There was different views about changes in family forms due to industrialisation and urbanisation, these were of Peter Laslett and Michael Anderson, Peter laslett had found that ten percent of households contained kin beyond the nuclear family, he reached the conclusion that the nuclear family was not just typical in Britain alone he had discovered a Western Family in the Netherlands, Belgium and more, he found this family to be nuclear in structure. But Michael Anderson points out that Laslett had contradicted himself, Lasletts studies might have shown average household size to be under five, but he had also stated that the majority of population in pre-industrial Britain (53%) lived in households consisting of six or more.
Also when laslett theorized the Western Family to be nuclear, Anderson collected evidence that extended families were more common in Sweden and considerable variation in Britain.
Also the effects of industrialisation on the family structure were considerable, for example; long hours of work, in dreadful conditions, with low pay and no forms of welfare state. (SOCIOLOGY ALIVE-Stephen Moore-2nd edition)
In pre-industrial society the purpose of the family was to work together producing goods to survive and assist in any aid that the family need. But in later years the families purpose changed somewhat to socialising the children, not just for work purposes, but also to better their children for the future.
Tracing the changes in self-identity from traditional to modern societies, we can see a difference from the traditional inherited ways that previously guided identity formation. Their social groups, class or nationality largely formed at one time people’s identity, they are now more widened. The urban growth and industrialisation has broken down and weakened inherited rules and conventions. Individuals have become more socially and geographically mobile. This has freed people from the tight knit past where patterns were passed down, and created a way for other sources of meaning, such as gender and sexual orientation, to play a great role in peoples identity. In today’s world we have opportunities to create our own identity.
The conclusion of this essay is that about the decrease in family size due to industrialisation and the views on the household size, and also the purpose of the family which was to survive, included also is the social identity change due to industrialisation, where in modern day times we create our own social identity.