Traditional Families In America

The diversity of family forms in modern American society has many individuals questioning how complex family might be. The United States is made up of diverse groups of people that are constantly changing its culture norms, customs, and traditions. With these changes in culture brings controversies on how we are to define aspects of family and what types of families are healthy and productive. A huge controversy in the American family system is whether or not homosexual couples who are married or raise children should be considered a family. Many Americans argue that children raised by homosexual couples are not well off because they lack a traditional family structure. Others argue that a traditional family structure is no longer needed in our constantly changing society and should be accepted just as single parents, divorced and integrated couples have been. Does having a man and a woman at the head of the household of individuals define a family, or is there more to it than just that? I believe that this description of family is too vague to be able to describe the roles and complex structure of family. Sociologists today define family as a group of people who are tied by legal, biological, or emotional bounds. Sociology dives deeper to understand what the family is in American society, what its function are, why it is changing, and if nontraditional families are able to provide the same tasks that traditional families do.

Because families are so diverse, it is more practical to define a family by what it does rather than who it is made of. The controversy of changing families can be easily understood and evaluated once we understand what the purpose of family is. In American sociology, the functions of family are to provide economic assistance, be a socialization agent, produce emotional support, and provide