What are the consequences of the breakdown of the traditional family for American society?

Family can be defined as people who are related to you, consisting of (but not limited to): grandparents, parents, siblings, and children. Our families affect who we are by raising us in a particular way that coincides with their culture and beliefs. As we age and learn more, we can decide whether we will keep these beliefs or accept a new truth. This can cause people to either embrace their family, or distance themselves.

The dictionary definition of family is “a group consisting of parents and children living together in a household.” or even “all the descendants of a common ancestor.” In some cases, that is not always true. Most families hardly even have both parents in the picture. Some kids get even adopted or put into foster care, yet the guardians are there for them nonetheless. To me, family is so much more than that.

According to the dictionary family is a group consisting of parents and children living together in a household. Or family is from the descendants of a common ancestor. According to society family is a group, it can be related are not. My definition of family is anyone who is there for you through good and bad, someone who always have your back no matter what. Family is not just blood. However some of the best families are the ones you are not related to.

The Meaning of Family People define family many different ways because it depends on their perspective. Family to me, is having someone or a group of people you can trust and have support with each other no matter what crisis a family goes through. It is having people they are willing to risk their lives for. In the novels, The Good Earth, King Lear, and As I Lay Dying, these show the definition of what it means to be a family.

1.) What constitutes a family? According to the book a family has been defined as “a small kinship-strucutured group whose function is to nutruant socialization”(Kotch, 2013, 35). As of now there is not one solid definition of what a family is.

I define family by a group of people that communicate on regular basic, care for each other, and love each other unconditionally. I think that I was able to construct that definition when I realized that my “relatives” weren’t related to me at all. And then realized I talk to the people who I was related to all more than the people who were considered “blood”. I’ve never been to a family house where I have considered them perfect, every family has their personal issues as well as their own strength.

What is a family? How are families shaped and what effect do they have on society? In the United States a family consists of both parents, one’s self, siblings (biological or adoptive) and extended family members; however, this is not the case around the world. The concept of family and who is family changes in each culture, but is mostly centered around who is kin and who a person marries. Family, kin, and marriage are established through how society decides their lineage, which establishes cultural rituals within the society.

The meaning of family may vary according to different individuals. In agreement to the Urban Dictionary, family refers to a group of people of the same bloodline who sincerely love, trust, and care about. Family can be all the descendants of a common ancestors or a group of parents or children living in the same home. Each of these examples are true definitions of what family is considered. When most people here the word family he or she thinks of their parents, siblings, or even aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents.

Everywhere around the world, in every different culture, people are grouped into families. The word family can be defined as a group of people bound together over time, because of mutual consent, birth and or adoptions/ placement or simply people who consume responsibilities for one other.

Family: A group of people consisting of adults and their children, who live with each other.

What is family? According to our class notes, "two or more persons joined together by bonds of sharing & emotional closeness who identify themselves as being part of the family," stated by Friedman. Friedman's definition of the family is displayed in the movie, The Notebook. An assessment of the family unit is seen throughout the movie setting and story.

A definition of the family is; people who are related through marriage or blood such as mother, father, sister or brother. Also linking in the legal bond of adoption can have as much of an impact on the family as blood ties. It’s important to remember that the family is a universal concept.

A broad definition of family is when certain people consider themselves related by blood, marriage, or adoption.

According to Swartz and Scott (2009), family is defined as a group of people related to each other by blood, marriage, adoption or being sexually open in a relationship. The

A family is a group of two or more people that are related by blood, marriage (registered), adoption, step or fostering, and who usually live together in the same household. This includes newly-weds without children, gay partners, couples with dependants, single mums or dads with children, siblings living together, and many other variations (What is a family, 2013). A family consists of many variables that work together to form a system. The main functions of a family are to ensure that children are satisfactorily socialised into norms and values, to provide economics support for other family members, to satisfy the emotional love and security in a family and to provide a sense of place and position in the society.