Human society develops, mechanisms of interaction of people among themselves change, also social institutes, such as family likewise change. The traditional family was peculiar to agrarian society, its nuclear type is characteristic of industrial, and here in the modern world the new phenomenon – post-industrial family is born.
Family – a cell of society. Everyone heard this phrase since the childhood. Such view of family is also characteristic of her traditional understanding. The traditional family was created when people lived natural or semi-natural economy. That is, everything had to be done independently: to grow up food, to hold the cattle and even to spin fabric for clothes. If the family well coped with the tasks, then all her members were full and did not die of hunger. Feelings of the people marrying, as a rule, not too were considered. In family the economic component was considered as primary.
Private life of everyone was controlled by societies and other family members. There was a uniform head of the family, and the others submitted to him. Patriarchal type of family when in one house at the same time there lived three generations and more is considered traditional. Newlyweds could not "move down" and occupy the certain house.
The attitude towards children and towards women in traditional family sometimes was quite cruel. Children were considered as labor. They began to work since small years. If people considered that the child will be "extra mouth to feed", then he ceased to be fed just, acted especially often this way with babies who could not work and help survival of family yet. For example, L.N. Tolstoy and also researchers of country life writes about it. The woman in patriarchal family – always is subordinate. Whatever character it had how it was clever or strong, all the same it depended on decisions of the husband who, in turn, depended on decisions of the father. The lack of duties at seniors before younger on a rank, but exaggeration of duties younger before seniors is characteristic of traditional family. Domestic violence – beating of the wife and children – was always characteristic of traditional families worldwide.
As soon as people got an opportunity to work and be independent, their income and welfare ceased to depend on harmonious actions in family. Therefore instruments of control over everyone the person from family became much less. The love and the decision, with whom to start a family, became a personal record of everyone. Need to live big group disappeared, and the nuclear family, that is consisting of couple and a small amount of their children became widespread. In spite of the fact that some consider this transition accident, at it as researchers note, there is a mass of good points, for example, domestic violence in families gradually comes to naught. In industrial society before spouses there was a need to educate children and to provide their, at the same time, child labor ceases to be used. Therefore also the birth rate naturally falls. Nevertheless, education of children and monopoly for sex still belong to family. The role of the man and woman did not change: the husband earns money, and the wife raises children and is engaged in the house.
Thanks to all of the growing economic independence of women, marriage for them lost the appeal in terms of the device of the future. "sexual revolution" took place therefore the family also lost monopoly for sex. Thus, in the post-industrial world the family, in comparison with traditional, fully kept only function of education of children.