Types of family

Different data from ethnography, history, law, and social statistics, reveal the human family as a social institution and not as a biological fact founded on consanguinity.The report different types of families occur in a wide range of settings, and their functions specifications and meanings depend largely on their relationship to other social institutions. Although the first Western cultural anthropologists and sociologists considered the family and kinship as universally associated with reports of "blood" (based on common ideas in their cultures) research later showed that many family instead understand society through ideas living together, sharing food (eg kinship of milk) and the sharing of care and nourishment. Sociologists have a special interest in the function and status of family forms in stratified societies (especially capitalist). [Citation needed]

A miner with his children, West Virginia, 1946

According to the work of scholars Max Weber, Alan Macfarlane, Steven Ozment, Jack Goody and Peter Laslett, the huge transformation that led to modern marriage in Western democracies it was "fueled by the religio-cultural value system provided by elements of Judaism, early Christianity, Roman Catholic canon law and the Protestant Reformation. "

Very sociological, historical and anthropological research is dedicated to the understanding of this variation, and of changes in the family that are formed over time. Levitan statements:

"Times have changed; it is more acceptable and encouraged for mothers to work and fathers to spend more time at home with the children. The way roles are balanced between the parents will help children grow and learn valuable life lessons. There is great importance of communication and equality in families, in order to avoid role strain.