– large changes in the family system, especially in the status and roles of women and children.
– economy shifted from one based on agriculture and commerce to one based on factory production in towns and cities. This caused work to become something that was done outside the home to earn a wage to provide for the family.
– family unit kept its economic role as a consumer, but lost its role as a producer.
– this caused changes in the family system and the development of the new industrial working class. Now, every family member, including children, began working in wage-based labor in the new factories.
– Industrial Nuclear Family: notion of motherhood was considered sacred and the primary role of women became the norm/ideal.
– Women were nurturers and worked at home and their husbands financially supported them.
– compulsory education for children
– idealized notion of childhood as an “age of innocence”
– home now center of love and emotional contentment
– young people married early and moved away because they could support themselves
– 20th century: families became smaller as birth rates declined
– marriage delayed until separate households could be afforded
-Consumer Family: Husband the exclusive provider, the head of the household, and the link between the family and society. The wife was the homemaker for whom new products were manufactured to assist in creating a comfortable home.
– women thought to be more gentler, patient, and loving than men which is why her role was to be a wife, mother, and housekeeper.
– this implied that women only reached their potential once they had children
– men perceived as aggressive, and tough which made them more suited for the workplace.
– children expected to play under supervision of the mother, attend school, and remain protected from the hard work of the adult world.
