原文
我想在这里提出来讨论的是我们乡土社会中的基本社群，这社群普通被称为“大家庭”的。我在《江村经济》中把它称作“扩大了的家庭”。这些名词的主体是“家庭”，在家庭上加一个小或大的形容词来说明中国和西洋性质上相同的“家庭”形式上的分别。可是我现在看来却觉得这并不妥当，比较确当的应该称中国乡土社会基本社群作“小家族”。
我提出这新名词来的原因是在想从结构的原则上去说明中西社会里“家”的区别。我们普通所谓大家庭和小家庭的差别决不是在大小上，不是在这社群所包括的人数上，而是在结构上。一个有十多个孩子的家并不构成“大家庭”的条件，一个只有公婆儿媳四个人的家却不能称之为“小家庭”。在数目上说，前者比后者为多，但在结构上说，后者却比前者为复杂，两者所用的原则不同。
家庭这概念在人类学上有明确的界说：这是个亲子所构成的生育社群。亲子指它的结构，生育指它的功能。亲子是双系的，兼指父母双方；子女限于配偶所出生的孩子。这社群的结合是为了子女的生和育。在由个人来担负孩子生育任务的社会里，这种社群是不会少的。但是生育的功能，就每个个别的家庭说，是短期的，孩子们长成了也就脱离了他们的父母的抚育，去经营他们自己的生育儿女的事务，一代又一代。家庭这社群因之是暂时性的。从这方面说，家庭这社群和普通的社群不完全一样。学校、国家这些社群并不是暂时，虽则事实上也不是永久的，但是都不是临时性的，因为它们所具的功能是长期性的。家庭既以生育为它的功能，在开始时就得准备结束。抚育孩子的目的就在结束抚育。关于这一层意思我在《生育制度》一书中有详细的讨论。
参考译文
The most common group in rural society is generally called the “large family”. In Peasant Life in China, I called this group the “expanded family”. The important part of these two terms is “family”. I added the adjectives “large” or “small” to “family” in order to show that although Chinese and Western families are the same in nature, they are different in form. But now my viewpoint has changed. I think the terminology is no longer appropriate. Instead, a more appropriate term for identifying the most basic unit in Chinese rural society is “small lineage”.
I suggest this new term because I want to clarify the difference in the structural principles of Chinese and Western “families”. The difference between the so-called big and small family is not one of size, not one concerning the number of people who can be included, but one of structure. A family with more than ten children does not constitute a “large family”, while a family of four people—containing the husband, wife, their son, and their daughter-in-law—should not be called a “small family”. The first is larger than the second in number, but the second is more complicated than the first in structure. The two families incorporate different principles.
In anthropology, there is a clear definition of the concept of family: A family is the procreative group formed by parents and their children. The parent-child relationship indicates the structure, and procreation is the function. This definition suggests a bilateral kinship system, which simultaneously stresses both the father’s side and the mother’s side of the family. The sons and daughters are the children produced by the couple. The purpose of such a social union is to give birth and raise children. In societies where each individual must bear the task of raising children, there will be many of these procreative groups. But for each of these families, the function of procreation is fulfilled in a relatively short time span. The children quickly grow up and leave their parents’ care, and then they, too, take on the tasks of giving birth to and raising their own children. This process continues generation after generation. For this reason, it is in the nature of the family group to be temporary. In this respect, the group composed of a family is not the same as other common types of social groups. Groups such as schools and states are not considered temporary, although in reality they certainly do not continue forever. They are not temporary, because both fulfill functions that last over the long term. But insofar as the family is considered to have only procreation as its function, the family might as well prepare to end shortly after it begins. The purpose of having children ends when they are raised. I have discussed this issue in detail in the book Systems of Reproduction.