definition of a family

Definition of a Family What a family is and what it looks like have changed over the recent years. “The family is usually thought of as an expressive or emotional social unit, it serves as an instrumental agency for the larger social structures…” (Goode, 2014). A family used to be defined as a man and woman living in a single household with children, that was a family unit. With the three main societal changes that have occurred, the face of the family unit looks much different than it has in the past. Because of these changes, woman are more present in the workforce, more educated people, and longer life expectancy. My definition of family is that family is a social group that is not concrete. Families are forever changing in this day in age. Divorces and adoptions are much more common, as well as opening of the home to non-family members due to economic issues. Thus making the family unit much more fluid than before. This can be a good and bad thing. The good that can come from it is the help and love that can be given to someone in need. The bad is that family isn’t held to the same high standard as it once was. All in all, family is still just as important as it was, it is just looked at as a larger unit now. References Goode, W. J. (2014). The Theoretical Importance of the Family. In A. S. Skolnick, & J. H. Solnick, Family in Transition (pp. 15-26). Boston: .