the nuclear family
...irst type, the man works outside the home while the woman works inside the home caring for the children. 28 percent of all households fit this description. In the second type of married nuclear family, the woman works outside the home and the man cares for the children. This constitutes 2 percent of the families in this country. In the third kind of married nuclear family, both the wife and the husband work outside the home or are income providers. In some situations, the woman might have a home-based business, such as a day care centre. Nearly 60 percent of women with children under the age of six were in the workforce during the past decade. Murdock states that the family is a social group characterized by common residence, economic co-operation and reproduction. It includes adults of both sexes, at least two of whom maintain a socially approved sexual relationship, and one or more children, own or adopted, of the sexually cohabiting adults Although this image of idyllic family lifestyle may seem, possible, functional and overall a great interpretation of many family’s, this is a very vast, controversial area, which is widely debated throughout Britain. What has recently been happening to the nuclear family constitutes part of a process of differentiation. This process has involved a further step in the reduction of importance in society of kinship groups other than the nuclear family. It has also resulted in the transfer of variety of functions from the nuclear family to other structures of the society, notably the occupationally organised sectors of it. This means that the family has become a more specialised agency than before, ...