Table of Contents
Definition of Symmetrical Family
(noun) A family structure in industrial societies in which both spouses work for wages and share domestic labor equally.
Example of Symmetrical Family
- Alexis and Kelly are married and both work, they make a conscious effort to divide household duties equally.
Etymology of Symmetrical Family
- Coined by Michael Young (1915–2002) and Peter Willmott (1923–2000) in The Symmetrical Family (1973), based on research in England, describing the evolution of the family structure towards a more egalitarian model of a joint conjugal-role relationship instead of segregated conjugal-role relationship. The implications and criticisms of this work are oft discussed in the social sciences.
Symmetrical Family Pronunciation
Syllabification: sym·met·ri·cal fam·i·ly
Audio Pronunciation
Phonetic Spelling
- American English – /suh-mEt-ri-kuhl fAm-lee/
- British English – /si-mE-trik fAm-uh-lee/
International Phonetic Alphabet
- American English – /səˈmɛtrɪkəl ˈfæməli/
- British English – /sɪˈmɛtrɪkəl ˈfæmɪli/
Usage Note
- Plural: symmetrical families
Additional Information
- Family and Kinship Resources – Books, Journals, and Helpful Links
- Word origin of “symmetrical” and “family” – Online Etymology Dictionary: etymonline.com
Related Terms
- blended family
- conjugal family
- divorced family
- economic
- egalitarian authority
- family size
- individual
- marriage
- nuclear family
- single-parent family
- skipped generation family
Works Consulted
Bilton, Tony, Kevin Bonnett, Pip Jones, David Skinner, Michelle Stanworth, and Andrew Webster. 1996. Introductory Sociology. 3rd ed. London: Macmillan.
Cite the Definition of Symmetrical Family
ASA – American Sociological Association (5th edition)
Bell, Kenton, ed. 2014. “symmetrical family.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Retrieved April 18, 2024 (https://sociologydictionary.org/symmetrical-family/).
APA – American Psychological Association (6th edition)
symmetrical family. (2014). In K. Bell (Ed.), Open education sociology dictionary. Retrieved from https://sociologydictionary.org/symmetrical-family/
Chicago/Turabian: Author-Date – Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition)
Bell, Kenton, ed. 2014. “symmetrical family.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Accessed April 18, 2024. https://sociologydictionary.org/symmetrical-family/.
MLA – Modern Language Association (7th edition)
“symmetrical family.” Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Ed. Kenton Bell. 2014. Web. 18 Apr. 2024. <https://sociologydictionary.org/symmetrical-family/>.