Many theorists and researchers have studied families and I have concluded that there is no comprehensive definition of
the family that applies to everyone. The Vanier Institute of the Family (1994) however stated that "Family is defined as any
combination of two or more persons who are bound together over time by ties of mutual consent, birth, and/or adoption/placement"(p.
6). This definition specifically talks about the current family and not of families in the past. Families of the past were
very different from the types of families that we live in now. The word family and what was included in the family has changed
significantly over time. Throughout the centuries some examples of the different family types were; the hunter-gathers, the
agricultural family, the pre-industrial family, and the urban industrial family. Although these families were very different
from one another they were all still called families. As one can see the family institution has not disappeared from past
families, although the definition of the family has changed, the fact the people raise and support each other as a family
will not.
|
 |
|
|
 |
To further prove that the family is not disappearing I will study the
past families and look at the changes that are occuring to families now. Families have changed over the years and will
continue to change, just because the idea of what a family is changes doesn't mean that there eventually will be no family
left for years to come.
|
 |
|
|
|