Family Environment & Changing World THE FAMILY ENVIRONMENT - Because children’s lives are centered initially within their families, the family environment becomes the primary agent of socialization. The family environment “involves the circumstances and social climate conditions within families. Since each family is made up of different individuals in a different setting, each family environment is unique. The environments can differ in many ways. For example, one obvious difference lies in the socio-economic level. Some families live in luxurious twenty-four-room estates, own a Porsche and a Mercedes in addition to the family mini-van and can afford to have shrimp cocktail for an appetizer whenever they choose. Other families live in two-room shacks, struggle with time payments on their used ‘85 Chevy and have to eat macaroni made with artificial processed cheese four times a week. ...