ABSTRACT
Family relationships comprise a distinctive type of social network, because they tend to be more binding and less elective than other types of social relationships. We choose our friends and, to a lesser extent, our work colleagues and business associates. But we are born into a family, and though we may choose a spouse, we don’t usually choose the family we marry into or the spouses our siblings or children choose. It is no easy task to disown a child or parent or, for that matter, to separate completely from a spouse. In the classical sociological literature, the family performs essential services for its members and is considered the primary unit of organization for social integration, support, and socialization. Definitions of family beyond the nuclear family vary widely between cultures, but most involve a family structure with clearly defined positions that extend outward from the primary blood relationships of the nuclear family – granddaughter, uncle, sister-inlaw, great-grandfather, and so forth. Members of a family usually enjoy feelings of affiliation and of sharing a common pedigree and heritage. Typically, relationships between members of the nuclear family are strongest, weakening as one moves further outward in the structure.
