five years and the story of the family as a social institution is very short indeed and yet in that time the pattern of family life in america has undergone radical changes on a farm in the eighteenth eighties family life followed a pattern which had been characteristic of america from a colonial time three generations of a family lived and worked together the father was head of the family in the fullest sense of the word you have the primary economic responsibility for its survival and he was the final star some authority he was teacher as well as parent and from him his sons learned their vocation those days of farm family with an economic unit complete in itself held together by a division of labor among its members the mother in addition to her additional responsibility for the rearing of children had regular duties such as the preparing of food when she was not preparing meals there were many other things to be done churning butter putting up preserves for the winter and pond house clean her role in maintaining the family both biologically and economically was an important one and it was clearly defined so far as the division of labor was concerned even grandparents over all the children will go back to school at the little red schoolhouse corps miles away and emma will have studies to keep her busy unpopular as she seems to be today there's one person who is always grandpa is almost seventy but he is still a real help on the phone particularly in the care of the and the american family of the past religion played an important role in holding a family together as an institution it was not exclusively an individual experience the family participated in it as a group and evenings during the week the kitchen usually served in the living room especially during the winter because the stove was there all the games or perhaps it on sunday during the week they were a favorite kind of recreation with all three generations taking part in the children's school year was a short one because all the children were useful on the pond consequently parents often assume the role of teacher to rosemary is entertaining us to her in the parlor courtship in the eighteenth eighties had stricter rules and day activities connected with the church and especially when the evening prayer meeting gave courting couples the opportunities to me their only real chance to be alone was in the home of the girl where her parents could chaperone the me and mutuality of work and of recreation but the social forces that resulted from the industrial revolution were already at work and there's pattern of family life was to be changed dramatically and radicalized the birth of a new century was not far off and whether it our new way of life or the american family factories the family as an economic unit where the division of labor began to disappear back to raze hired individuals not family life wrought with a greater individual and more opportunities for self expression but at the expense of the family and home ties but the greatest force of change in the traditional pattern of american family life was the changed status of woman herself the feminist movement which began in eighteen forty eight was originally directed against masculine domination for many years suffragettes campaigned to get the vote for women but it was not until nineteen twenty that women in all states of the union could grow but the factor of greatest change was the increasing employment of women outside the home in fact in commercial services and in the professions industry average for employment at the same time providing her with merchandise and services undermined her traditional task today most women work not in protest against masculine domination but out of economic necessity new they began to travel more the arrival of the automobile early in the century made it possible for families to move about even more easily and history itself accelerated the claim the stock market war effort and often to supplement our family  at the end of the war families were reunited but the social stability of the american family had been shaken by the increased freedom of women depression rock and population move today we have the smallest family unit in history and the least stable our divorce rate has greatly increased does this mean that the family as an institution is on the wane in search of an answer let us take a closer look at family life today on the farm and in the city despite wars and depressions harrington families are still on this path but many changes in taken place for example ploughing is done by m the farmhouse has not changed much on the outside inside at the different place a mrs harrington of today no longer has to spend all her time in the kitchen modern conveniences have given her more leisure there are children in this generation of harrington's too but they have their noonday meal in school today children are less economically important on the farm and so on there's more time for education greates seldom said before meals except on sunday but the harrington's are still church members and attend services afternoon on the farm today is very different from the past it has become a time of recreation rather than religious observance while john harrington watches television his wife goes to a social get together  ladies club even recreation is no longer a family affair the family doesn't drive things together as a unit but separately as individuals while grandpa raises farm journal grandma upstairs in the bedroom listens to the radio and reads a woman's magazine the children have permission to borrow the family car and are going to visit brenden a nearby town what about a grandfather who lives in an urban setting jaws of wingfield is a widower is retired and he lives alone in his own house he is reasonably happy but today's world is a young in which sixty is old and mr wingfield has a feeling of uselessness his job is over his children are grown and i his daughter is married and lives in our own home in the same town the norton family is typical of the modern urban family in america babysitter and all the small si ok come on kid we'll leave your mother along you know tonight is our art class in the modern family the division of labor is much less marked than it once was mr norton assume some of the responsibilities once regarded as exclusively feminine and in the miller family next door even the economic responsibility is divided since mrs miller has a regular job just like her husband the women leave to attend their art class on the man they home and have a bridge game but later that night when henry gets home to his lonely apartment he wonders if the life of freedom was fine when henry was twenty or even thirty but he's forty five now and he feels pretty alone a sense of prostration and middle age is a common experience for all able and companionship is especially needed that the loneliness and insecurity of cities and the depersonalized life that urban from childhood on human being seek emotional security in establishing a habit pattern and the family habit is an essential one the family as an institution has changed greatly it may change even more and its future is by no means the term but it still carries out its essential function reproduction and the care and socialization of the young as long as it maintains these