Seminar 2
Seminar 2: The Nuclear Family: Myth or Reality? For most of the period since 1860 the nuclear family was a norm in British culture and society and it was widely experienced. It was assumed the contemporary model of family life would strengthen and continue. In this seminar we will investigate whether this ideal did correspond with the family lives of the life of the British people and in what ways it supported or oppressed it members. We will look at how kinship networks have changed, or remained intact, over the course of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Seminar/Essay Questions:
- Were the 1950s a ‘golden age’ for the nuclear family?
- Is there still a place for the extended family in modern society?
- Have the functions of the extended family been transferred to the state?
- Do you think the nuclear family was beneficial or problematic for its members and in what ways?