9781422282656

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Chapter One WHO IS INA FAMILY?

When politicians and writers talk about the “traditional family,” they usually mean one father, one mother, and a few children. Another name for that type of fam- ily is a “nuclear” family. According this view, parents and children are the center of society, much like how a nucleus is the center of an atom. When people talk about traditional or nuclear families, they sometimes make it sound like humans have always lived that way. Another implication is that they should always live that way.

Words to Understand

commonwealth: country. companionate: a relationship of equals that’s based on being friends. implication: something suggested but not said outright. Industrial Revolution: a period of great social and economic change starting in the late 1700s, when more goods were mass-produced rather than homemade. nucleus: the center of an atom. patriarchal: a system that is run by men and fathers. refuge: a safe place.