Marriage and Family in Changing Society.
One of the challengers of sociology is that some of the key concepts are in everyday life. Nowhere is this truer in the field of marriage and family. Marriage and family had played a main role in human history. From the beginning of human civilization, our ancestors had lived as small groups, which are organized into small families. All people are or have been members of family or another. Most Americans will date, fall in love, marry and establish their own family. These experiences are the most important part of social life of most people. Therefore it is very important to know the role of marriage and family in present society. .
The author James M. Henslin highlights the importance of the family and marriage as "every human group in the world organizes its members in families." Each culture have its own norms, gestures, and values toward family. Therefore, the term family is commonly defined as - consists of people who consider themselves related by blood, marriage, or adoption (302). The two main types of families in present world are nuclear and extended families. Nuclear family consist husband, wife, and children. Extended family includes people such as grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins in addition to nuclear family. Sociologists also refer to the family of orientation, the family which an individual grows up and family of procreation, the family formed when a couple has their first child. .
Main component of family is marriage. Edward Westermarck, who wrote the classical three-volume History of Human marriage, concludes that marriage has been part of the social structure of all settled society (qdt. in Marriage and family 14). .
He mentions "marriage is the relation of one or more men to one or more women which is recognized by custom or law and involves certain rights, and duties both in the case of the parties entering the union and in the case of the children born of it.