Extended Family

• Talcott Parsons:


  'Functional fit' theory - Two basic types of society:

  1. Modern industrial
  2. Traditional pre-industrial

  When a society industrialises the family changes in structure from extended to Nuclear - The family ceases to be a unit of production and loses functions to other institutions e.g. education and health care.

  The modern family specialises in 2 irreducible functions.

  Industrial society needs a workforce that is:

  • Geographically mobile
  • Socially Mobile
• Willmott:


  Families are geographically separated but stay in contact regularly through phone calls and visits - 'dispersed extended family'.
• Chambers:


  increased numbers of elderly using communication technology.

  78% of elderly contact their children at least once a week.
• Bell:


  Middle class families have more emotional bonds and rely on kin for support - More financial help from father to son

  Working class have more frequent contact and more domestic help from mothers to daughter.
• Young + Willmott:

  Pre-industrial families were nuclear

  Parents and children worked together
• Peter Laslett:

  Study of english households from the 1500's to 1800's found that they were almost always nuclear
• Young + Wilmott:

  Hardship of the early industrial period created a "Mum-centered" extended family.

  Ties between mothers and their married daughters
• Michael Anderson:

  Mid 19th century study

  Harsh conditions of the time meant the benefits of living as an extended family greatly outweighed the costs.
• Young + Willmott:

  From 1900 the nuclear family emerged due to social changes, so the extended family became less important. However, it has not disappeared and continues to exist because of its important functions.