Effect of indo on family

“What has been the effect of industrialisation on the family?”

In our society there are many different types of families. Depending on the way someone has been raised, his or her perception of a family would differ. The types of families that are common to our world are as follows: Extended family, Nuclear family, Lone parent family and the Reconstituted families. The extended family usually consists of 3 generations: the grandparents, parents and children. The extended family has been popular amongst people living in an agricultural society. This is usually because so many hands are needed to work in the fields. Industrialised families can also contain extended families. This could be because in times of poverty a larger family could help economically. The nuclear family is smaller then the extended family and is made up of parents and their children. Some agricultural societies have nuclear families because it’s crucial to survive. This could be because of lack of food, shelter etc. therefore a smaller family would be useful. The lone parent family includes a single parent and his/her dependant children. These types of families tend to be governed by females. Single parents are usually the product of divorce, death of a par

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They believe that the different organisations in society serve to ensure stability and continuity. Parsons believes that the nuclear family is ‘structurally isolated’ because it does not form an integral part of a wider system of kinship relationships. The family to Fletcher is now more important because it has taken on more roles along with the original ones. The welfare state began to contribute to people’s wages. Now that we are aware of what types of families are existent around us we can move on to what the industrial revolution done to the family.

Peter Laslett conducted a study and found that between 1564-1821 around 10% of households in Britain contained kin beyond the nuclear family. Parents rely on the school and vice versa. In our industrial society individuals are judged in terms of the status they achieve, this is what Parsons calls ‘universalistic values’. The essential functions are the following:

Ų Stable satisfaction of needs

Ų Production and rearing of children

Ų Provision of a home

The non-essential functions are listed below:

Ų Government

Ų Economic

Ų Education

Ų Health

Ų Religious

Ų Recreation

The family helps in education by taking an interest in their child’s studies. For example, if the father of the family was a bricklayer but the son was a lawyer the particularistic values of a family would give the father a higher status then the son even though the son has a better job. The family provides labour for economy and also the state has created things such as tax and benefits. However, all these sociologists do agree on one thing and that is that the family has moved from being extended to nuclear since industrialisation. But now that industrialisation has taken place the nuclear family no longer needs its kin to help perform functions because special institutions have been formed such as schools, hospitals, business firms, churches etc.

Approximate Word count = 1655
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)

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