Industrialization without Family Change? The Extended Family and the Life Cycle in a Dutch Industrial Town, 1880-1920

Abstract

This article examines the structural evolution over the life-cycle of a cohort group ofparental households in the industrial town of Tilburg during theperiod 1880-1920. The rapid demographic and industrial developments the town had been going through before and during this period did not lead to a destruction of the traditional pattern of extended family households, as structural-functionalist theories would assume. A large majority ofthe Tilburg parents developed a household structure beyond the nuclear family at some point over their cycle. Most household extensions occurred during the first developmental stages, but especially during the last stages of the parental life-cycle. These families continued to react in accordance with the area's traditional family values. They constitute an example of a 'cultural lag'that can exist between family patterns and social structural change. A strong social and economic position seems to be related to an extended household structure, particularly in the case of the migrant families in the Tilburg sample. Moreover socially differentiated ex tension patterns have been established as well. Finally, the Tilburg study confirms the importance of kin for migrants in an industrializing society.