ABSTRACT
Surrogate mothers and AIDS were unknown; abortion was illegal in most states; and openness about sexuality still made many people uncomfortable. Fewer women worked outside the home, and more couples stayed married for a lifetime. Despite this rapid social change, the family is one subject students often believe they already know all about. After all, the vast majority of people have had firsthand experience of at least one family. Marriage is a socially approved arrangement, usually between a male and a female, that involves an economic and a sexual relationship. Although historically marriage has usually been between a male and a female, today, a number of countries and several states in the United States allow same-sex marriage for gay or lesbian couples. All family systems can be divided into one of two basic types: extended and nuclear families. Although nuclear families have always been the primary family form, the extended family was more common in past than it is today.
