The people of Coba not only adapt to the natural world around them but also participate in a social world. The most immediate social network that influences action is the nuclear or extended family found within the walled houselot compound.

The nuclear family—a man, his wife, and offspring—is the smallest social unit that is responsible for the physical health and well being of its members.

The extended family, most commonly three generations deep, brings the wisdom of elders, the energy of younger married couples, and the responsibility of childrearing together in a single economic unit.

Variation in family organization is considerable among the families in the village of Coba and may account for the success or distress of any individual family group.

Nuclear families range in size from newlywed couples with few offspring and limited economic resources to older married couples with many offspring and many material resources.

In all families, the relationships between husband and wife are symbiotic. The husband contributes the bulk of economic resources, especially the bulk of food staples. The wife supplements family income in various ways and is also responsible for running the household from day to day and, most importantly, cooking meals for the entire family. Women may sew and embroider huipiles (traditional Maya women's dresses), and they mend their family's clothes.

The husband works in the milpa and provides wild game while the wife cares for the kitchen gardens and feeds and tends the chickens, turkeys, and pigs that the family has accumulated. The workload on the husband and wife is heavy.

Although considerable socializing occurs day to day, it is usually coincidental with other tasks. Women exchange information when they visit stores to buy candles, laundry soap, a few eggs, or chile peppers.

People yell news over house compound walls as they walk through town on errands. The workload of women is continuous. They are responsible for feeding their families in the morning—making the cooking fire, boiling water for their husband's coffee, and preparing food to be taken by him to the milpa.

The women soak their corn, rinse it, and grind it into masa (corn dough) to make a mountain of tortillas that are consumed daily as a staple by family members. Beans are boiled, and the fire burns all day within three hearth stones covered by a metal comal (griddle).