Nuclear family
A nuclear family is a type of family unit. It is made up of a husband, a wife, and their children.[1] Not everyone agrees on what a nuclear family is. Some people say that a nuclear family does not include stepchildren or adopted children while some claim otherwise.[2] [3] A nuclear family is a part of an extended family.
History
The term nuclear family was first used in 1947.[4] However, people have lived in nuclear families for thousands of years. In 2005, archaeologists discovered four 4,600-year-old graves in Germany. Several adults and children who were related were buried in these graves.[5] Researchers think that this proves that people lived in nuclear families a long time ago.
During and before the medieval period in Europe, large family groups, such as clans, were most common.[6] By the late medieval period, the nuclear family had become most common.[6]
Nuclear Family Media
A portrait of the Shumard family in Seattle, Washington, c. 1955 (during the mid-century baby boom), illustrating the typical structure of a nuclear family
P. E. Svinhufvud, the president of Finland (center), with his extended family on his 75th birthday in 1936
Between 1960 and 2017, the nuclear family lost its dominant position in American society to other household arrangements.
An employee of the Ford Motor Company with his family, car, and detached house in Detroit, Michigan, United States (1954). New social and economic realities have made nuclear families like this one less common.
Painting of an unknown nuclear family in Washington, D.C., dated 1850
References
- ↑ Nuclear Family Functions In Sociology (in en-US) (2024-02-15). Retrieved 2024-04-30.
- ↑ Jackson, Kristy. Traditional Nuclear Family vs. Blended FamilyCalifornia State University, Sacramento. Retrieved 1 February 2014.
- ↑ Haviland, William A.. Cultural anthropology: the human challenge (2007)Cengage Learning. p. 219. ISBN 978-0-495-09561-3.
- ↑ Merriam-Webster Online. "Definition of nuclear family".
- ↑ Haak, Wolfgang. Ancient DNA, Strontium isotopes, and osteological analyses shed light on social and kinship organization of the Later Stone Age. PNAS 105 (47) (2008). p. 18226–18231. doi:10.1073/pnas.0807592105.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Grief, Avner (2005). "Family Structure, Institutions, and Growth: The Origin and Implications of Western Corporatism" Archived 2015-09-29 at the Wayback Machine.
