Family Evolution: Societal Changes and Historical Impact
**Item 6. The Family and Its Transformation**
The family is a universal institution that is present in all cultures. It is not static but has evolved over time with changes in society. It is a constantly evolving group related to political, social, economic, and cultural factors.
Throughout history, certain events have marked changes in family structure and even its duties. Scientific and medical advances have led to a falling birth rate and increased adult life expectancy. Industrialization has certainly changed family structure and function, incorporating women into productive work, leaving aside the role that was previously granted to them.
Women’s History and Societal Roles
Within this theme, an important aspect to deal with is the history of women. According to Engels, this is a story that essentially depends on technique. The emergence of private property makes man own the woman. In the patriarchal family founded upon private property, the woman is exploited and oppressed by men.
The proletariat and women become oppressed classes. The release of the woman goes, then, for the destruction of the family and the entry of all women into the world of work. Once freed from the shackles of death and the burden of motherhood, women can take their place in a production company.
Inspired by structuralism, gender ideology believes that each culture produces its own rules of conduct and forms a different type of woman. According to the company, certain tasks will be considered women’s work and others as masculine. Once the woman is freed from the responsibilities of home and family, women may be delivered to their role as a worker, in equality with men. It is worth highlighting that the differences in role between men and women are purely of historical and cultural origin.
Family Structures: Anthropology and Sociology
Turning now to the central theme, it should be noted that in the study of the family, both anthropology and sociology are involved, as is traditional historical demography. But when dealing with the analysis of family structures, one must take into account that these differ according to regions and social groups.
The family involves marriage, that from the eighteenth century passed from an ideology of marriage by living to one that must marry for love. Formerly the basic economic organization was based on the family, however, there is an enormously important social change, and families become self-employed. Formerly, there was also the chieftaincy, clientelism, and nepotism, political and social mechanisms at a time.
Marriage for love was not consolidated until the nineteenth century.
Lineage Systems and Marriage Practices
At a village level, the lineage system was given in the social, political, and religious spheres. With this system, one could determine which groups could marry and which groups could not make matrimonial alliances. There is also a movement of wives shaped like a neck, which allowed accurate reproduction and ensured the blood lineage of descent. When a man died and the woman became a widow, the dead man’s brother was obliged to marry her. But he is no longer a macho mechanism since it would be much worse than being homeless and widows without resources. This gives:
- Polygyny functionality
- Functionality of polygamy
- Functionality of a delivery system that allows women for men in a tribe, has a network of marital relations, and allows for an efficient division of group play
In the peasant system, there are mechanisms where the family has rights and formerly worked in a rich land, which enabled them to live and survive.
Family Wealth and Inheritance
Besides the family, a few houses and lands seek to concentrate most of the wealth on a son (the heir). This son has an obligation to care for their parents, their children, and so on. And they receive in return the family home and most of the land (a very high percentage of the wealth is concentrated in a child).
The highest aspiration was family. After meeting the subsistence needs, the focus is on the children, who are the surest guarantee of assistance for the elderly and the natural heirs of the family heritage. Care to protect the legitimacy of children, educate them about the traditions, beliefs, and family values, and pass on the family heritage is at the center of family ideals.
Family Organization Levels
Thus, there are three very different levels in terms of family organization:
- **Lineages**, which have already been mentioned above.
- **Extended Family** (very common in the rural world), which consists of two generations of relatives living in the same household or very close to each other.
- **Nuclear Family** (which since the eighteenth century is becoming hegemonic), which consists of a wife (chaired by the married slogan “house you want,” this means that is separated from the parental home and is going to have a marriage with a woman’s perspective they do not know when they are older if they are to have people who care for them), husband (or one of them), and dependent children.
Marriage was an important noble family strategy to achieve upward mobility. He was usually a matter of imposition of the fathers to the children, especially the parent should be adjusted to a family context, social and geographical already established.