Family - Key Words

• Nuclear family

  • consists of two generational parents with a child/children living in the same household
• Extended family

  • Multiple generations (aunties, grandparents...) living under the same roof as the nuclear family
• Classic extended family

  • An extended family share a household
• Modified extended family

  • An extended family that live apart from each other
• Beanpole family

  • A multigenerational family that is long and thin and contains aunts and grandparents, as you go up there are fewer children but people live longer
• Patriarchal family

  • Family led by a male authority figure
• Matriarchal Family

  • Family led by a woman authority figure
• Symmetrical family

  • Household tasks are shared between the male and the female roles
• Reconstituted family

  • one/both partners have been previously married with children from the previous relationships
• Lone parent family

  • One parent living with dependent children
• Gay/lesbian family

  • A homosexual couple living with children
• Single person household

  • A person living alone in a household
• Kinship

  • Close knit family relationships between members related by blood, marriage or adoption
  • Have legal rights
  • Feel obliged to offer emotional support to each other
• Family

  • A group of family related by blood, adoption or marriage
• Households

  • One person living alone or a group of people who live at the same address
• Commune

  • A group of people who share similar political or religious beliefs live together
  • Work together and the children are seen as a collective responsibility rather than the parents
• Nayar

  • There was no nuclear family
  • A woman could have sexual relations with any man (max 12)
  • Biological father was uncertain
  • The mothers brother was responsible fro the father and the children
• Kibbutz

  • Children lived in a community where it was seen as their responsibility
  • They were kept apart from their parents, they could only see them for a short period of time
• Monogamy

  • A couple who have always been together and with no-one else
• Serial Monogamy

  • Where couples have had many monogamous relationships before being together
• Arranged marriage

  • Not forced
  • Marriages are chosen by parents to match their children with partners of a similar culture, background or status
• Civil Partnership

  • Legal recognition of homosexual couples giving them equal treatment to heterosexual couples
• Polygamy

  Marriage where you can have more than one partner at the same time
• Polygyny

  One husband has one or more wives at the same time (found in most islamic countries)
• Polyandry

  • One wife has more than one husband (found in India)