FAMILIES IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

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FAMILIES IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
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EXTENDED FAMILIES

• There is evidence that the working-class extended
  family has continued into the twentieth century.

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BETHNAL GREEN

• Young Willmott studied Bethnal green and
  defined the extended family as a combination of
  families who to some large degree share the same
  household.
• Regular contact and support, even if not all
  under the same roof.

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GREENLEIGH

• Young Wilmott looked at families that moved to
  Greenleigh from Bethnal Green.
• Most led privatised family lives home centred
  and based on the nuclear family.
• Social and family contacts decreased.
• This was backed up by later studies, eg
  Goldthorpe Lockwood in Luton.

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STAGES OF FAMILY LIFE

• Many sociologists argue that there is a long-term
  trend towards the nuclear family. Young
  Willmott identified three stages of development.

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STAGE 1 THE PRE-INDUSTRIAL FAMILY

• Family as a production unit.
• Family members work together.
• Agriculture or cottage industries.

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STAGE 2 THE EARLY INDUSTRIAL FAMILY

• Economic function taken over by industry.
• Family torn apart by working long hours.
• Widespread poverty.
• Extended kinship networks, mainly by women, to
  provide support.

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STAGE 3 THE SYMMETRICAL FAMILY

• Nuclear
• Home-centred and privatised.
• Symmetrical roles of husband and wife are
  increasingly similar.
• Husband and wife look to each other for
  companionship.
• Leisure is home-based.

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STRATIFIED DIFFUSION

• Young Willmott argue that stage 3 started in
  the higher classes and worked down.
• Better working hours and a higher standard of
  living means stage 3 is more possible.
• Less need for extended family support.
• More opportunity to devote time and money to
  children and home.

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STAGE 4?

• Upper class families now more asymmetrical
  husbands involved with work and wives more
  involved domestically
• Will this filter down to the lower classes?

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CRITICISMS OF YOUNG WILLMOTT

• Progress can be negative as well as positive
• Do working-class families automatically follow
  the norms of middle-class life?
• Feminists say families are not symmetrical
• The extended family may be more important than
  they suggest.

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MODIFIED EXTENDED FAMILY

• Members come together for important family events
  and in times of need. Improved communications
  mean that contact over long distances is easier.

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STUDIES SUPPORTING THIS

• 1980s North London, Willmott
• 1980s Luton, Devine
• 1990s Manchester, Finch Mason
• BUT! Although kin support is still important,
  contact with kin has declined (British Social
  Attitudes survey) - possibly due to increasing
  employment of women?