Social[edit]

A group portrait of a mother, son and daughter on glass, Roman Empire, c. 250 AD

Sauk family photographed by Frank Rinehart in 1899

One of the primary functions of the family involves providing a framework for the production and
reproduction of persons, biologically and/or socially. This can occur through the sharing of material
substances (such as food); the giving and receiving of care and nurture (nurture kinship); jural rights
and obligations; and moral and sentimental ties.[2][3] Thus, one's experience of one's family shifts over
time. From the perspective of children, the family is a "family of orientation": the family serves to
locate children socially and plays a major role in their enculturation and socialization.[4] From the
point of view of the parent(s), the family is a "family of procreation," the goal of which is to produce
and enculturate and socialize children.[5] However, producing children is not the only function of the
family; in societies with a sexual division of labor, marriage, and the resulting relationship between
two people, it is necessary for the formation of an economically productive household.[6][7][8]
Christopher Harris notes that the western conception of family is ambiguous, and confused with
the household, as revealed in the different contexts in which the word is used.[9] Olivia Harris states
this confusion is not accidental, but indicative of the familial ideology of capitalist, western countries
that pass social legislation that insists members of a nuclear family should live together, and that
those not so related should not live together; despite the ideological and legal pressures, a large
percentage of families do not conform to the ideal nuclear family type. [10]