By Steven Mintz and Susan Kellogg. Publisher is The Free Press. "Domestic Revolutions" shows how the American family has been adapting to societal changes throughout the last three hundred years.
Forces of Change
"Although the family is seen as the social institution most resistant to change, it is, in fact, as deeply embedded in the historical process as any other institution. The claim that it is essentially a conservative institution - an island of stability in a sea of social, political, and economic change - is largely an illusion.... In structure, role, and conception, the American family has changed dramatically over time." economics
demography
change in women's roles
The basic forces for familial change are:
Economics
Mintz and Kellogg state that the principle reason for change in family has been economics. Originally, American Puritan families were living off the land and self-sufficient. Parents kept control over their children not only by handing down the family craft and source of income, but by dowries and inheritance of the family lands. Kinship ties through intermarriage between first cousins and even between brothers and sisters were used to cement political and economic relationships. Children were often kept economically dependent for years. Women were expected to be submissive in the home, although wife abuse was not tolerated. "Purtian court records further reveal that wife abuse is not a recent development. Between 1630 and 1699, at least 128 men were tried for abusing their wives." However, during the same period, 278 women were brought to court for not living up to their wifely obligations.
By the Eighteenth century, families had begun to purchase more goods and services from others, and their children exercised more personal choices over who they would marry. As the family unit became more dependent on public services, it also became more isolated and private.
Demography
Through the years, the gradual reduction of fertility within marriage, along with the gradual aging of the population, has created a family experience of no parenting responsibilites, being grandparents, caring for parents, and prolonged widowhood that was not known in previous generations. The average Purtian marriage lasted twenty-four years. Remarriage after the death of a spouse was quite common.
Roles
The dramatic increase of women working outside the home has helped make women less dependent on their husbands, and has changed traditional perspectives about housekeeping and child rearing roles. Puritan fathers didn't take an active role in child rearing until a child reached the age of two or three.
