicts. The traditional family will not disappear, but family life is becoming more complex, so different forms of interpersonal association are emerging, sexual life is being separated from biological reproduction, women are in a better position, and same-sex relationships are growing and becoming more socially accepted. 

Giddens argues that traditional family bonds have increasingly been replaced by the concept of the pure relationship as the basis of personal life. A pure relationship is built on emotional communication, with the satisfaction and rewards gained from this communication providing the main motivation for maintaining the relationship. Unlike traditional relationships, it is not sustained by external social pressures or obligations; instead, it is created and maintained through the efforts of the individuals involved. As a result, interpersonal trust is no longer primarily based on established duties associated with clearly defined social roles. In a pure relationship, trust develops through the mutual sharing of personal feelings, experiences, and beliefs. This creates a strong need for intimacy between partners. Although intimacy can exist within marriage, it is not limited to marriage and can also be found in other forms of partnership, such as cohabitation.

William J. Goode, in World Revolution and Family Patterns (1963), presents a large study of set family patterns in fifty societies, over half a century, during the process of industrialization. Using Parsons’s theory, which states that all contemporary societies are merging towards a nuclear family system as the standard, Goode tested the hypothesis that, in fact, family patterns are actually converging. The explanation for this trend is that the modern capitalist system needs a highly mobile and flexible population, and that an isolated nuclear family best fulfills this need.

                               Functionalist Approach

From a functionalist perspective, the family performs important functions for both individuals and society. Talcott Parsons argued that in modern industrial societies, the nuclear family has two main roles: socializing children and providing emotional support for adults. One important function is reproduction, as families traditionally provide a context for having and raising children, helping societies continue over generations. Socialization involves teaching children the values, norms, and behaviors of their society. Although the family has historically been the main source of socialization, schools, media, and other institutions now play a significant role.

The family also has a protective function, providing care and security for children, the elderly, and the sick. However, many of these responsibilities are increasingly shared with the wider society through social security and other public services. The sexual function traditionally involved regulating sexual relationships within marriage, although changing social attitudes have made this role less central in many societies. The religious function refers to passing on religious beliefs and practices within the family. This has become less important in many societies because of secularization. Families have also traditionally provided leisure and recreation, although much of this function is now fulfilled by organizations and activities outside the home. Finally, the family serves an emotional function, offering its members security, comfort, and emotional support. 

Robert Bales and Parsons co-authored the book Family, Socialization, and Interaction Process (1955), in which they combined Bales’ group dynamic approach with Parsons’ functionalist approach to understand gender roles in the family. According to Parsons, societies require structural differentiation, and this principle also applies to the division of labor within the family. He argues that men typically adopt “instrumental” roles—becoming oriented toward technical, decision-making, and authoritative functions—while women take on “expressive” roles, focusing on support, cohesion, and managing emotional tensions. Through socialization, children internalize these gender-specific roles and behaviors. In this framework, masculinity is understood as the identity associated with the social position and role of men within broader societal structures.

                                 Feminist Approach

Nancy Chodorow, in her book The Reproduction of Mothering (1978), studies strategies created to maintain and strengthen existing social hierarchies. She states that gender roles and norms are not adopted by imitation or coercion, but are a consequence of the early relationship between a mother and a child (especially regarding attachment and separation). Both sexes identify with the mother after birth, but that relationship changes later.

Likewise, mothers begin, over time, to treat children of different genders differently. Girls build their identity by maintaining a connection with their mothers, while boys build a sense of identity by separating from their mothers. Boys build an identity by rejecting and suppressing the feminine side and by belittling femininity in women. Maintaining masculinity requires constant self-examination and struggle with oneself, which leads to its fragility. Femininity is more stable, but it involves the self-sabotage of women. Chodorow believes that there is a universal female self that transcends racial and class differences. Women's relationships within the family are relational institutions that encompass emotional and psychological interpersonal relationships and serve to meet the needs of the domestic sphere. Women are defined, above all, through particular and affective relations in the family, while the definition of a man's gender role is based, first of all, on his role within the sphere of economic production.

Jessie Bernard believes that women and men live in separate worlds, so the experience of marriage is completely different for the two sexes. The women's world, in the structural sense, represents the community - Gemeinschaft, while in the cultural sphere it represents the ethos of love and/or commitment. The women's sphere is a sphere of solidarity and understanding, so women are left out of professions that require aggression and competition. Bernard conducted serious sociological studies of family, marriage, and divorce. She studied the position of women, both in the family and marriage, as well as in public life. In The Future of Marriage (1972), she argues that men and women should reject their traditional gender roles (men earn, women do household chores, and care for children) and share those roles and jobs equally.

Sara Ruddick studied maternal practices and believed that this practice produces a specific form of consciousness and way of thinking. She states that maternal consciousness can be a resource for feminist pacifism, as well as for shaping social relations at the local, national, and global levels. She rejects biological determinism in shaping gender differences and believes that men are capable of caring for children, as well as women. However, she believes that it is wrong to use the gender-neutral notion of parenthood. Pregnancy itself and the act of giving birth are shaped by "natal reflection," which is characterized by a specific understanding of oneself and other people. She believes that motherhood shapes the "ethical singularity of women”. In “Woman of Peace: A Feminist Construction” (1997), Ruddick opens a discussion on whether violence is sometimes necessary, or whether feminists must always advocate for peace. She sharply criticizes Western thought because it focuses on abstract thinking that is separate from any particularist, emotional, or bodily experience.

In the book The Feminine Mystique (1966), Betty Friedan, based on her own experience, but also the experience of other women, concludes that patriarchal society imposes the role of a housewife on women. The imposed role of housewife, which is fulfilled by the fact that the woman maintains the household and the family, makes women prisoners. Friedan calls on women to reject the imposed role of a happy and tame housewife and to move from the family to the public sphere. Women should work actively to achieve career success, as well as to constantly fight for social and political gender equality. 

Alice Rossi is known as a gender theorist. In her essay "An Immodest Proposal" (1964), she expressed the view that there was no "antifeminism" in the society of the time, not because there was no sexism, but because there was no widespread feminist consciousness. She stated that for most women, motherhood has become a full-time job, which negatively affects not only women, but also the whole society, and that is the reason why women must start the fight for gender equality again. In her book The Feminist Papers (1973), Rossi took a very different view, arguing that the biological differences between men and women make women better suited to caring for children. It follows that gender equality should be achieved through social recognition of this biologically innate advantage for caring for children, and not by men taking on this role.

In the book Women’s Oppression Today (1980b), Michèle Barrett states that it is not only capitalists but also men from working-class families that benefit from the economic exploitation of women. She believes that the root of the oppression of women lies in the alliance of men and capitalists in the nineteenth century, which resulted in women being excluded from the sphere of work and pushed into the domestic sphere. The key element in the process of oppression of women is the "family-household system". In this system, all household income is earned by men, and all household members depend on that money. On the other hand, all work within the household is done by women. Such a system produces an ideology that justifies this gender division of labor as normal and natural.

Michèle Barrett co-authored the book The Anti-Social Family (1982) with Mary McIntosh, in which the authors criticize the ideology that idealizes the family. The family, as promoted by this ideology, is "antisocial" because it supports the capitalist exploitation of women's labor, but also because it destroys life outside the family. This ideology stigmatizes people living outside the family (singles, people living in institutions). The authors believe that the social idea of ​​the family represents the family as the only place where love and care prevail, thus denying the existence of these relationships in other spheres, masking the true nature of family life, and enabling domestic violence and abuse. In the book The Politics of Truth: From Marx to Foucault (1991), the author, using Marxist and Foucault's concepts, examines the complex matrices of women's subordination.

Christine Delphy believes that marriage is still a structurally unequal relationship, because the opportunities for women in the public sphere are fewer (especially in the sphere of work), while the gender division of work is still maintained within the domestic sphere. In her opinion, there are two main ways of production in modern society. The industrial type of production is based on capitalist ownership and exploitation, and the patriarchal mode of production is defined by patriarchal exploitation. In this sense, she views marriage as an institution based on the male appropriation of female labor. Both modes of production are autonomous and separate. The patriarchal mode of production leads to the fact that women belong to a single class, so the status of every woman is independent of the status and wealth of her husband. The patriarchal way of production implies that the man, as the head of the house, appropriates the free work of the woman and other subordinates of the household. Women do the vast majority of all household chores, take care of children and the elderly, and also perform emotional, reproductive, and sexual roles. In addition to control over work, men have complete control over property, money distribution, and consumption. Women, even when working, perform all domestic roles, while still having no control over the property. All women are united by common oppression by men.

In several articles, and in the book The Dialectic of Sex: The Case for the Feminist Revolution (1970a), Shulamith Firestone expounds on a feminist theory that views male domination over women as the most basic form of domination, while all other forms of exploitation and domination (capitalism, racism, imperialism) emanate and arise from patriarchal domination. The patriarchy used biological differences - pregnancy and childbirth - as a justification for domination. Biological differences between the sexes led to the creation of what Firestone calls the "biological family". In all societies, no matter how different, the biological family has four common and universal characteristics: 1) biological "handicap" of women due to menstruation, menopause, childbirth, and child care; 2) a long period of growing up of children prolongs a woman's dependence on a man; 3) women's dependence on men produces power relations and the psychology that supports that power; 4) the biological family creates a full class order which forms the basis of the general class order. Women, on the other hand, consciously adapt to imposed social values ​​in order to survive in the male world. Women function as a separate ghettoized class, so it is necessary to spread "consciousness-raising" among women in order to overcome structural inequalities. Firestone advocates the elimination of sexual / gender inequality through the elimination of biological differences through artificial reproduction; the rearing of children within the wider community; the socialist economy; and the abolition of the nuclear family.

In her book Theorizing Patriarchy (1990b), Sylvia Walby argues that patriarchy continues to be an excellent basis for explaining gender inequality. Her view of patriarchy is flexible, as she believes that patriarchy changes over time, and that it acts differently among different classes or ethnic groups. Walby defines patriarchy "as a system of social structures and practices in which men dominate, oppress and exploit women" (Walby, 1990b). She believes that patriarchy represents the institutional coexistence of both the patriarchal and capitalist modes of production. Throughout history, these two systems go through periods of harmony, but also tension, which is influenced by different historical circumstances. Capitalism has great benefits from patriarchy because the latter creates a gender division of labor.

Walby singles out six structures that are independent but also connected to each other, and which maintain patriarchy. 1) Patriarchal way of production in the household - men appropriate the unpaid work of women that takes place in the home, and also, women bear most of the care of raising children. In the domestic sphere, the patriarchal mode of production is still dominant for the largest number of women. For women, leaving a marriage often means falling into poverty. 2) Paid work - gendered labor market relations serve to exclude women from specific occupations and careers; that is, they are destined for jobs with lower wages and jobs that require fewer skills and education. The patriarchal way of production and discrimination in the sphere of the paid workforce push women into marriage and isolated life in the household. 3) Patriarchal state - the state, through laws and practical policies, systematically works in the interest of patriarchy. 4) Male violence - this type of violence is not individual, but represents an established and systematic pattern of behavior and includes sexual crimes, physical violence, sexual harassment, and sexual abuse of children. The state has not done enough to prevent violence and rarely prosecutes perpetrators. 5) Patriarchal relationship in sexuality - is reflected in the double standards of acceptable sexual behavior for women and men, as well as in the insistence on "compulsory heterosexuality". 6) Patriarchal cultural institutions - media, religion, and the educational system - portray women in ways that suit the patriarchal model, and this practice shapes women's identities and patterns of behavior. Pornography, as part of the culture, increases the freedom of men, while diminishing the freedom of women.

Walby distinguishes between private and public patriarchy. Private patriarchy refers to gender relations in the household and family and was most pronounced in earlier periods when women were forbidden to enter the public sphere. Public patriarchy refers to gender relations in the wider society. The state and the labor market are becoming the most important factors of oppression, exploitation, and the subordinate position of women. Although Walby recognizes that there has been a reduction in gender inequalities in Britain, she still believes that all structures and forms of patriarchy continue to exist and function and that women are isolated and subjugated in all areas of public life. She believes that of women from all ethnic groups in Britain, Muslim women are most likely to be oppressed by private patriarchy. In countries of market capitalism, the market plays the biggest role in public patriarchy. In welfare states, the state and the market are equally responsible, while in the former socialist states, the state and its institutions played the greatest role in public patriarchy.

Patricia Hill Collins developed an African-American feminist epistemology that emphasizes the importance of self-defined knowledge for group empowerment. Empowerment is necessary in order to leave the matrix of domination. Empowerment will come with the development of personal responsibility, experiential wisdom, feminist discourse, and empathy. Empowerment of African American women cannot take place as long as there is discrimination and social exclusion. Collins believes that only the experience and knowledge gained by vulnerable groups, especially African-Americans, can provide critical and self-defining resistance. Living and working within the community, socializing, listening to music, and especially through what she calls "motherwork", creates a special type of experience that is specific to African American women. Motherwork refers to the care not only of one's own children but also to the care of children from the wider family and community. Maternal work erases the differences between the private and the public; the family and the community; oneself and others. Collins also researched how sexual policy overlaps with minority policies in the United States, that is, how attitudes and beliefs regarding sexuality and sexual behavior crucially affect racial, gender, and class inequalities in American society.

                                LGBT Studies Approach

In the book Same-Sex Intimacies (2001), Jeffrey Weeks emphasizes the greater freedom of choice that exists in same-sex long-term relationships. In addition, he cites three key differences between heterosexual relationships, on the one hand, and gay and lesbian relationships, on the other. Gay and lesbian relationships have a greater potential for equality because partner expectations are not shaped by social and cultural gender patterns. The absence of such expectations allows for much greater freedom in determining how the relationship will work; there is much more agreement and equal sharing of responsibilities. In the end, these relationships are characterized by a much greater commitment to the relationship and much more emotional investment.

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