Household and Family in Past Times [Paperback]

This is an extremely important collection of essays in historical social structure.This is an extremely important collection of essays in historical social structure. The volume represents the first attempt to examine in historical and comparative terms the general belief that in the past all families were larger than they are today; that the nuclear family of man, wife and children living alone is particularly characteristic of the present time and came into being with the arrival of industry.This is an extremely important collection of essays in historical social structure. The volume represents the first attempt to examine in historical and comparative terms the general belief that in the past all families were larger than they are today; that the nuclear family of man, wife and children living alone is particularly characteristic of the present time and came into being with the arrival of industry.This is an extremely important collection of essays in historical social structure. The volume represents the first attempt to examine in historical and comparative terms the general belief that in the past all families were larger than they are today; that the nuclear family of man, wife and children living alone is particularly characteristic of the present time and came into being with the arrival of industry.1. Introduction: The history of the family Peter Laslett; 2. Some demographic determinants of average household size: An analytic approach Thomas K. Burch; 3. The evolution of the family Jack Goody; 4. Mean household size in England since the sixteenth century Peter Laslett; 5. Mean household size in England from printed sources Richard Wall; 6. A note on the household structure of mid-nineteenth-century York in comparative perspective W. A. Armstrong; 7. Household structure and the industrial revolution; mid-nineteenth-century Preston in comparative perspective Michael Anderson; 8. A southern French village: the inhabitants of Montplaisant in 1644 Jean-Noel Bil"