History Final: Family importance Flashcards
what’s the oldest kind of family structure?
Nuclear family: mom + dad = kids
who is Emmanuel todd and what did he believe
The French historian and anthropologist, believes that each family system tends to support specific attitudes towards life and people, as well as specific values.
values of nuclear families
- Encourage Freedom / liberal / you can do what you want
- Equality (to some extent)
- Rather feminist / friendly for women
what is the structure of a Stem Family
- Mother + Father
- Child 1, child 2, child 3
explain the life of the 1st child in a stem family
- Child 1 would has a wife and 3 of their own kids (parents pick the special child, who will inherit everything) (usually ends up being the eldest son)
- This is a family that was created in peasant societies, when it became impossible to divide land between the children of a given couple as an inheritance - and it was also impossible to expand into new farmland.
what happens to the other kids in a stem family?
The other kids can stay on the land but end up becoming the maids and housekeepers of the house, or they can become soldiers, nuns, priests, and monks.
values of stem families
- Authority (the father has lots of power… to impose his will)
- Inequality (btw brothers and sisters)
- Stem families create highly disciplined societies where the orders/requests of the people in charge are diligently executed, but they are also societies that tend to be quite racist.
what places in the world can nuclear families be found in?
Nuclear families can be found in many places, for example, the philippines, france, england, the native groups of the st-lawrence valley… In all these places relatively liberal societies flourished.
where can stem families be found
Stem families also evolved in many places - every time as a response to the scarcity of land, Japan, Germany, Rwanda, all had the stem family until recently and each were known for a high level of discipline, but also for a tendency to ethnic chauvinism.
what happens when nomadic people are in contact with stem families:
they sometimes adopt parts of the stem system for prestige: This gives rise to the Community Family:
explain the community families
- Mother + Father
- Son, son, son (all the sons have a wife and children) (the sons must live with parents until parents are dead)
- The daughters are exchanged to other families as wives.
- All the sons are equal (inheritance will be divided equally)
- Strong father figure
what are the values of a community family
- Authority
- Equality
where in the world do you find community family
For example, russia, China, Vietnam, Cuba.. all had the community family and all had communist revolutions in modern times. (This makes sense because communism encourages an authoritarian state that is supposed to guarantee equality.)
