Family

STATEMENT OF EXPLANATION

In my response to the prompt: “There can be no single definition for the term family”, I will be agreeing with the statement which will take the form of an expository essay. Specifically I will explore family as one of society’s main, and most important social institutions and the challenge of universally defining the term. My purpose is to highlight that the meaning of family cannot be individually defined, and show the term has many different meanings as family is viewed distinctly in society.

I will be directing the essay at an audience comprised of well educated teenage students, in the age range of around fifteen to eighteen years old. This is because the audience would have had sufficient access to certain evidence and topics that will be included, thus making it easier for them to understand and ultimately agree with the argument. This also is reflected in my choice of vocabulary and other language that I will use which will maintain a formal, academic tone.

I will use three supporting arguments in order to assist my contention that family cannot be described in a single definition. Firstly, I will investigate the different types of family structures that are present in the twenty-first century. A single definition is unable to completely include all the different aspects of the social unit so this ideally supports the statement. Secondly, the discussion will be about how the concept of family has rapidly and increasingly changed over time which makes finding a single definition extremely difficult. Lastly, I will talk about how family means something different to everyone and how society is unclear about what to consider a family. This in-turn causes the definition to differentiate between people as their views on the concept will never be the exact same.

I will draw on a range of sources which explore the argument and reinforce the supporting paragraphs of the essay. Such include:

The feature film...