Ruth’s Sociology Resources Blog

The family has changed over time, changes in the economy during industrialisation between 1750-1850 had a big impact on the family its structure and functions.

Pre-Industrial Family

There have been a number of ideas about what the family was like before industrialisation. One of the key theorists was Talcott Parsons:

Parsons (1955) believed that:

• There were extended kinship networks – families were large and worked together
• Land & resources were commonly owned
• Duty and obligation were key values
• Home and the workplace were the same – cottage industries and famring
• Social status was ascribed– occupations were passed down through generations – you did the same job as your parents
• Family was the source of education, welfare and justice

Criticisms of Parsons
Some of Parsons’ ideas have been criticised or found to be wrong

• Parsons’ ideas are simplistic – there were different processes in different societies
• Laslett found that the pre-industrial family was nuclear, he studied parish records and found that few households contained more than 4 people. This was because of:
• low life expectancy – few people lived to be old, so you didn’t have very many grandparents
• high rate of infant mortality – lots of babies died so families had few children who lived to be adults

Influence of Industrialisation

Industrialisation brought big changes to the family

• Change from agricultural, rural society to people living in towns and working in factories
• More geographically mobile population
• Specialised agencies took over some functions of the family (Parsons)
• Production - factories
• Education - schools
• The middle class was created
• Middle class “domestic ideology”
• Public/private split – the home was seen as separate from wider society
• Differentiated social roles for men and women
• Male – “instrumental leader”
• Female – “expressive leader” (Parsons)
• The “angel of the house” – women were meant to be feminine and caring, their role was seen to be firmly in the home
• Creation of extended families (working class) – Anderson (1971)
• Families moved to towns where there was limited housing – this meant that families moved in together to help each other out
• Family “self-help” among working class dealt with:
• poor working conditions, low pay
• no state support
• Extended Families
• Mutual support system – people looked after each other
• Emotional attachment and obligation
• Persisted through into mid-20thC (Young & Wilmott, 1973)
• (Parsons’ view was that it only persisted until the early 1900s)

From extended to nuclear

After the Industrial Revolution society continued to change and develop and over time families became nuclear again

• It was a gradual process – Young & Wilmott (1957), (1973)
• Increased wealth and better medical care
• Creation of welfare state
• This meant that family self-help was not so necessary
• Slum clearance and re-housing in 1950s, meant that many families and communities were broken up and put into new housing designed for nuclear families
• Full employment in the 1950s meant that close family networks were not so necessary and they gradually broke down