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Westermarck
"It was, I believe, even in primitive times, the habit for a man and a woman to live together, to have sexual relations with one another, and to rear their offspring in common, the man, being the protector and supporter of his family and the woman being his helpmate and the nurse of his children." -
Shorter
The postmodern family implies that families at the time are so so diverse that comparison with those in the past is impossible. Another implied concept within the term postmodern is that in trying to rely on past research and theory, one would be unable to study current family structures and relationships. -
Mintz and Kellogg
The second phase, the companionate family, had become the most common family form. This is where husbands and wives were partners who married because they loved each other rather than out of a sense of moral duty. -
Skolnick
After the Industrial Revolution, work was no longer centered in the home. Men went away from the home to work, and family roles were more defined. As the middle class emerged, the family became a symbol of stability and the domestic ideal. -
Seufert-Barr
In medieval Europe, the family was influenced by the church and feudalism, generally extended in form. -
Tadmor
Tadmor studied the definition of a family as it appeared in the 18th century English writings. Found that the term included not only immediate blood relatives in the household but also servants and other relatives in the residence. -
Anderson
Speculated that although prehistoric clans were organized around a patriarch, with the development of agriculture it became necessary to organize around geographic areas ruled by political figures rather than by the head of the family. -
Gibbs and Campbell
Gibbs and Campbell believed that religious and social groups experimented with different forms of familial social bonds in the Americas during the 19th century.
Ex. polygyny -
Aulette
The modern family included two distinct phases. First the democratic family emerged at the end of the 18th century as a separate and private group in society where mates were selected through preferences and children were nurtured. -
Now
The idea of an All American family started in 1950 and put emphasis on family unit and marriage. The traditional family or nuclear family implies a husband, wife, and children in one household. this idea has come to symbolize the American family, but is far from the majority of families today. -
Sources
McCumber, Ariana. “The Evolution of American Family Structure.” CSP Global, 15 Jan. 2023, https://online.csp.edu/resources/article/the-evolution-of-american-family-structure/#:~:text=Insider%20reports%20that%20%E2%80%9Cthe%20idea,and%20the%20birth%20rate%20doubled.
Moore, Tami James, and Sylvia M. Asay. “Chapter 2.” Family Resource Management, SAGE, Los Angeles, 2021.
The Post-Modern Family, https://archive.unu.edu/unupress/unupbooks/uu13se/uu13se03.htm.