Nuclear Families
Nuclear families, usually referred to as“two-generation families,”make up the pattern
found in most of the United States and in many other Western cultures. Nanda and
Warms develop the idea of this important arrangement when they write,
The nuclear family is adapted in many ways to the requirements of industrial society.
Where most jobs do not depend on productive resources owned by family groups such
as land and where mobility may be required for obtaining employment and career success,
a small flexible unit such as the independent nuclear family has its advantages.^17
The nuclear family to which Nanda and Warms refer“is made up of two genera-
tions: the parents and their unmarried children. Each member of a nuclear family has
a series of evolving relationships with every other member: husband and wife, parents
and children, and children with each other.”^18
The nuclear family, like all deep structure institutions, manifests many of the
values of the culture that stresses this family pattern. For example, we mentioned pre-
viously that the nuclear family is characterized by a great deal of geographic mobility.
This trait has been part of American culture since the founding of the country. Cul-
tural values of the nuclear family are also reflected in child-rearing practices. Accord-
ing to Triandis,“there is less regimentation and less emphasis on obedience, while
exploration and creativity are encouraged.”^19 Part of that exploration and creativity
can be seen in how early children reared in nuclear families move away from home
to“experience life”on their own. American cultural values toward and treatment of
the elderly are likewise replicated in nuclear families. In these families older members
of the family do not normally spend their“senior”years living with their children.Extended Families
Anthropologists who study families throughout the world conclude that there are
twice as many extended families as there are nuclear families.^20 Tischler offers an
excellent description of what constitutes the extended family:
Extended families include other relations and generations in addition to the nuclear family,
so that along with married parents and their offspring, there might be the parents’parents,
siblings of the spouses and children, and in-laws. All members of the extended family live in
one house or in homes close to one another, forming one cooperative unit.^21
Even with a larger number of indi-
viduals in the household, there is usu-
ally one person who can be considered
the“head”of the family.
Historically, the cooperative units
within the extended family have gath-
ered for economic reasons and to share the workload and rearing of children. In an
extended family, a set of behaviors and values may be acted out that differ from those
found in nuclear families. For instance,“extended families insist on obedience and are
more organized around rules than are nuclear families.”^22 Regardless of the culture or
the configuration,“The family is regarded as the basic social institution because of its
important functions of procreation and socialization, and because it is found in some
form in all societies.”^23CONSIDER THIS
How do extended families differ from nuclear families?76 CHAPTER 3•The Deep Structure of Culture: Lessons from the Family
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