Definition Of Marriage And Family: What Makes A Family

The article What Makes a Family by Robert Emery has left me with the feeling of ambivalence. In this very opinionated piece of writing, Robert Emery appears to take issue of how the U.S. Census Bureau defines a family in comparison to what his definition of a family is. From reading this article, I believe Robert seems to misunderstand how the U.S. Census Bureau works when defining a household. Throughout the article Robert utilizes various examples of different types of families in order to portray his idea of a family. For instance, he says “Of course, there are many more variations on family. So-called two-parent families include many second marriages, half- and unrelated siblings”. Another example is when he says “I would readily include my wife and five children in my family. But only one of my kids still lives at home. Sorry, you other four. The U.S. Census Bureau says you aren’t family”. Robert does this not only to support his idea that a family comes in all “different sizes and different kinds”, he also does this in an effort to support his criticism on the U.S. Census Bureau’s definition of a household. While I agree with his view on what a family is consisted of, I disagree with his continuous contrasting of definitions. The U.S. Census Bureau is used to find statistical information about the nation’s people (e.g. population and how many families are in an area etc.). 

Therefore, their definition of family is not to specifically tell citizens who they can or cannot personally consider as family. Instead, it is to aid citizens in making sure they disclose the correct type of household they live in and the amount of people living in it. For instance, let’s say you are a parent of five children that all live in different areas. If you disclose that you have a family consisted of five individuals then you are essentially skewing the Bureau’s results as you are telling them, not only are there five more people living in that area but there is also another family residing there as well (when in reality your kids do not live with you). The U.S. Census Bureau is based on how many people live in a specific area, this information then helps to determine the amount of resources needed in an area, such as parks, schools and hospitals etc. Therefore, if you do not enter the correct information because you consider five more individuals who do not live in your household as family, this could result in various communal issues as well as fiscal issues. The miscount in population can lead to citizens paying more taxes, government misuse of funding and adding unnecessary resources in communities. For this purpose, the definition of a family cannot be as specific as it could lead to incorrect data results which can result into a variety of problems with ripple effects.