It is important to remember that the type of family a person belongs to changes all the time. Individuals go through their lives changing from one family to another.

This is the story of Emma and Bob:

• Emma was born into a single parent family, whilst Bob was born into a nuclear family.
• When Emma was six, her mother met and married Steve, so Emma became part of a reconstituted family. Meanwhile Bob’s grandparents were unable to look after themselves in their own home so they moved in to Bob’s parents house. Bob then became part of an extended family.
• Emma and Bob met at the local pub when they were 18 and immediately fell in love.
• They got married and bought a house together and spent lots of time in Ikea buying things to make their first house nice.
• Emma became pregnant and had twins, so together with Bob, this created her own nuclear family.
• Once the children had grown up and left home, Bob and Emma were left in the house alone together.
• Bob died of old age and Emma was left on her own and became a one person household.

Some sociologists say that the family is dying. What evidence do you think they use?

Other sociologists do not agree and say that the family is changing not dying. What evidence do you think they use?

Some sociologists argue that most people still live in a nuclear family at some point in their lives. They do not believe that the increase in cohabitation (people living together without being married) is a threat to the nuclear family, as they believe it is a ‘trial marriage’. They say nothing has really changed, except for women going out to work more outside the home.