The Challenge of Defining “Family”

Abstract

T he family is a critically important social institution with huge implications for laypeople, policy makers, and scholars alike. As Socha significantly noted in 1999, family comprises the first group to which a person belongs, and usually provides the most longlasting group membership for individuals. In addition, as we and others have commented (e.g. Floyd, Mikkelson, & Judd, 2006; Galvin, 2006; Turner & West, 2013), in the United States, family is seen as a group that is qualitatively different from any other group to which a person belongs. The enduring bonds of obligation, the unique communication behaviors, the evolution through time, as well as the expectations for affection and support that characterize family set it apart from other groups. Further, the family's contributions to an individual's sense of identity and self-worth have long been noted, and as Olson, Baiocchi-Wagner, Kratzer, and Symonds (2012) comment, ".. . our families provide the glue that connects all the parts of our lives-for better and for worse" (p. 1). In addition, Braithwaite and her colleagues (2010) report that the family is "the most pervasive and central of human institutions" (p. 389). Clearly, family is a term signifying something of importance to people, and a term that is fraught with meaning. The question is: what does it mean? When a term is as important to people as family is, then the process of defining it also becomes important. Yet, defining family often is a problem that bedevils policy makers, laypeople, and scholars alike. In the realm of public policy, Tankersley (2008) comments that the definition of family is at the core of many political debates as well as policymaking discussions. The task of defining family ©SAGE Publications

Constructions of family relationships in a COVID Christmas: An analysis of television advertisements on YouTube

“…COVID-19 has dramatically impacted family relationships (Evans et al, 2020). Here, we focus on family relationships in broad terms, to contend with the difficulties in establishing what constitutes “family”, due to the myriad of forms that it encompasses (Turner & West, 2015). Olson et al (2012, p. 1) suggest that families “provide the glue that connects all the parts of our lives”.…”