Tamara K. Hareven

What Difference Does It Make

Almost 30 years have passed since the “new” social history and its related fields fired the imagination of historians and other social scientists, particularly sociologists, anthropologists, and psychologists. Perhaps the time has come to ask: What difference does it make? What has been the impact of these new historical efforts on our understanding of more general patterns in history? The new social history and its subdisciplines have become so established that they are not viewed as new anymore. Younger generations of scholars take them for granted. On the other hand, those of us who witnessed their emergence and helped develop them still remember the sense of promise and discovery and the frantic search for methodologies with which to answer new questions. The excitement led to collaborations and to an enduring sense of kinship among practitioners.

From the empty nest to family dissolution: life course transitions into old age.

and the implications of demographic change for current and future problems in the adjustment of individuals and families to old age (Hareven, 1976; Fischer, 1977; Smith, 1980). Historians are now beginning to compare household and family structure of older people in the past with those of the general population in order to understand the adjustments of families and individuals to the process of aging (Chudacoff and Hareven, 1978). While significant historical research has already examined continuities and discontinuities in the earlier part of the life course-in transitions to adulthood (Kett, 1977; Modell, Furstenberg and Hershberg, 1976)the structural changes in work and family careers involved in people’s movement to middle and old age have not been examined historically. In this essay we are concerned with the ways in which men and women experienced transitions in their work lives, household status, and family organization

Historical Analysis of the Family

The family is one of the most complex social institutions. It is affected by biological processes, psychological dynamics, cultural values, market conditions, demographic changes, the institutions of industrial capitalism, churches, government welfare-planning agencies, and long-term historical change. Nor is the family itself a static, homogeneous unit; rather, it is a complex organization of different age and sex configurations. Families contain husbands and wives, parents and children, brothers and sisters, grandparents and grandchildren, and various other kin bound to one another by blood ties as well as by a variety of social, emotional, and moral bonds.

The Dynamics of Kin in an Industrial Community

This essay examines the role of kinship in the process of migration and the adjustment of immigrant workers to industrial conditions. It focuses on three interrelated areas of kin activities: first, the recruitment of im? migrant workers to the textile industry through the services of kin?a process which joins migratory origin and destination into one social sys? tem; second, the role of kin within the factory, particularly in hiring, job placement, and the control of work processes; and third, overlapping both processes, the general function of kin in critical life situations, most notably during periods of unemployment and insecurity. These three areas are explored empirically in a case study of French-Canadian immigrants in an American industrial community, Manchester, New Hampshire, from 1880 to 1930, a period encompassing both the peak of Man? chesters industrial development and its subsequent decline. The essay interprets these empirical findings in the context of sociological theories of kinship. In doing so, it points to those areas of research where socio? logical theories have influenced historical analyses of kinship; and conversely, it suggests the extent to which historical findings can reorient

Family and Kinship, History of

This essay examines the emergence of the history of the family as an interdisciplinary field in Europe and in the United States. It traces the field to its origins in France and England and its subsequent development in other European countries, Japan, and the United States. It discusses the characteristics of the field due to its origins from both historical demography and social and cultural history, particularly from the ‘new’ social history. The essay examines the various dimensions of the historical study of the family, starting with the discovery of the continuity of a nuclear household structure since pre-industrial society, and the presence of ‘modern’ characteristics of demographic behavior (such as family limitations) in Western Europe and North America, prior to industrialization. It proceeds to explore subsequent discoveries of the importance of kinship networks outside the household, and the salient role of kin in the process of industrialization and in adaptation to industrial life. Examining the development of scholarship in the History of the Family in the 1980s and 1990s, the essay traces the emergence of the life-course approach, in response to the need for a developmental perspective and its utility in examining the interaction of ‘individual time,’ ‘family time,’ and ‘historical time.’ The essay further examines the familys interaction with the process of industrialization. Contrary to prevailing myths about social breakdown, it emphasizes the familys role as an active agent in that process. In doing so, it discusses both the earlier stages of ‘proto-industrialization’ and the emergence of the factory system. In assessing the familys role as an active agent, it explores family strategies as an important process of family decision-making. Finally, the article examines critically, earlier studies of ‘grand’ changes in the family over time and the meaning of ‘modern’ family patterns. The article concludes with suggestions for continued and future research.

La generación de enmedio. Comparación de cohortes de ayuda a padres de edad avanzada dentro de una comunidad estadounidense

The gerontological literature has generally addressed the patterns of support from adult children to elderly parents from a contemporary perspective and limited to a single point in time (Bengtson, Kasshau and Ragan, 1985; Bengston and Treas, 1980 , Shanas, 1979; Antonucci, 1990; Cicirelli, 1981) These studies rarely asked question of how this relationship of care during the course of life formed with certain exceptions, contemporary studies of intergenerational support have not analyzed. how to change the support of adult children over time, nor have children caregivers considered within the context of their historical and social times.

Postscript: the Latin American Essays in the Context of Family History

*Professor of History, Clark University, and Research Associate at the Center for Population Studies, Harvard University. The essays in this volume fulfill a special pioneer role in opening up the study of family history in Latin America. Their double utility lies in encouraging research in a new area as well as in bringing new insights to our understanding of historical changes in the family in Western Europe, in the United States, and in contemporary developing societies. In the ensuing discussion I will examine some of the points raised in the essays in this volume in relationship to the state of