Mozart Endoma

XII - BGN

Understanding Culture, Society and Politics

A family is commonly defined as a group of people who share the same blood, or linked by marriage or
adoption. Each family member performs the role of a husband, wife, father, mother, brother, or sister.
However, the word 'family' may be just a single word, but it is defined or interpreted differently in many
ways.

It came to my knowledge that Sociologists and Anthropologists have different definitions to a family.
One define family as a social group that share common residence. Some think a family's relationship is
based on consanguinity and kinship, while others interpret it as a factory that develops human
personalities. Other than that, a family may also be explained according to the different theoretical
perspectives. I learned that family and household are two different words, yet correlated. A household
contains one or more people living together in a single house who provide their needs for food or other
essentials for living, while a family in a household has members who are related by blood, adoption or
marriage. In other words, families are also households, but not all households are families. I also
discovered the three types of family: the nuclear family, extended family, and the blended or
reconstituted family. A nuclear family is a group of people united by social ties, consisting of two adults
and their children. It becomes an extended family if a nuclear family lives with other relatives in one
household. On the other hand, a blended or reconstituted family, sometimes called a step family, is a
type in which the parents live with a child from other marital relationship.

For me, the informations stated above are not the only meaning to the word, family. It is because each
individuals define a family differently from the others. They may interpret it according to their
perspectives or experiences. Also, there are people who recognize others as their family, even though
they are not related by blood and don't live together in one household. Which is why I think anyone can
be considered a family as long as a person feels safe when he/she is with them.