Since the dawn of human civilization, kinship connections have been essential to the survival of humans and to the creation and maintenance of our larger societies. The family remains one of our most important social institutions and serves as a public and private good (Cherlin, 6-10). Considering the immense impact that the family has on individuals and society, we need to prioritize individual efforts and social support to ensure better outcomes for future generations.

But what defines a family? The answer might depend on when and whom you ask. To track and research population trends, the U.S. Census Bureau defines family as, “A family consists of two or more people (one of whom is the householder) related by birth, marriage, or adoption and reside together.” While this high-level definition may serve as the current standard needed to make important decisions about our social, political, economic, and ecological infrastructure, it’s important to note that our definition has changed over time, and our lived experience affects how we define family.

In early colonial times, families were created through marriage arrangements that helped ensure the livelihood of all family members and their kinship ties, but the advent of new and improved technologies began to change the roles and functions of family life (Cherlin, 38-45). In the aftermath of the Great Depression and both World Wars, the baby boom of the mid-1940s to mid-1960s gave rise to the “Nuclear Family,” which was defined as a husband, a wife, and their offspring both biological and adopted (Tuominen, 2-3). While some conservative groups still consider the nuclear family's original definition to be the gold standard in family formation, others have expanded the definition to include those who are unmarried or cohabitating, and same-sex partnerships while acknowledging that a more appropriate definition would look like a “nuclear family complex in which the roles of husband, wife, mother, father, son, daughter, brother and sister are embodied by people whose biological relationships do not necessarily conform to the western definition of these terms” (Encyclopedia Britannica).   

The definition of family may remain slightly ambiguous, but the role that the family plays in our public and private life, as a social institution, is not. Tuominen explains, “whereby the family as a social institution gives us social roles or positions and rules or social norms that tell us how to act in these roles, as it [the family] helps society reproduce itself (lecture 1-2). As a private good, the family serves an important role in providing individuals with social, emotional, and physical support that allows them to grow into healthy and productive adults. The role of family in our well-being cannot be overemphasized. According to researchers, “having a family enhances subjective well-being, and spending more time with one’s family helps even more (Helliwell & Putnam, 1441). These private benefits contribute to the benefits of the family in their role as a public good within our greater society by producing the next generation of contributing society members who will reproduce, fill labor needs, pay taxes, take care of the aging population, and provide safety from external dangers (Tuominen, Lecture 1-1).

It is of vital importance that we work at a micro and macro level to improve outcomes for families through individual efforts to create loving, healthy environments for all members of our family. It’s also important that we work at a societal level to ensure that families have what they need to thrive and contribute to society. This will require the implementation and expansion of social supports like free childcare, access to food and healthcare, and quality education. Our failure to support the family as a social institution could affect individuals and societies for generations to come. Tuominen highlights the stakes when she states, “…without family, society would collapse unless it created another way to reproduce its population and its culture (lecture 1-2). So, how will you care for your family today?

Work Cited

 Cherlin, Andrew. Public and Private Families. McGraw Hill Education. 2017

Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia (2023, May 5). nuclear family. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/nuclear-family

Helliwell, J. F., & Putnam, R. D. (2004). The Social Context of Well-Being. Philosophical Transactions: Biological Sciences, 359(1449), 1435–1446. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4142146 

“Subject Definitions: Family.” United States Census Bureau, Accessed 12 May 2022.

Tuominen, A. (2021, Fall). Lecture 2-3 “Rise of Private Family.” SOC 352 UW. 

Tuominen, A. (2021, Fall). Lecture 1-1 “What is Family?” SOC 352 UW.

Tuominen, A. (2021, Fall). Lecture 1-2 “Family as a Social Institution.” SOC 352 UW.