... NWBF's as matrifocal families where women were supported economically by their mother as the father was usually absent. This suggests that the nuclear family does not infact need a father, only a mother, supporting the family economically which does not fit to Murdock's definition. Her claims can be seen as reliable because in one area she studied 40% of Black-Afro-Caribbean families that were matrifocal. Gough concluded from her study of the Nayar tribe in India that the basic nuclear family unit is a woman and her children. I think this shows that though Murdock's idea of a nuclear family may not be universal, other forms of a defined nuclear family are, as its functions can be performed in different states. From both Gonzalez' and Gough's studies it is strongly suggested that the nuclear family is essentially just a woman and her children, and that the exception to this is having ...

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