19.7 Describe and explain variation in family form.
Family form varies from one society to another and even within societies, but all societies have families. A family is a social and economic unit consisting minimally of one or more parents (or parent substitutes) and their children. Members of a family have certain reciprocal rights and obligations, particularly economic ones. Family members usually live in one household, but common residence is not a defining feature of families. In our society, children may live away while they go to college. Some members of a family may deliberately set up separate households to manage multiple business enterprises while maintaining economic unity.108 In simpler societies, the family and the household tend to be indistinguishable; only in more complex societies, and in societies that become dependent on commercial exchange, may some members of a family live elsewhere.109