The family since 1500

Changes in the family that were set in motion in medieval times continued through the Renaissance and Reformation. The conjugal bond remained important. The question of how much affection existed between husbands and wives has been the subject of much speculation, especially among those social historians who favour the sentiments approach. The British historian Lawrence Stone suggested that the degree of affection in the 16th and early 17th centuries was very limited, but other writers have been critical of this view. The upper-class domestic unit, in fact, seems to have been a close-knit one, but adequate data on the lower classes is extremely hard to find.

One consequence of the Reformation was a reduction in the strictness of rules regarding the marriage of kin, at least in most Protestant countries. The case of England's King Henry VIII is a famous example. He legalized marriage to first cousins so that he could marry Catherine Howard, who was in fact his “first cousin” by marriage, being the true first cousin (in the modern sense of a blood relative) to one of his previous wives, Anne Boleyn. Martin Luther, on the other hand, argued against close kin marriage, not because he believed it was against God's will, but because he was afraid that people would marry in order to keep property within the family, rather than for love.

Sociologists used to assume that before the Industrial Revolution the most common type of family organization in European society was that of the large extended family, with as many as three generations sharing a common household. However, detailed historical studies made in the 1970s and '80s from documentary sources have revealed that the nuclear family was the primary unit over much of northwestern Europe even before industrialization. In fact, Anderson's study of the English town of Preston suggests that the Industrial Revolution, and its consequent urbanization and urban employment, increased the importance of relatives beyond the nuclear family, since the changes taking place enabled individuals to receive help from their kinsmen in times of hardship. In general, in 19th-century Europe, North America, and other parts of the industrialized world, family organization was based on a wider range of social interaction than was usual by the late 20th century. Since marriage was relatively late and life expectancy relatively short, children often remained at home throughout the lifetimes of their parents. Families were large, and older children took part in raising and teaching their younger brothers and sisters. Only in the 20th century has it become common for parents to be left alone in the household in middle age.

In the United States there was an increased tendency toward earlier marriage for both sexes between 1900 and 1960. Since about 1960, however, this trend has reversed. Similar trends have occurred, though generally later, in the United Kingdom and other Western countries. A number of factors seem to be involved in this trend toward later marriage. One is greater economic security. Another is the greater availability of birth control devices, and especially the birth control pill, since the 1960s. This has enabled couples to engage in sexual intercourse with less fear of having unwanted children. Whether the practice of birth control has been a cause or a result of greater permissiveness is not easy to determine, but certainly greater sexual freedom without the social stigma formerly attached to premarital intercourse is another factor in the trend toward later marriage.

There have long been differences between social classes in the customary age at which people marry. Generally, since 1900, those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds have married earlier. The reason usually given for this fact is that people prefer to marry after their education has ended and they have secured suitable employment. Middle- and upper-class people tend to be engaged in full-time education for a longer time, and career aspirations may outweigh the importance of marriage. In some lower-class households, where marriage itself may be a person's greatest aspiration, this is less likely to be the case. As women achieve educational standards equal to those of men and enter the job market on the same footing, they tend to regard marriage as something to be delayed until “the right time,” just as men do. The increase in educational opportunities for people of both sexes since World War II may be an additional factor in the increase in the age of marriage in all social classes within Western societies.

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