The extended patrilineal and virilocal family is the basic unity of traditional Aymara social organization. A man and his wife, his married sons, daughters-in-law and his grandsons and granddaughters, along with his single sons and daughters, compose the family.
In this extensive family, each nuclear unit is monogamous. The extensive family occupies several houses with separate facilities for each nuclear family. Inside the families, children are trained to be submissive to their parents, and to obey the adults. From them is expected, at an early age, some help in domestic simple chores. Later on, they will join the more complex shepherding, agricultural and domestic activities.
There are two different types of Aymara communities, or ayllus: Andean Aymara, the traditional altiplanic community, and the Hispanic precordillerean peasant community. Each ayllu is made up of a group of villages, composed of many extended families. The second form corresponds to the Spanish model, based on a main plaza surrounded by its church and several public buildings.