What are the main characteristics of …

Characteristics of a Family

1. A mating relationship: A family comes into existence when a man and a woman establish a mating relation between them.
2. A form of marriage: A family requires a home, a householder, for its living. Without a dwelling place the task of child bearing and child rearing cannot be adequately performed.
3. A system of nomenclature: Every family is known by a name and has its own system of reckoning descent. Descent may be reckoned through the male line or through the female line. Usually the wife goes and joins her husband’s family in a patriarchal system and vice-versa in a matriarchal system.
4. An economic provision: Every family needs an economic provision to satisfy the economic needs. The head of the family carries on a certain profession and earns money to maintain the family.