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Essay about Compare and Contrast Traditional and Modern Families

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Faouzi NOURI-GIRONES CIT 071807 Compare and contrast traditional and modern families
Since the nineteenth century, in the western societies, family patterns changed under the forces of industrialisation and urbanisation. Another factor which has been involved in those changes is the growing intervention of the state, by legislative action, in the domestic affairs of the family. As a result of these trends, the modern “nuclear” family has been substituted for the traditional extended family. The increase of values such as individualism and egalitarism has influenced the patterns of …show more content…

In addition, in the traditional families the mother usually bore the sole responsibility of the child caring. Modern parents now share this responsibility together because of social and work constraints. However, holidays which are not common in the traditional family, allow them to spend quality time with their children. Moreover in many modern families the father becomes a house worker, to provide for the needs of his children. As the statistics shown in the United Kingdom in 2001, 155 000 fathers were stay home husbands. All in all, the emphasis on nurturing children can be seen in traditional and modern families, alike.
Apart from the similarities mentioned above, traditional and modern families have several differences in the areas of family size and gender roles.
One major difference between the traditional and modern family is the decrease in family size. The traditional family tends to be extended with three or more generations in the same household because it provides a strong union between its members. Another reason for a large household is that usually farming was the principal economic activity of the family 1 members. In contrast, the modern family household contains two generations, parents and dependants children. Unlike the traditional family the modern

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