Family 2

CHANGES TO THE STRUCTURE OF THE FAMILY 

The evolution of the family

Parsons (functionalism):

• Pre industrial society:
  
  • Societies characterised by extended kinship networks- where work and home was essentially the same. 
  • Roles in the family were ascribed rather than achieved and status was gained from family position- stressed the importance of the family for socialisation into the family trade, to maintain health and welfare, to maintain justice in fights with other families.
• Effects of industrialisation: 
  • Geographically mobile- new economy demanded a workforce who were able to move to wherever jobs were available- hence nuclear families were developed as they were easier to move, and became more isolated from the support of wider kin. 
  • Specialist agencies developed- the state took over institutions such as education, healthcare which meant the family was able to focus on its two primary functions (primary socialisation and the stabalisation of adult personalities). On top of this as big manufacturers set up the family was no longer needed as a unit of production and instead became units of production. 
  • clearer social roles for men and women were developed with the man as the instrumental leader (earning the wage to support them) and the woman as the expressive leader providing emotiona care. 
• Critisms:
  • Laslett's study into parish records found only 10% of families contained wider kin meaning that most families were already nuclear- possibly due to late marriages and early deaths. 
  • Anderson used census records in industrialised Preston…