FRHD 1020 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Social Control, Single Parent, Nuclear Family
19 Mar 2020
School
Department
Course
Professor
Couples Lecture 1
Defining Families
Types of Definitions
1. Legal Definitions
▪ Relating to family law
▪ Legal definitions vary across regions and tend to change over time
2. Normative Definitions
▪ Shared by majority if people
▪ Practice regarded as socially legitimate (gay marriage and divorce)
3. Research Definitions
▪ Linked to measurement
▪ Help answer a specific research question
George Murdock’s (1949) Definition
• A social group characterized by a common residence, economic cooperation and
reproduction [including] adults of both sexes, at least two of whom maintain a socially
approved sexual relationship, and one or more children, own or adopted, of the sexually
cohabiting adults
▪ Not an inclusive definition
▪ Leaves out so many types of families
Statistics Canada
• Definition of census family includes:
▪ a married or common-law couple (with or without children of either and/or both
partners)
• Opposite or same sex
▪ a lone parent of any marital status, with at least one child living same dwelling
Vanier Institute of the Family
• Any combination of two or more persons who are bound together over time by ties of
mutual consent, birth and/or adoption or placement and who, together, assume
responsibilities for variant combinations of some of the following:
▪ Physical maintenance and care of group members
▪ Addition of new members through procreation or adoption
▪ Socialization of children
▪ Social control of members
▪ Production, consumption, distribution of goods and services
▪ Affective nurturance - love
Why is it hard to define families?
• Definitions must allow for variability
• Many families live in separate households
• Extended families or multiple families can live in same dwelling
