Family

A family is a group of people connected by kinship, marriage, or socially recognized bonds. It is a social unit found in virtually all societies, though its composition and membership vary from place to place and time to time.

Family functions include raising children, sharing household resources, dividing labor, and passing language, religion, and customs to the next generation. Families are also typically the context in which property and inheritance are defined.

Types of family

Social scientists commonly distinguish between the nuclear family (one or two parents and their children) and the extended family (including grandparents, aunts, uncles, and their children). There are also single-parent families, blended families formed through remarriage, and households containing multiple related individuals. In pastoral societies, including Somali society, families are typically bound together by kinship and clan structures that extend beyond the household.

System of descent

Descent systems determine how people are classified as belonging to the same family. Some societies trace descent through the father's line (patrilineal), others through the mother's line (matrilineal), and still others through both. This choice affects inheritance, which name is passed on, and who bears responsibility for support. Anthropology also examines marriage rules, including who may and may not marry.

Law and state

Most governments have family law regulating marriage, divorce, parental responsibilities, child welfare, and inheritance. Such law may be based on formal legal codes, religious law such as Islamic shariah, or local custom; many countries employ a combination. Registration of births and marriages gives the state capacity to provide services and collect statistics.

Change

In recent centuries, urbanization, education, wage labor, and migration have transformed family structures. Extended households have declined in many places, the age of first marriage has risen in some regions, and fertility has fallen as education and access to reproductive healthcare have improved. Many families now live in different countries, maintaining ties through communication and remittances.