The Concept of the Family from the Lebanese Social Work Perspective

Abstract

The concepts of marriage and Family overlap in their meanings and contents. Accordingly, they constitute a network of relationships governed by societies' cultures that determine who precedes whom. Based on that, this research seeks to identify which considerations social workers must take during acting within the Lebanese context and what family definition they adopt when performing their duties.

An ethnographic methodology used to collect data in two settings prostitution, Palestinian, and Syrian refugee camps gathered 612 notes about visitors over the period of 20 years responding to What is the definition of the Family adopted by Social Workers in Lebanon?

The research explains the diverse forms of classical and unclassical forms of the "family" assessed by the researcher. Consequently, social workers should consider the family as any two people who present themselves as a family which represents a challenge in sensitive cases i.e. homosexuality that is marked in Lebanese society.