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The Nuclear Family Replaced the Extended Family After Industrialisation

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The Nuclear Family Replaced the Extended Family After Industrialisation

Talcott Parsons believed that the nuclear family developed mainly as a result of industrialisation. He thought that before the industry took over the functions of the family, the families were extended units of production. This means that the work and home lives were combined and so each family member taught another one skill for life such as education. Parsons says that the extended family stayed together so they could provide health care for one another and look after the old people whilst the old people looked after the young children whilst the parents were out working. They also pursued justice on behalf of one another; if …show more content…

In the first stage, the Pre-Industrial family was extended and they all lived and worked together. In the second stage, the Early Industrial family were extended families beginning to become geographically mobile, dying out and becoming less common. In the third stage, the Symmetrical family was the beginning of the nuclear family, where they had split up from extended family into father, mother, and two children.

However, there are criticisms to the functionalist view that the industrial revolution brought about the nuclear family. Peter Laslett was a social historian who believed that pre and post industrial families were mostly nuclear. He studied Northern Europe and found that families were not likely to consist of a nuclear family structure, but he also found that the average size of families in Western Europe stayed constant at 4.75 persons, which gives us reason to believe that nuclear families were around before the industrial revolution. Laslett therefore does not agree with Parsons or Willmott and Young, as he believes families were already nuclear pre-industry and still are today. =====================================================================

Michael Anderson was also a social historian who agreed with Parsons because he believed that the pre industrial families were mainly extended. He argued that the extended family was a

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