Families: A Sociological Perspective Essay

There are many different shapes and sizes of families residing in the United States.   This diversity is one of the great things that America prides itself on. With that said, I like to think of my family as a pretty stereotypically “normal” example of an All-American family.   I have for the most part been quite fortunate because of how much of my extended family lives around me and plays important roles in my life, but I’m going to focus my paper solely on my family of origin for sake of simplicity.  
I was born in 1990 in Jacksonville, Florida to my parents, John and Kate Clifford.   We’ve lived there my entire life because of the comforts that surround us there.   My mother’s grandparents live right down the street from us and have played an instrumental role in raising me to be the person I am today. My parents are both Caucasian Americans, with my father being fully Irish in descent and my mother being a melting pot of different nationalities.   Because they found each other a little later than the average couple does, they were older than most parents when they decided to have me.   My father was 38 when I was born while my mother was 33.   They are now 59 and 54 respectively and apart from our dog, who I sometimes consider to be my little sister, our nuclear household consists of three members.   Being an only child has affected my upbringing in many ways and I find there to be many benefits but even more drawbacks.
The first perspective I’m going to analyze my family of origin with is   the structural-functional perspective.   The structural-functional perspective postulates that the ultimate goal for a family is to continue their bloodline by procreating and providing the necessary tools and amenities for that offspring to flourish into a fully functional and autonomous adult. My family’s roles are somewhat convoluted in that both my parents work full-time and earn comparable salaries.   Because of this, neither of them were home that often to take care of me...