Examine the impact of Industrialization and Urbanization of family structure. (2016)
Industrialisation (or industrialization) is the period of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an industrial society, involving the extensive re-organisation of an economy for the purpose of manufacturing.
Industrialization led to growth of urban centres and migration from rural area to urban area. Both processes have significant impact on traditional family structure.
Before industrialization
Families were unit of production and considered to be multifunctional.
After industrialization and urbanization
- Families couldn’t t perform all the functions they had to before and some of them were taken over by other institutions.
- Families continued to reproduce only main functions and became isolated nuclear as Parsons suggested in his research.
- Family became to be unit of consumption.
- the industrialization demanded higher geographical mobility which led to a reduction of kinship network and appearing of a nuclear family which was better fitted to that time.
- Families didn’t t need such support that they needed before from their relatives.
- Also the appearance of social mobility gave people opportunities to get higher qualifications and created division of labour.
Both these procedures changed the structure of the family as well as connections inside families. Ladies and kids were moved to one side from work so as to perform family’s capacities and men were viewed as providers.
Different sections interpret the effect of industrialization and urbanization differently.
Functionalists see these changes in family structure necessary in order to cope with all the changes around and be the best fit for the society.
Marxists see them differently. They see the main function of the family is reproducing the social conditions and the appearance of new forms of families with these processes will help to better reproduce labour power, give emotional support for workers and help children to socialize in the world of inequality.
For feminists, Oakley, industrialization gave the beginning of women s primary role of caretaker and domestic labour.