Family - Definitions And Research Paper

Name: Professor’s Name: Course: Date: Family The term family has been defined by different people over the years. Family is a term that never seems to get old and can never be considered obsolete. People have different understandings of the term. Initially, people believed that to be family, one had to be biologically related to someone. However, this notion has been watered down and today, people consider their friends as part of their families as well. Family comes with a certain weight and responsibility in that one has to be responsible or accountable for the other member(s). Families are held together by familial bonds which often come with the responsibility of making sure that one cares for others who are part of the family. While trying to uncover certain truths about the term family, this article seeks to elucidate further on the term. The Merriam-Webster Online dictionary defines the term family as “the basic unit in society traditionally consisting of two parents rearing their children.” Another definition from the same dictionary is that a family is “a group of things related by common characteristics: such as a: a closely related series of elements or chemical compounds and b: a group of soils with similar chemical and physical properties (such as texture, pH, and mineral content) that comprise a category ranking above the series and below the subgroup in soil classification.” Others like the Cambridge Online Dictionary defines the term family as “a group of people who are related to each other such as a mother, a father, and their children.” These definitions tend to bring about certain traits of families, for example, the members of a family are related by blood, they also have certain shared characteristics, and a family must have an origin or something which resembles a source. To understand the term better, this article will elucidate further on the various understandings of the term. As per the traditional definition, family mainly encompassed a father, mother and children. For this kind of family, the source was the union of a male and their female partners or marriage and through procreation, they were able to build and create their family (Enrique, Howk, Huilt, 2007). The relation here is biological. And from time immemorial, this definition and understanding of family was considered supreme. However, today, issues of divorce as well as the many family wrangles have dented the image and understanding of the traditional family. Today, the institution of marriage is almost broken because get married and divorce as they wish and never seem to care about the fa...