The History of Family Studies

1
The History of Family Studies
2
What is New About Family History?

• Finding ways to investigate/represent a wide
  range of experiences across time is a complex
  task.
• Only limited things from limited groups are
  preserved.

3
Methods for Studying Families Over Time

• Family Reconstitution- a tool that brings
  together scattered information about members in a
  number of successive generations.
• Aggregate Data Analysis- involves analyzing
  records at different points in time in order to
  develop a picture of trends.

4
Domestic Revolutions

• Mintz and Kellogg refer to ongoing changes in
  family life as domestic revolutions.
• How families go through a series of changes over
  time. Families are affected by and affect
  social, economic and political relations.

5
Family Diversity

• Looking at family history means capturing the
  range or diversity both within and between
  families.

6
The Structure of the Colonial Family

• The Godly Family- a patriarchal institution ruled
  by the father, who exercised authority over his
  wife, children, and as servants much as God the
  Father ruled over his children or a king ruled
  his subjects.

7
Family is Society

• Colonial communities did not make a sharp
  distinction between family and society.
• Family life was social life.
• Boundaries between home and community were almost
  nonexistent.

8
The Family Based Economy

• Each family provided the market with a commodity.
• The Division of Labor was by age and sex.

9
The Productive Family

• The family was primarily a productive unit. In
  addition to producing commodities for market,
  most families raised food, made clothing and
  furniture, educated, provided child and elder
  care.

10

• Children did many jobs like carrying wood,
  husking corn, gathering berries, leading oxen,
  carding wool, gathering eggs, and churning
  butter. When children weren't doing chores, their
  parents sent them to school.

11
Family Life in Colonial America

• 1/3-1/2 of children lost a parent before the age
  of 21.
• High mortality rates meant that the average
  length of marriage was less than 12 years.
• High infant mortality rates meant many young did
  not survive.
• 30-40 of Brides went to the alter pregnant.

12
Married Life

• Patriarchy- Patriarchal authority rested on the
  fathers control of landed property or skilled
  craft.
• Woman is the helpmate, but not the equal.
• Children were dependant on the fathers support
  to marry and become independent householders.
• Marriage was arranged for social and economic
  purposes. One did not cross class lines.

13
Marriage (cont).

• To be a man is to support a family.
• Love is expected to grow.
• Gender ratios tended to favor womens prospects.

14
Community Life

• There were fewer distinctions between community
  and family life.
• Courts and public Charivari (noisy public
  demonstrations that served as ridicule and
  punishment) regularly intervened in controlling
  behavior.

15
Taverns and Leisure

• The tavern or ordinary was not only a lodging
  place for travelers, but also a drinking house,
  and a place of general gossip for the village and
  neighborhood. Here the people would gather on
  special days to take a social glass, to get the
  latest news, and to discuss politics and
  religion. The tavern was considered a public
  necessity, and a town that did not maintain one
  was subject to fine by the General Court. The
  principal drinks were rum, small beer, and eider,
  and these were used freely by men, women, and
  children.

16
Leisure and Children

• Many times children turned their work into games
  to make the time pass more quickly or to make it
  seem like fun. Two children might have a contest
  to see who could card wool faster or better. Two
  boys might challenge each other to see who could
  carry the most wood or a group of children might
  sing their multiplication tables out loud to make
  the task seem less dull.

17
Popular Colonial Games Toys

• Yo-Yo, Hopscotch, Bubble-Blowing, Puzzles,
  Jacob's Ladder, Marbles, Hoops, Leap Frog,
  Rocking Horses, Kite Flying, Bow Arrow,
  Swinging, Jump Rope, Blind Man's Bluff, Cards,
  London Bridge, See Saw, Ice Sliding, Tennis,
  Cricket, Jack Straws Pick-Up Sticks), Spinning
  Tops

18
The Industrial Family- 1850-1984

• Changes in work and social life are reflected in
  and precipitated by changes in family life.
• The Big Changes Industrialization and
  Urbanization

19
Changes in Infant Mortality and Number of Live
Births

• Family size has declined with number of live
  births dropping from 8 in 1900 to 3 in 1970 to
  1.8 in 1994.
• As children become an economic liability rather
  than an asset, limiting family size becomes a
  more rational economic choice.

20
Changing Conditions

• Growing populations and declining resources are
  making farming and expansion untenable.

21
The Family Wage Economy

• Wage labor replaces home economies. Family good
  and services are produced outside the home and
  purchased.

22
The Changing Roles of Families

• In the Pre-Industrial Period, most functions were
  carried out within families including
  socialization, education, legal/moral authority,
  economic production, protection and so forth.
• In the industrial period, most of these functions
  begin to fall under the partial or total
  jurisdiction of the state.

23
The Role of the Family Shifts To

• Procreation
• Consumption
• Child Rearing

24
Marriage

• As womens social power increases, marriage for
  love becomes more common.

25
Children

• Become economic liabilities, but emotional assets
  (shift from emotional liabilities and economic
  assets of the previous era).

26
Leisure

• Birth of commercial amusements.
• Movies, Coney Island, Dance Halls
• Leisure is increasingly peer based.

27
The Changing Status of Women

• As womens wages become more integral to the
  household economy and emancipate many women,
  womens social position improves.

28
Post-Industrial Families- 1984-

• Very slow, no, or negative population growth
  characterizes post-industrial societies.
• Smaller family units.
• Children are a cost, not a source of income.

29
Marriage

• Cohabitation, delayed marriage and a stabilized
  divorce rate
• An expansion of womens and childrens rights

30
Work

• An increasing split between professional and low
  end service occupations.
• Information and technology management.
• Increasing hours and decreasing wages.

31
Social Relations

• Are diverging. The gap between the top and the
  bottom is increasing during this time period.

32
Leisure

• What are post-Industrial Leisure activities?