Assess The View That Industrialization Led To The Decline Of The Extended Family
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Assess the view that industrialization led to the decline of the extended family and the rise of the nuclear family (20 marks)
Industrialization is when a society or country transforms from an agricultural society to an industrial society based on factory production, division of labour, concentration of industries and population in certain geographical areas, and urbanization. This change meant that extended families would become wage earners and would now work for someone else, instead of their own family business or trade. Murdoch (1949) defined the family as a social group, with both adult sexes characterized by common residence, economic cooperation and reproduction. The extended family was very common in pre-industrial England, because…show more content… These norms and values socialize members of society, enabling them to cooperate with each other to meet society’s needs, this is called social order. Parsons (1965), agreed that industrialization lead to the decline of the extended family and the rise of nuclear families. He believed that the economic systems of pre-industrial society were largely based upon extended kinship networks and that industrialization resulted in an isolate, nuclear family. Parsons argued that role in pre-industrial families were the product of ascription, meaning you were born into a particular trade or skill, rather than through achievement. This extended family was responsible for clothing, food and shelter, as well as providing education for the young and caring for the sick and elderly. Parsons argued that industrialization caused geographical mobility because it demanded for a more mobile workforce, which caused the extended family to become isolated. He said that industrialization provided the husband and wife with clear roles: he man was the instrumental leader which meant that they went out to work and earn a living for the family and the female was the expressive leader, who looked after the home and the children and also provided support for the…show more content… They completed a study in the 1950’s in Bethnal Green, an area in the East End of London, which illustrated that extended families existed in large numbers, even by the advanced stages of industrialization. They concluded that these extended kinship networks were there to provide a support network, offering assistance with finance, childcare and jobs. After the early industrial family, they argue that the symmetrical family became common in Britain, meaning that both partners shared the decision making, finally came the Asymmetrical family, in which work dominated men’s lives and social and gender roles continued to change as many women took on the role as male breadwinner, and earned money for the family which began from