In the ancient world
In the ancient world, the family unit consisted of all people who lived under the same household and extended to include slaves as well as relatives within this context. However, the immediate pre-industrial family consisted of married couples and the children who resided with them (Coontz 44). Coontz also explains that as early as the 17th century, people used the term family to refer to the children that a man had, with the term wife referring to a separate identity related to the idea of the man's family (42). Going by these characteristics, the definition of a family excluded units consisting of a woman and her children. In addition, the common idea of the family depicted it as requiring a heterosexual couple and their child or children, thereby excluding relatives or other people not related by blood but living in the same household.
The increasingly nuclear nature of the concept of family
The increasingly nuclear nature of the concept of family is a product of more people joining the working class and redefining their approaches to forming and maintaining households. One particular group overlooked in the definition of the modern family was same-sex couples, with this definition placing their relationships in the limelight and making people more conscious of the way that others interpreted their sexual orientation (Coontz 41). Another group that this definition overlooked was rural communities, in which referring to extended relations as part of the family unit remained in the same household in every generation. For this group, the tension created between their economic and family relationships led to the gradual erosion of their approaches to family. Furthermore, the consumption behaviors in the post-industrial environment and the class society that arose further contributed to these groups adopting a nuclear approach to their formation as well.
Works Cited
Coontz, Stephanie. "Historical Perspectives on Family Diversity." Handbook of Family Diversity (2000): 39-51.
