Chapter 20 Study Guide
Chapter 20 Study Guide: The Changing Life of the People
Extended and Nuclear Families * Extended Family * A family that is a big, 3 or 4 generation clan headed by a matriarch or a patriarch and encompassing everyone from the youngest infant to the oldest grandparent. * Nuclear Family * Couples establish their own households when they marry, and they raise their children apart from their parents. * The Nuclear family was the most common kind in preindustrial Europe, unlike the extended families in Africa and Asia. * Common people married late! * Marriage was delayed so couples could support themselves economically. * Land was main source of income, son had to wait for father to die to inherit land. * There were also laws and community controls to moderate young and impulsive marriages.
Work Away From Home * Both girls and boys learned independence by working away from home as servants, apprentices, and laborers. * Service in another’s family home was the most common job for single girls. * Servant girls worked hard, had little independence, and were in constant danger of sexual exploitation.
Premarital Sex and Community Controls * The evidence suggests a low rate of illegitimate births. * In rural villages there were tight community controls over premarital sex and adultery. * Community controls—a pattern of cooperation and common action which was mobilized by perceived threats to the economic, social, and moral stability of the closely knit community. * Sex was not entered into lightly, and it was generally limited to those contemplating marriage. * Once married, couples generally had several children.
New Patterns of Marriage and Illegitimacy * Illegitimacy Explosion—the result of a break down of late marriages and few births out of wedlock that began occurring in the second half of the 18th century * Fewer young women were abstaining
Extended and Nuclear Families * Extended Family * A family that is a big, 3 or 4 generation clan headed by a matriarch or a patriarch and encompassing everyone from the youngest infant to the oldest grandparent. * Nuclear Family * Couples establish their own households when they marry, and they raise their children apart from their parents. * The Nuclear family was the most common kind in preindustrial Europe, unlike the extended families in Africa and Asia. * Common people married late! * Marriage was delayed so couples could support themselves economically. * Land was main source of income, son had to wait for father to die to inherit land. * There were also laws and community controls to moderate young and impulsive marriages.
Work Away From Home * Both girls and boys learned independence by working away from home as servants, apprentices, and laborers. * Service in another’s family home was the most common job for single girls. * Servant girls worked hard, had little independence, and were in constant danger of sexual exploitation.
Premarital Sex and Community Controls * The evidence suggests a low rate of illegitimate births. * In rural villages there were tight community controls over premarital sex and adultery. * Community controls—a pattern of cooperation and common action which was mobilized by perceived threats to the economic, social, and moral stability of the closely knit community. * Sex was not entered into lightly, and it was generally limited to those contemplating marriage. * Once married, couples generally had several children.
New Patterns of Marriage and Illegitimacy * Illegitimacy Explosion—the result of a break down of late marriages and few births out of wedlock that began occurring in the second half of the 18th century * Fewer young women were abstaining