The Emergence of the Modern Nuclear Family

Britain – Changes in Family Life and the Quest for Personal Freedoms, 1918-60

In this course, Dr Jacqui Turner (University of Reading) explores changes in family life and the quest for personal freedoms from 1918-60. In the first lecture, we think about the emergence of the modern nuclear family. Next, we think about the welfare and politics of the family. In the third and final lecture, we think about the influences of the Second World War and post-war reconstruction on the family.

The Emergence of the Modern Nuclear Family

In this lecture, we think about the emergence of the modern nuclear family, focusing in particular on: (i) the socioeconomic importance of the concept of the family in Britain, in particular around property and inheritance; (ii) the middle class ideal of the family, often unattainable or undesirable for working class people; (iii) the typical UK middle class family structure by the start of the 20th century being nuclear and self-sufficient, with key differences in aristocratic and working class families; (iv) common living conditions for working class families, including tenements, tightly-packed terraced houses, or with lodgers/extended family members in their homes; (v) Queen Victoria’s commitment to family values reflecting her desire to recover the image of the royal family, after the number of ‘illegitimate’ children fathered by her uncles; (vi) Prince Albert’s role as the driving force behind the communication of traditional family values; (vii) Philippe Ariès’ notation of childhood as a distinct period of life in Western society; (viii) the implementation of legislation to make schooling compulsory, to ensure that all children had access to it; (ix) the involvement of the government in improving the leisure opportunities, wellbeing and health of children, alongside their education; (x) the introduction of the Family Allowances Act of 1945, which brought in family allowance payments; (xi) some of the negative outcomes of the recognition of childhood being a focus on stopping ‘undesirable’ people from having children (eugenics) and a focus on producing obedient children (behaviourism); (xii) examples of gender stereotypes that permeated from the Victorian period into the beginning of the 20th century; (xiii) a key focus of 19th century feminism being the demand for married women’s property rights; (xiv) an extension of this feminist focus being the revocation of coverture, which considered a married woman to be under her husband’s protection and authority; (xv) the Married Women’s Property Act of 1882, which overturned coverture and recognised married women as individuals; (xvi) two key outcomes of women’s war work during the First World War being their experience of receiving an independent wage, and women of all classes paying their taxes; (xvii) the impact of the Representation of the People Act of 1918, which gave women over 30 who met minimum property qualifications the vote, on newcoming policies aimed at gaining the support of women; (xviii) the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act of 1919, which made it illegal to discriminate against women based on sex or marital status in certain professions; (xix) changes to women’s fashion and activities, as well as occupations, in the interwar period; (xx) the term ‘flapper’, used by anti-suffrage groups to criticise the new vision of the modern woman; (xxi) Marie Stopes’ first birth control clinic, opening in 1921, which she believed would help reduce poverty; (xxii) the mixed responses from both women and men to the concept of the ‘new woman’.