DEVELOPMENT OF FAMILY

STAGE 1 : the pre- industrial family

In this period the family was a unit of production, the members working together live together, mostly in agriculture and this is called ‘extended family’. Examples of this stage still be found today in farming areas.

STAGE 2 : the early industrial family

This was the family of the industrial revolution, ‘torn apart’ by the economic and social changes. It characteristically had extended kinship networks to provide support and aid in times of need. There were mother-daughter ties that held the family together but often only a weak relation between husband and wife – they tended to have separate roles, carrying out their own chores and responsibilities. Examples of this stage can also be found in Anderson and Young and Willmott(1962).

STAGE 3 : the symmetrical family

This is the modern nuclear family of today. According to Young and Willmott it has three main characteristics. Firstly, this family is predominantly nuclear, not extended. The nuclear family is much more isolated from extended kin and members depend far more on each other for help and companionship. Second, life in the modern family is home-centered. The home itself is much more comfortable and family life is more affluent, so the home has become a pleasant place for the whole family to spend their leisure time. Third, the relationship between husband and wife is strong: work and interests are increasingly shared. This situation is referred to as ‘joint conjugal roles’. The relationship between husband and wife has also become more companionate. They share the household tasks and childcare as well as decisions and interests, and they spend much more time in each other’s company. Also, husband and wife have a more egalitarian relationship where the contribution and importance of each is equal but different.

STAGE 4 : the asymmetrical family

In this stage, family is characterized by the wife becoming more home-centred so that the husband can become more work-centred. This type of family was predicted to arise as a result of changes in work patterns. The managing directors studied by Young and Willmott spent less time in the home and more time at work or in work-centred leisure activities such as golf. As a result, more of the domestic home activities were left for their wives to tackle alone.

Future of the family

Nowadays, there are different lifestyles in the past decade, such as, cohabitation, the one-parent family, childless family, bachelorhood, homosexual, abortion etc. that may continues in the future.

After sexual experiences with several partners, they are ready for a somewhat more serious love relationship. A man goes to live with a woman and they begin relations of cohabitation (koba) without religious or legal ceremonies. If the couple decides to separate, no legal measures or rituals are involved. Many couples have several more-or-less temporary koba arrangements before settling down with a more permanent mate. Nowadays, that is a common phenomenon because societies widely accept. However, sexual activities begin around the age of puberty. Thus, the trend of cohabitation is increasing.

Nowadays, there is many the one-parent family because of the families of widows, divorcees, the separated, unmarried mothers etc. For example, there are over 20% is the one-parent family in the United States. If the trend is continued, it will have half of the families are the one-parent family in the future.

Among most of the modernized societies, the number of children in a family has decreased substantially over the past decades. Most of the families, who have high educated or high status of jobs, are in voluntary childlessness. By examining the relationship between voluntary childlessness and marital adjustment in the United States, Housekenecht (1979) revealed that women who were childless by choice and women with children differed significantly in their overall marital adjustment.

Moreover, most people have economically independent and high educated so more people choose to be single and do not get married. It is because there are too little of suitable mates and they enjoy having liberation and do not want to have family burden. However, there are other kinds of single because of widows or divorcees and do not remarry yet.

Although homosexual family is similar to the heterosexual family that its family relationship does not have any differences between the standard families, the societies commonly have discrimination on homosexual family. However, some societies begin to give more tolerance on it and give them have a family status of law.

The ethical aspects of abortion have been controversial in many societies. However, Ebaugh and Haney (1980) disclosed that while there has been increasing liberalization of attitudes toward legalized abortion. Also attitudes toward and the practice of abortion varies greatly among societies of different cultures. For example, in contemporary China, in order to prevent the expected population explosion, abortion is used as a legalized method for carrying out family planning

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