Since it sort of ties in with church as a way of bringing people together, David Brooks wrote a column about the nuclear family being a mistake. The story is behind a paywall, somehow I read it a month ago.
The general idea is that large extended families are better. Having grandparents, cousins, aunts, and uncles nearby is great. We have sold the nuclear family as the solution and it isn't.
I think there might be something to it. I remember reading about Roseto, PA. It was an Italian community with huge extended families. And there was zero heart disease. The studies concluded it was the closeness of the people.
I don't know how to put the genie back in the bottle, but I think it would be a good idea.
The family structure we’ve held up as the cultural ideal for the past half century has been a catastrophe for many. It’s time to figure out better ways to live together.
www.theatlantic.com