Family and Social Change
The Household as a Process in an Industrializing Community

An innovative study examining the effects of nineteenth-century industrialisation on family life.

Angelique Janssens (Author)

9780521892155, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 18 April 2002

344 pages, 15 b/w illus. 32 tables
23.3 x 15.7 x 2.6 cm, 0.621 kg

"...a well-written challenge to Parsons' claim that industrialization inevitably results in a shift from the extended to the nuclear family. With her longitudinal approach, she demonstrates the value of qualitative analysis for grasping the interaction of individuals and society during social and economic change that intervenes between societal processes such as industrialization, and the family." William M. Cross, European Studies Journal

This book is a quantitative study into the influence of the process of industrialisation on the nature and strength of family relationships in a Dutch community between 1850 and 1920. The study makes use of the unique and unusually rich source of Dutch population registers, which enables the author to trace the history of individual households. The study closely relates aspects of family and household with the social processes characteristic of an industrialising society, such as increasing rates of social and geographical mobility and the shift of production from the home into the factory. Results reveal a striking continuity in the strength of nineteenth-century family relations despite the gradual but profound process of social change surrounding these families. Changes in behavioural patterns did occur, however, under the influence of changes in demographic rates, regional geographical mobility systems and local developments in the housing market. Nevertheless, these changes cannot be taken as a weakening of family relationships.

1. Family and industrialisation
2. The industrialising context: continuity and change in nineteenth-century Tilburg
3. Sources and methods
4. Family structure through time
5. Family life and social structure
6. Family structure and geographical mobility
7. Family and work: the effect of family economy on the structural characteristics of the household
8. Summary and conclusions.

Subject Areas: Social & cultural history [HBTB]