Final answer:
The term that best describes your closest relatives is 'kin', which refers to individuals related by blood, marriage, or adoption, extending beyond biological relationships to include social bonds that societies culturally consider as familial.
Step-by-step explanation:
The closest relatives are referred to as your "next of kin." The term "kin" signifies those individuals related to one by blood, marriage, and/or adoption, encompassing a network of relationships both in a biological and social sense. Kinship is defined by cultural norms and can include not only those with a genetic relationship to an individual but also those who share a deep social or legal connection, as seen in the practice of adoption. This social aspect is crucial as it implies that biology alone does not dictate who is considered family within a society. Furthermore, cultures have various ways of defining and understanding kinship, with specific language used to describe and address family members, thereby highlighting the importance of social ties in the construction of family units.
Embedded in the larger framework of kinship, the family unit is comprised of individuals believed to be related by descent and marriage. Some families extend these boundaries through fictive kinship, where non-biological relationships are regarded as family due to intentional social bonds. These relationships are a testament to the complexity and cultural dependence of familial ties.