Nuclear and Extended Families

Nuclear and Extended Families

IGCSE Sociology

​lesson objectives

• ​Describe the main types of family (nuclear and extended families)

• ​Compare and contrast nuclear and extended families

Poll

Is this a family?

• Yes

• No

• Not sure

Poll

Is this a family?

• Yes

• No

• Not sure

Poll

Is this a family?

• Yes

• No

• Not sure

Poll

Is this a family?

• Yes

• No

• Not sure

​What is a family, then?

​Think about this...

​Because people live in families, we might assume that we know a lot about them.

​

​Did you know that over a lifetime, each person will probably live in several different types of families?

​

​In recent years, there has been an increase in the number and proportion of different types of families and a decline in "traditional views" of how families should be.

​Household unit

​the group of people living together in the same residence and sharing living space.

​

​Note: not everyone lives a family, for example, sometimes groups of friends live together.

​Family

​a group of one or more parents and their children living together as a unit grouped together by lineage or through laws.

​

​

Poll

Are you a part of a family?

• Yes

• No

​Nuclear Family

​made up of an adult man and an adult woman who are married, or in a relationship, and living together with dependent children.

​

• ​thought to be both the most common kind and also the best

​George Murdock

• ​The nuclear family of a mother, father, and dependent children was the basic family unit worldwide based on his research on many different cultures and societies.

• ​While types of families tend to be different, he argued, that individuals had a nuclear family at their heart.

For example, family units of a mother, father, and children exist within extended families.

extended families

a nuclear family living with other relatives such as grandparents or great-grandparents or aunts, uncles and cousins.​

​

• More common in the past and now in decline because they seem less suited to life in modern industrial societies.​

​Vertically or Horizontally Extended?

​Vertical - more than two generations, for example children-parents-grandparents living together

​

​Horizontal - aunts, uncles and cousins (people of the same generation as the parents and children) for example two brothers and their family staying together in one household

MODIFIED EXTENDED FAMILY

​Sometimes the term extended family is used for all the relatives sharing a household, however, we call several nuclear families living close to each other in the same street or area as extended families.

​

​With better communication and transport, relatives who live far apart are better able to stay in contact and have mutual support between them.

Open Ended

Define Nuclear Family.

Open Ended

Define Extended Family.

Open Ended

Pair Activity:

Compare and Contrast nuclear and extended families. Write your answer below.

Note: Don't forget to write your name.

​HOMEWORK

​Read textbook on pp. 124-125.

Open Ended

What have you learned from this lesson?