Industrialisation and the family

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What has been the effect of industrialisation on the family?

Industrialisation took place in the late 18th century and early 19th century, but in Britain industrial revolution began in 1750. It brought many important changes to the world societies. A manual labour world economy changed into a machine based economy this also led to urbanisation, as population became concentrated in large urban areas rather than small villages. Eventually every aspect of daily life was influenced because of industrialisation.

Functionalists believe that kinship systems are means to procreation and socialisation. Parsons (1951) suggested that the impact of industrialisation led to multifunctional extended families transforming to isolated nuclear families due to separation of the functions being performed by the family. This was because the government reduced or took over certain functions thus reducing the need for a wider kinship network. Essential functions were retained in the nuclear family and improved in quality, these included: provision of a home, stable satisfaction of sex needs and production and rearing of children. Whereas the non-essential functions (structural differentiation) such as: economics, education, health, governmental, religion and recreational were transferred to specialised organisation. For instance: the educational system and employer rather than the family performs job training. Also an industrial society requires geographical mobility for the workforce hence an isolated nuclear family is preferred as extended families cause duties and obligations to the relatives.

Another functionalist, Fletcher published a book: Family and Marriage in Britain (1996) in which he agreed with Parsons theory about industrialisation resulting in an isolated nuclear family. Although, he disagrees with the non-essential functions being “transferred” as he believes that these functions are retained.  Fletcher claims that the family is still responsible for these functions as the family interacts with the specialised organisations e.g.: governmental and religious functions are both conducted with the home and are picked up by discussion. Religion is a form of primary socialisation and both these functions depend upon the family to turn out believers. Parental support is required in order for the child to have a good education. Also it is the families’ responsibility to aid the child’s education i.e.: private school, study area, rewards for achievements.

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Both these functionalists theories that industrialisation caused multifunctional extended family to transform into isolated nuclear families.

On the other hand, Laslett (1972) was a historian who conducted a study that showed that industrialisation had no effect on the family and that nuclear families were the norm of pre-industrial Britain, as industrialisation occurred half way through his study (1700) and the results remained the same. He studied the British family household (defined as kin sharing a common residence) between 1564-1821 and found that throughout this period 10% of the households consisted of the extended kin i.e.: kin beyond ...

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