While reading my textbook, I came across a pretty interesting paragraph:
"Industrialism is often associated with smaller families, but the assumption that industrialism necessarily damages families is unjustified. David Kertzer found, for instance, that industrialization in the Italian community of Caselecchio di Reno actually strengthened the nuclear family. In the mid-1800s, 15 percent of children under the age of fifteen did not live with their parents but rather as "servants or apprentices in the homes of others"; by 1921, this number had fallen to 3 percent, largely as a result of factory work for poor families (1987: 154). "Far from tearing children away from a nurturing parental family environment, industrialization often permitted children to grow up in their parental household to an extent that would not have otherwise been possible" (158), he concluded."
You see, I have a bit of a thought concerning this conclusion. Yes, factories kept families together because they all needed each other slaving away in the factory for the little income and food, but is that any healthier than children living as apprentices in others' homes?
This would require more research, but I would think that would not "strengthen" a family. While the family members are staying together under roof, what are the relations between the members like? Poverty puts a lot of stress on a family. With the stress of trying to feed everyone, would it not make the situation unhealthy sometimes?
Also, during this factory boom, there were no labor laws to manage the amount of work assigned to each worker. Employees would spend 16 hour days and children were often no exception to that rule. You have a family unit in that there is a mother, father, and children and they occupy the same space and stay together, but when they are not in the factory, they are sleeping at home.
To me, the "nuclear family" is the unit that communicates well, functions as well as possible, and is healthy and a reliable, reasonable standard to hold family members to. Factories may have kept families together, but were they truly nuclear families? Did the factory system really cause no harm whatsoever?
Thoughts? Opinions?
"Industrialism is often associated with smaller families, but the assumption that industrialism necessarily damages families is unjustified. David Kertzer found, for instance, that industrialization in the Italian community of Caselecchio di Reno actually strengthened the nuclear family. In the mid-1800s, 15 percent of children under the age of fifteen did not live with their parents but rather as "servants or apprentices in the homes of others"; by 1921, this number had fallen to 3 percent, largely as a result of factory work for poor families (1987: 154). "Far from tearing children away from a nurturing parental family environment, industrialization often permitted children to grow up in their parental household to an extent that would not have otherwise been possible" (158), he concluded."
You see, I have a bit of a thought concerning this conclusion. Yes, factories kept families together because they all needed each other slaving away in the factory for the little income and food, but is that any healthier than children living as apprentices in others' homes?
This would require more research, but I would think that would not "strengthen" a family. While the family members are staying together under roof, what are the relations between the members like? Poverty puts a lot of stress on a family. With the stress of trying to feed everyone, would it not make the situation unhealthy sometimes?
Also, during this factory boom, there were no labor laws to manage the amount of work assigned to each worker. Employees would spend 16 hour days and children were often no exception to that rule. You have a family unit in that there is a mother, father, and children and they occupy the same space and stay together, but when they are not in the factory, they are sleeping at home.
To me, the "nuclear family" is the unit that communicates well, functions as well as possible, and is healthy and a reliable, reasonable standard to hold family members to. Factories may have kept families together, but were they truly nuclear families? Did the factory system really cause no harm whatsoever?
Thoughts? Opinions?