FAMILY AND TYPES OF FAMILY

Family is the beginning of human life on earth, when Adam and Eve were sent on the earth, they
constituted a family and in this way family was started. Family is the one of the oldest institution
on the earth. It is the base of society, pedestal of the society is dependent on family. Family is the
nucleus of civilization/ society. Families exist in some form in every society of the world, and
every person is and was a member of some family
Various definitions of the family include special biological, psychological, and social linkages.
 Biologically, everyone has a father and mother.
 Psychologically, most people identify with someone and define as parent, grandparent,
brother or sister, uncle, cousin.
 Socially, people are members of a group and they perceive it as family, one in which
relationships are operate in an atmosphere of acceptance, intimacy, support and trust
Another definition of family is as follows: The family is group of persons united by the ties of
marriage, blood or adoption. Constituting and communicating with each other in their respective
roles of husband and wife, mother and father, son and daughter, brother and sister (Burgess and
Locke)
TYPES OF FAMILIES
The institution of family varies from place to place and time to time. Differences exist in family
structure and in the social norms that are related with certain elements of family life
TYPES OF FAMILIES ACCORDING TO COMPOSITION
Family’ composition is not same throughout. It varies from family to family and society to
society. Fundamentally it has been classified according to its composition
1. Conjugal/ Nuclear Family
2. Consanguine/ Extended Family
3. Single- Parent Family
4. Stem Family

1. CONJUGAL/ NUCLEAR FAMILY

Nuclear family include any two or more persons related to one another by blood, marriage and
adoption and who share a common residence. It consists of husband, wife and their children.
When this unit is called nuclear family, it means that the husband-wife relationship is of primary
importance
It may occupying separate apartments in one building or separate single-family houses located
near one another. The recent years have shown an increasing trend towards the establishment of
nuclear families, due to greater degree of privacy and independence
FORMS OF NUCLEAR FAMILY: normally an adult belongs to 2 nuclear families;
 Family of Orientation: It is the family, in which an individual is born, socialized and in
which most basic childhood experiences and learnings occur. It includes his father, mother,
brother, sister
Family of Procreation: It is the family, which a person establishes by his own marriage.
It includes husband, wife and their dependent children

2. CONSANGUINE/ EXTENDED FAMILY

An extended family is a collection of nuclear families related by ties of blood, they live together
in one household. Conjugal relationship is found not only between the 2 persons but among the
large number of kinspersons. The two best- known examples are:
 Three-generation extended family: In the three-generation extended family, the aging
parents live with their sons, their wives and children. In this family generally three
generations live together under the same roof, several married siblings (brothers and
sisters), their spouses (their husbands and wives), their children and their grand-parents
together form a residential and economic unit
 Joint family: Joint family consists of brothers, their wives and children
There are 2 types of extended families. One is patrilineal extended family and another one is
matrilineal extended family
The Patrilineal Extended Family: Is composed of the parents, their sons, sons’ wives
and children. This type of family is very popular in Pakistani society. Almost all the sons after
marriage live with parents till one or more children are born to them. In rural area, especially
such family is very popular
The Matrilineal Extended Family: In which the parents live with their daughters and
daughters’ husbands and children. Such families are rare in Pakistani society and such husbands
are usually called “ghar- jawai”
In Pakistani society, there is no such customary family found. But in odd circumstances when
father dies or divorces his wife or gets into another marriage and lives with her, then such
examples are found. In this case, the mother does not remarry and lives with her children only
3. SINGLE- PARENT FAMILY
A single parent family refers to a family composed of one parent and his/her dependent children
living in the same household. Most of the single parent families are the result of death, marital
breakup and an unplanned or un-wanted motherhood. In the view of some psychologist, single-
parent families are in complete or deviant families
One adult performs the functions usually shared by the two, including earing money,
housekeeping, and child rearing. One person must do the work of the two, the economic liability
of this type of structure is serious
 4. STEM FAMILY
Only one child after marriage continues to live with his parents. His siblings (brothers and
sisters) must leave the family after they marry. The family consists of the parents, a son or
daughter and his or her spouse and children. In Pakistani society, such family is fond from place
to place where the parents live with any of their children. The parents marry all their children and
give them separate living and continue to live with one married son or daughter usually the
youngest one
TYPES OF FAMILIES ACCORDING TO RESIDENTIAL CLUSTERING
There are 3 basic types
1. Patrilocal Family
2. Matrilocal Family
3. Neolocal Family

1. PATRILOCAL FAMILY
It is structured by the rule that a man remains in his father’ house after reaching maturity and
brings his wife to live with his family after marriage. Daughters conversely move out of their
natal household when they marry. As new generations are added to the original household, adult
married sons continue to reside with their fathers, and bring their wives. This type of family
system is more prevalent in the Indo-Pak
2. MATRILOCAL FAMILY
It is structured by the rule that a woman remains in her father’ house after reaching maturity and
brings her husband to live with her family after marriage. Sons conversely move out of their
natal household when they marry. As new generations are added to the original household, adult
married daughters continue to reside with their fathers, and bring their husbands. In Pakistani
society, it exists when:
 The groom has no living relative
 This is the only way to make a good match
 The bride is the only daughter and matrilocal residence allows the bride to remain near
her parents/ relatives
3. NEOLOCAL FAMILY
The custom for a married couple to live apart from the either persons’ spouse’ parents or
other relatives is “neolocality”. The couple gets married and lives neither with the husband’
parents, nor with the wife’ parents. They settle apart from both sets of parents, it is an ideal
form of residence that is not governed by either side of kin
TYPES OF FAMILY BY CLAN OR ANCESTRY
According to lineage or lines of decent, there are 3 types of family
1. Patrilineal Family
2. Matrilineal Family
3. Bilineal Family
1. PATRILINEAL FAMILY
In this family, the relation is traced in father and grandfather line. It means through father
the lineage is determined. All the families in Pakistan are patrilineal
2. MATRILINEAL FAMILY
The ancestral relationship in this family is determined through mother. This system is not
found in our society
3. BILINEAL FAMILY
Where the relationship is traced through both the father and mother. All Arab societies
are of this type where son shows lines of his father and the daughter of her mother
TYPES OF FAMILY BY AUTHORITY
Authority, status and decision making patterns in this family may be divided into 3 types
1. Patriarchal
2. Matriarchal
3. Bilateral

1. PATRIARCHAL FAMILY
Patriarchal family, is a family system organized around dominance by males especially
fathers. The most familiar pattern of family authority is the patriarchy or the father’ role. In
the patriarchal family, the male plays the dominate role. The eldest male who dominates this
system may be a grandfather or an uncle in an extended family, or a father in the nuclear
family. The patriarch has the final word in the family decisions. Within this system women
may have realms of authority, usually concerning home and children, but even in these areas
the final authority rests in the hands of patriarch

2. MATRIARCHAL FAMILY
Matriarchal family, is a family system organized around dominance by females especially
mothers. The matriarchal society is the one in which mothers makes the decisions and wields
the authority in the family. In the matriarchal family, the female plays the dominate role.
Matriarchs are rare and are never found in pure form. Woman plays a major part in the social
and economic life of the home and have a voice in the family affairs and decisions
Very few matriarchal societies exist today. There is no sound evidence to indicate that
women ever held as such societal authority to the extent that is held by men
3. BILATERAL FAMILY
Bilateral family, is a family system organized around dominance of both males and females
especially fathers and mothers. Bilateral family system acts as a democracy. This type
signifies approximately similarity between the husband and wife in status, authority, control
and in the decision making