p Another important social group is the family. It is a very complex and specific group of people whose natural and social functions, the latter being predominant, closely intertwine. The natural (physiological) function finds its 277 expression in the relations between sexes, and in the birth of children. But all this acquires a social and, in a class society, a class content. Relations between men and women, parents and children, population growth, etc., depend on social, above <all economic, relations, on the mode of production.

p The family is the product of marriage, a more or less stable, intimate union between man and woman which in a certain way, governs their relations and ensures the birth of children. This union presupposes mutual attraction, common interests and spiritual affinity of husband and wife.

p What is the family’s social content and what are its social functions?

p In a class society the family has three social functions: First, regulation of the relations between sexes on the basis of society’s dominant economic and political system and specific legal and ethical norms.

p Second, the reproduction and education of posterity, of people who are social beings capable of working, or, in other words, the reproduction of labour power.

p Third, housekeeping and servicing its members.

It follows that the family performs very important social functions and is closely connected with the entire system of social relations. Possessing as it does a certain ambunt of property (household goods and chattels at least), a family in a class society is an elementary economic cell which, while enjoying relative independence, is a part of the system of society’s economic relations. Since it is subject to legal and ethical norms the family is also part of the system of ideological, spiritual relations.