Diverse Family Structures and Functions in Britain

Diverse Family Structures and Functions

When British people today think of a family they think of a father, a

mother and two children. This is the stereotype of the family, which

is called Nuclear Family. In fact, there are many other family

structures such as, Extended Family, Linear Family, Single-parent

Family, etc. This essay will look at a range of diverse family

structures and functions in Britain today, especially the four kind of

family structure: Nuclear, Extended, Single-parent and Homosexual

Families.

So, what is a family? A family is a group of people who live with,

love, protect and support each other in spite of ethnic, blood, gender

etc.

The family acts as a person's backbone for individuals, without it

person cannot go normally. The family plays an important role for the

society, because it is a social unit. Therefore, the family is not a

separate form of social relationship.

Moonie N 1995 a family which consists of parents and their children,

and other relatives such as grandparents, uncles, aunts.

Extended Family-a family consists grandparents, parents, uncles,

aunts, brothers, sisters, cousins, and so on.

----------------------------------------------------------------

Such family base on kinship, kinship ties control people's life.

This kind of family structure used to be very common in many

countries, and the classic extended family is patrilineal because the

family is passed down through the male line. Obviously, male is the

head having the considerable power.

The members of the extended family are close to each other. They may

provide or get extra help around the house, and they ...

... middle of paper ...

...cts as a

generation role, and then reproduces human being.

Economic support

----------------

We all need food, clothes, shelter to survive, especially when we are

young or old. The family can support us those needs.

Emotional mainstay

------------------

Besides of economic support, we need love, care, protection from,

other people to live. Our family supply most of the emotional and

psychology needs.

Education

---------

We need to know the social rules and values by education. The

education does not only refer to school, it emphasizes family first.

Family is the first school to educate us in all one's life.

Above all, we have a range of diverse family structures and functions

in Britain today. There is not unique family as old times. This is the

result of society development.