Families serve as an important site for social psychological processes. These processes include, but are not limited to, socialization, identity development and performance, and intergroup processes. In this chapter we examine the family as a primary group, proximate social structure, and organizing unit that connects the micro, meso, and macro influences on behavior and experiences. As we highlight the important role that families play for individuals and in social life, we intentionally incorporate research related to gender, race, class, and sexuality. This not only demonstrates diversity in experiences across those social dimensions, but also the relevance of work done in those areas for expanding social psychologists’ conceptualizations of family and the social processes that may be of interest in future research.