, Burkina Faso in 1997]]Family denotes a domestic group of people, or a number of domestic groups linked through descent (demonstrated or stipulated) from a common ancestor, marriage or adoption.A family may be defined specifically as a group of people affiliated by consanguinity, affinity, and co-residence. Although the concept of consanguinity originally referred to relations by blood, many anthropologists argue that the notion of "blood" must be understood metaphorically; some argue that there are many non-Western societies where family is understood through other concepts rather than "blood" David Schneider A Critique of the study of kinshio
Family cross-culturally
According to many sociologists and anthropologists, the primary function of the family is to reproduce society, either biologically, socially, or both. 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
Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family