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History of the family

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The history of the family crosses disciplines, cultures and precedes recorded history. In its basic form it explains the sociocultural evolution of kinship groups from prehistoric to modern times. Modern family studies aim to understand the structure and function of a family from many viewpoints. For example sociological, ecological or economical perspectives are used to view the interrelationships between individuals, their relatives and the historical time.[1]

In defining the family main criterion used is residency and family is described in terms of the household.[2] A co-residential group that makes up a household may share general survival goals and the roof, but may not fulfill the varied and sometimes ambiguous requirements for definition of a family; i.e. regulate sexuality or educate and socialize children.[3] Co-residence and organization by kinship are both integral to the way in which the concept of the family was developed.[4]

The family has a universal and basic role in all societies.[5] Study of the family history proved that family systems are flexible, culturally diverse and adaptive to ecological and economical conditions.[6]

Emergence of historical studies of the family

Henry Morgan published Ancient Society in 1877 based on his theory of the three stages of human progress from Savagery through Barbarism to Civilization.[7] This in turn was the "inspiration for Friedrich Engels book" The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State published in 1884.[8] Engels expanded Morgan's theory hypothesizing that economical factors caused the transformation of primitive community into a class divided society.[9]

Renewed interest in historical studies of the family was attributed to the book written by Philippe Ariès Centuries of Childhood, published in 1960, France.[1] Ariès used the analysis of demographic data to draw a conclusion that the concept of childhood is a modern concept that emerged in modern, nuclear family.[1] Methods of analyzing historical records like census, will, court and church files, with the architectural and archeological evidence, art and iconography, food and material culture increased the knowledge of the stability and change in family throughout time.[10] Studies of the current family systems additionally employ the qualitative observations, interviews and focus groups, and quantitative survey approaches.[11] [12]

Importance of family of origin

Villa Boscoreale an example of the ancient Roman house.

Genealogy,the search for one's origin seams to be a universal desire. In most cultures of the world the beginning of family history is set in creation myths.[13] The ancient Greek poet Hesiod in his Works and Days describes the epic destruction of 4 previous man kinds. The utopia that was the Golden Age was eventually replaced by the current Iron Age; a time when Gods made man live in "hopeless misery and toil."[14] Hesiod's second poem Theogony described Greek Gods relationships and family ties. Ancient Greek's believed some of them are descendants of Gods and as such qualify for priesthood or other privileged social status.[15]

The Judeo-Christian tradition originates in the Bible's Book of Genesis. The first man and women created by God gave rise to all the humanity. Bible reflect the patriarchal world view and often references to the practice of polygamy, a common form of marriage in the ancient times.[16] Man of the biblical time sought to prove their descent from the prophet Moses's family in order to be accepted into the priesthood.[17]

Codified in Roman law concept of family would include everyone within a household under the authoritarian role of the father, the pater familias, and included grown children and the slaves of the household.[18] Children born outside of marriage, from legal concubinage were considered illegitimate and could not inherit.[19] Much of Roman civil law was used to guide western law.[20]

Most of the ancient cultures like the Assyrian, Egyptian, Chinese kept the records of succession of the ruling dynasty to legitimise its "divine," non-transferable power.[21] The Inca king or the Egyptian Pharaoh claimed that they were direct descendants of the Sun. Many cultures, Inca, Kinte of Africa or Maori of New Zealand did not have a written language and kept the history of their descent as an oral tradition.[22]

Many other cultures used other symbols to document their history of descent.[23] The totem poles of indigenous people of Pacific Northwest were the symbolic representation of their ancestors and a family identity and ties with the spiritual world.[24]

Europe's nobility had a long and well documented kinship relationships sometimes taking its roots in Middle Ages.[25] In 1538 King Henry VIII of England mandated churches to the record keeping, practice that soon spread throughout Europe.[26] Britain book the Doomsday Book from 1086 is one of the oldest European genealogy record. For the ancient and the medieval times the history of one ancestors guaranteed religious and secular prestige.[27]

In 1632, Virginia was the first state in the New World mandating with civil law the record keeping of christening, marriages and burials.[28]

Industrial Revolution and the family

The organization of the pre-industrial family is now believed to be similar to modern types of family.[29] Many sociologists used to believe that the nuclear family was the product of industrialization, but new evidence proposed by sociologist Peter Laslett suggests that the causality is reversed, and that industrialization was so effective in Northwestern Europe specifically because the preexistence of the nuclear family fostered its development.[30] Family types of pre-industrial Europe belonged into two basic groups, the simple household system (the nuclear family) and the joint family system (the extended family).[31] A simple household system was made of families marked by relatively late age of marriage for both men and women, the establishment of separate household after the marriage or neolocality, and a period of time in which offspring stayed in the home.[32] A joint family household system was characterized by earlier marriage for women, co residence with husband's family or patrilocality , and co-residing of multiple generations. Many household consisted of unrelated servants and apprentices residing for periods of years and at that time belonging to the family.[33] The joint family household was typical of both Asia, and Europe.[34] Due to shorter life expectancy and high mortality rates in the pre-industrialized world, much of the structure of a family depended on the average marriage age of especially woman. Late marriage , such as in the simple household system, left little time for three-generation families to form. Conversely, in the joint family household system early marriages allowed for multi-generational families to form.[35]

The pre-industrial family's many functions included the food production, landholding, regulation of inheritance, the reproduction, socialization and education of its members. External roles allowed for participation in religion and politics.[36] Social roles and the acceptance in a society was also tightly connected to a family.[37]

Additionally, in the absence of government institutions the family was the only resource to cope with sickness and aging.[36] Because of the industrial revolution and new work and living conditions families changed, transferred to public institutions food production, the education and welfare of its aging and sick members.[38] Post-industrial family became more private, nuclear, domestic, and based on the emotional bonding between husband and wife and between parents and children.[38]

An argument for nature: An exert from Charles Letourneau's 'The Evolution of Marriage and of the Family':

=="The prime cause of marriage and the family is purely biological; it is the powerful instinct of reproduction, the condition of the duration of species, and the origin of which is necessarily contemporaneous with that of primal organisms, of protoplasmic monads, multiplying themselves by unconscious scissiparity. By a slow specialization of organs and functions, in obedience to the laws of evolutionary selection, various animal types have been created; and when they have been provided with seperate sexes and conscious nervous centres, procreation has become a tyranic need, driving males and females to unite in order to fulfill the important function of reproduction."

See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b c Hareven 1991, p. 95.
  2. ^ JSTOR. [jstor.org jstor.org]. Retrieved 2009-07-22. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help); Missing or empty |title= (help)
  3. ^ [jstor.org "JSTOR"]. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)
  4. ^ [jstor.org "JSTOR"]. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)
  5. ^ van den Berghe 1979, p. 16.
  6. ^ van den Berghe 1979, p. 50.
  7. ^ Morgan 1877
  8. ^ Encyclopedia, Britannica. "Cultural Anthropology". Retrieved 2009-07-22.
  9. ^ "The Marxists Internet Archive". Retrieved 2009-07-17.
  10. ^ Wrigley 1977, p. 74.
  11. ^ Daly 2007
  12. ^ Bengston 2006
  13. ^ Rosenberg 1986
  14. ^ Hesiod 1985
  15. ^ Family chronicle
  16. ^ Ellens 2006
  17. ^ family chronicle
  18. ^ "The Illustrated History of the Roman Empire". Retrieved 2009-07-17.
  19. ^ ...
  20. ^ ....
  21. ^ family chronicle
  22. ^ Family chronicle
  23. ^ Family chronicle
  24. ^ Family chronicle
  25. ^ Family chronicle
  26. ^ Family chronicle
  27. ^ Family chronicle
  28. ^ Family chronicle
  29. ^ Hareven 1991
  30. ^ [jstor.org "JSTOR"]. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)
  31. ^ [jstor.org "JSTOR"]. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)
  32. ^ [jstor.org "JSTOR"]. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)
  33. ^ Hareven 1991
  34. ^ [jstor.org "JSTOR"]. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)
  35. ^ [jstor.org "JSTOR"]. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)
  36. ^ a b Hareven 1991, p. 96.
  37. ^ Wrigley 1977, p. 72.
  38. ^ a b Hareven 1991, p. 120.

References

  • Bengtson, Vern L. (2006). Sourcebook of family theory & research. SAGE. ISBN 1412940850. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  • Daly, Kerry (2007). Qualitative methods for family studies & human development. SAGE. ISBN 1412914027. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  • Ellens, J. Harold (2006). Sex in the Bible: a new consideration. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 0275987671. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  • Hanson, K. C. (2002). Palestine in the Time of Jesus: Social Structures and Social Conflicts. Fortress Press. ISBN 0800634705. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  • Hareven, Tamara K. (1991). "The History of the Family and the Complexity of Social Change". The American Historical Review. 96 (1). American Historical Association: 95–124. Retrieved 07-02-2009. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  • Hesiod (1985). Works and days. Georg Olms Verlag. ISBN 3487054140. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  • Hesiod (1997). Theogony. NetLibrary, Incorporated. ISBN 058534339X. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  • Kertzer, David I. (1991). "Household History and Sociological Theory". Annual Review of Sociology. 17. Annual Reviews: 155–179. {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |coauthors= and |month= (help)
  • Mousourakis, George (2003). The historical and institutional context of Roman law. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. ISBN 0754621146. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  • Rosenberg, Donna (2001). World mythology: an anthology of the great myths and epics. NTC Pub. Group. ISBN 0844259667. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  • van den Berghe, Pierre (1979). Human family systems: an evolutionary view. Elsevier North Holland, Inc. ISBN 0444990615. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  • Wrigley, E. Anthony (1997). "Reflections on the History of the Family". The Family. 106 (2). The MIT Press.: 71–85. Retrieved 07-02-2009. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
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