Abstract
From analyses carried out in the 70s, the family emerges as a system of economic management and a complement to Market and State. Besides having been of undeniable importance in terms of a more detailed perception of the family as a whole in Italian society, this result has also attributed greater possibilities of interpretation to the models of analysis of social reality itself. The choice of a specific territorial research dimension proved in addition to be a particularly determining factor for major accuracy in this analysis. This paper presents the principle results emerging from studies carried out on the family unit by the group of sociologists of the University of Ancona, whose research activities related to the social economic context of the region clearly underline the full ability of the family to play an active economic role in society.
