This marriage is called polygamy while the marriage between just two people is called monogamy . Within polygamy there are different norms. Sometimes that man is allowed to marry more than one women and he is then called a polygyny and when a woman is allowed more then one husband she is called a polyandry . The deal where both of the parents or partners have equal amounts of authority is the egalitarian system. The way society views a family as being functional or not has a lot of different factors within it.
Some popular factors are if that family has children and is the couple divorced.
All of these questions are very good in determining the functional family. Whether the functioning family exists in the United States. Analysis A functioning family, according to society, in the U.S. would be a monogamous marriage. Then the nuclear family would have an egalitarian system. This means that the husband would work closely with the wife and help with the household chores and the then the wife would help more with the disciplining of the children.