FAMILY (FREE TOPIC)
In the context of human society, a family is a
group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth), affinity
(by marriage or other relationship), or co-residence (as implied by the
etymology of the English word "family")[citation needed] or some
combination of these.[citation needed] Members of the immediate family may
include spouses, parents, brothers, sisters, sons, and daughters.[citation
needed] Members of the extended family may include grandparents, aunts, uncles,
cousins, nephews, nieces, and siblings-in-law.[citation needed] Sometimes these
are also considered members of the immediate family, depending on an
individual's specific relationship with them.[citation needed]
In most
societies, the family is the principal institution for the socialization of
children. As the basic unit for raising children, anthropologists generally
classify most family organizations as matrifocal (a mother and her children);
conjugal (a wife, her husband, and children, also called the nuclear family);
avuncular (for example, a grandparent, a brother, his sister, and her
children); or extended (parents and children co-reside with other members of
one parent's family). Sexual relations among the members are regulated by rules
concerning incest such as the incest taboo.
The word
"family" can be used metaphorically to create more inclusive
categories such as community, nationhood, global village, and humanism.
The field of
genealogy aims to trace family lineages through history.
The family
is also an important economic unit studied in family economics
