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Social psychology: Altruism · Attribution · Attitudes · Conformity · Discrimination · Groups · Interpersonal relations · Obedience · Prejudice · Norms · Perception ·

A nuclear family (sometimes known in the British sociological term, cornflake family) is a household consisting of two married, heterosexual parents and their legal children (siblings), as distinct from the extended family. While the family is a near-universal cultural phenomenon, nuclear families do not form the family unit in every society. Nuclear families are typical in societies where people must be relatively mobile -- such as hunter-gatherers and industrial societies. According to Merriam-Webster the term dates back to 1947.

Social experiments

A focus of the kibbutz movement in Israel is to raise children communally without any associations with a traditional nuclear family.

"Nuclear Family"

According to George Murdock, there is what is known as a “Nuclear Family” which is universal, or exists in all known societies.

The family is a social group characterised by common residence, economic cooperation and reproduction. It contains adults of both sexes, at least two of who maintain a socially approved sexual relationship, and one or more children, own or adopted, of the sexually cohabiting adults.