15.1 What is marriage? what is a family?  (Page 7/27)

Summary

Sociologists view marriage and families as societal institutions that help create the basic unit of social structure. Both marriage and a family may be defined differently—and practiced differently—in cultures across the world. Families and marriages, like other institutions, adapt to social change.

Short answer

Further research

For more information on family development and lines of descent, visit the New England Historical Genealogical Society’s website, American Ancestors, and find out how genealogies have been established and recorded since 1845. (External Link)

References

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