Sociology has many different sociological theories. Sociological theories are statements on how and why certain facts about the social world are related. A few sociological theories include the, functionalist theory, conflict theory, and interactionism. Family happens to be a social institution that can be applied to all these fundamental sociological approaches.

Most of the time when we think of what a family is , we will think of a nuclear family. This “nuclear family” would normally consist of a married couple, man and women, with one or a few children. This is not the most common form of family these days. Today we have gay and lesbian families, single parent families, multi-cultural families, and even cohabiting families. Another common thing we see today is the blended family created by remarriage including step parents and siblings. These types of families were once ignored or even considered a failed family many years ago. This is not the case today in the society we now live in. All the above and more of these varieties of families are now being acknowledged as legitimate alternatives to what once was the “nuclear family”.
We will take a look at the different theoretical views that sociologist use to view family. The first theoretical view would be the functionalist theory. Functionalism addresses society in terms of its elements as a family. All the different functions a family will typically perform. This goes for any type of family as well. This family can be the nuclear family, or the gay and lesbian family, and or even the single parent family.

All family members have a role such as protection, care, emotional support, and even the reproduction role. The family instills culture into its new members of society and creates well integrated members into society.

The reproduction role is to replace its dying members with new