This classic Family Therapy text continues to provide a new and more comprehensive way to think about human development and the life cycle reflecting changes in society away from orientation toward the nuclear family, toward a more diverse and inclusive definition of family. This expanded view of the family includes the impact of issues at multiple levels of the human system: the individual family households the extended family the community the cultural group and the larger society. The text features a ground-breaking integration of individual male and female development in systemic context; our increasing racial ethnic and cultural diversity; the emergence of men's movements and issues; the growing visibility of lesbian and gay families; and the neglected area of social class.