Family Myths: New book uncovers their origins

ANN ARBOR—Long ago but not so far away, big, extended families all lived together, sharing their lives from cradle to grave. Parents, and especially fathers, ruled the roost. Everyone got married young to mates selected by their parents.

These and other popular beliefs about pre-industrial family life in northwestern Europe are myths, according to a University of Michigan sociologist and author. Current historical research shows that as early as the 1300s, northwest Europe had small, nuclear families, low levels of both family solidarity and parental control over adolescents, and love matches that couples made on their own.  

In " Reading History Sideways: The Fallacy and Enduring Impact of the Developmental Paradigm on Family Life, " author Arland Thornton, a professor of sociology and senior research professor at the U-M Institute for Social Research (ISR), documents the source of these myths and the accompanying belief that a great family transition occurred before 1800.

"Scholars used to believe in a developmental model of history, assuming that all societies are on the same path, with each going through the same necessary stages of development but with the pace of change along this path varying across societies," Thornton said. "Scholars in the past also assumed that northwest Europe occupied the pinnacle of development and that they could document what family life in the past in northwest Europe was like by looking at family life in non-Western societies."

"Scholars of the 1700s and 1800s discovered that family life in many other parts of the world was very different from that of northwest Europe—being characterized by big extended families, great parental authority, youthful marriage and spouses selected by parents. This discovery led them to assume that the differences between northwest Europe and elsewhere were caused by these other societies not having yet gone through the great family transformation that they believed northwest Europe had experienced."

This kind of developmental thinking also gave impetus to a powerful set of propositions that Thornton calls "developmental idealism." This view maintains that modern society—which is industrialized, urbanized, highly educated and with high levels of knowledge and technology—is good and desirable, he explained.

"Developmental idealism also indicates a preference for modern families," he said, "and modern families are defined as having high levels of individualism, high status of women, mature marriage, marriage arranged by the couple, the autonomy of children, small households, and controlled and low fertility."

According to Thornton, developmental idealism has spread around the world through a myriad of mechanisms, and has been an exceptionally powerful force for family change in Western societies and elsewhere.

Among its effects: declines in childbearing, increases in age at marriage, increases in the autonomy of young people, growing egalitarianism between women and men, increases in divorce, increases in independent living among both the young and the old, increases in sexual activity and cohabitation outside marriage, and the growing emphasis on individual rights as opposed to the norms of the larger community.

"Of course, as developmental idealism was disseminated around the world, it met with indigenous social and cultural systems that were also powerful in that they had for centuries provided models for family and social life," Thornton said. "It is not surprising that the messages of developmental idealism created substantial tension and conflict with indigenous historical social and cultural systems.

"Often developmental idealism has been met with sophisticated evaluation, resistance and adaptation. The end result, however, has been substantial family change both in the Western world and elsewhere, with the result often being a hybridized form that mixes indigenous approaches with those of developmental idealism."

Established in 1948, the Institute for Social Research (ISR) is among the world’s oldest survey research organizations, and a world leader in the development and application of social science methodology. ISR conducts some of the most widely-cited studies in the nation, including the Survey of Consumer Attitudes, the National Election Studies, the Monitoring the Future Study, the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, the Health and Retirement Study, the Columbia County Longitudinal Study and the National Survey of Black Americans. ISR researchers also collaborate with social scientists in more than 60 nations on the World Values Surveys and other projects, and the Institute has established formal ties with universities in Poland, China, and South Africa. ISR is also home to the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR), the world’s largest computerized social science data archive. Visit the ISR Web site at www.isr.umich.edu for more information.

Related Links:

Institute for Social Research

Developmental Idealism Studies at ISR