Nuclear family
The human nuclear family (also spouse family ) consists of a mother and a father as well as their biological children who live together in one household . The nuclear family is one of the most widespread forms of family life in Western societies and is sometimes referred to as a nuclear family .
In addition to the nuclear family, there are numerous other family forms . If both partners live together with the child or the children of one of the parents , it is a stepfamily . If only one parent is a single parent . According to the type of designation customary in German-speaking countries , adopted children are not counted as part of the nuclear family - in contrast to the English-language use of the designation nuclear family (from the Latin nucleus "core").
Conceptual history and reception
In connection with the industrial revolution in Europe , there is also talk of the formation of the nuclear family , in contrast to the extended family with members of several generations and side lines that was customary in the European cultural area . In recent times the model of the nuclear family or nuclear family has been questioned in view of social developments.
Different aspects
From the point of view of biology , the nuclear family is fundamentally capable of reproduction . However, it no longer exists after the death of one parent. A married couple without children in the same household does not form a core family. In sociology , too, the nuclear family is the living and reproductive community of father, mother and child (ren). The nuclear family is now considered to be the smallest social cell in which not only biological reproduction but also an essential part of socialization takes place and forms the basis of society .
Federal German law does not know a legal definition ( legal definition ) of the nuclear family . German family law also contains no relevant provisions.
In psychology , the nuclear family denotes the triad ("trinity") of the mother-father-child system, of which every person is a permanent part - even if the members do not or no longer live together. The smallest nuclear family (with only one child) is important for describing families in family therapy , family dynamics and psychoanalysis .
See also
- Rainbow family (same-sex partners with children)
- Parenting (biological, legal and social)
literature
- Thomas Bargatzky : The nuclear family - a universal family form? In: The same: Ethnology: An introduction to the science of the primordial societies. Buske, Hamburg 1997, ISBN 3-87548-039-2 , pp. 101-105: Chapter 6.3.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Günther Lüschen, Veronica Stolte Heiskanen, Conor Ward, Robert O. Blood, Michael Lewis: Family and kinship interaction and the function of rituals . In: Günther Lüschen, Eugen Lupri (eds.): Sociology of the family (= Cologne journal for sociology and social psychology . Special issue 14 (1970)). VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden 1970, ISBN 978-3-663-19609-9 , p. 270-284 , doi : 10.1007 / 978-3-663-19652-5_14 .
- ^ Sigrun Ritzenfeldt: Children with stepfathers: Family relationships and family structure in stepfather families. Doctoral thesis University of Heidelberg 1997. Juventa, Weinheim u. a. 1998, ISBN 3-7799-1381-X , p. 17: Table 1.
- ^ Judith Luig: Family models: The end of the nuclear family. Die Zeit , March 5, 2020, accessed on March 9, 2020 .