The German Family (Routledge Revivals): Essays on the Social History of the Family in Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century Germany

Summary

This book surveys the history of the German family in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The contributions deal with the influence of industrialisation on family life in town and country, with rural families and communities under the impact of social and economic change, and with the role and influence of the family in the lives of men and women in the newly-emerged working class.

Research on the history of the family had so far, at the point of this book’s publication in 1981, concentrated on England and France; this book adds an important comparative dimension by extending the discussion into Central Europe and bringing fresh evidence and interpretation to bear on the wider debate about the effects of industrialisation on family structure and family life as a whole. The authors approach the subject from a variety of perspectives, including social anthropology, oral history, economic history and feminist studies.

This book is ideal for students of history, particularly the history of Germany.

Table of Contents

List of Tables;  List of Figures;  Preface;  1. The German Family: A Critical Survey of the Current State of Historical Research Robert Lee  2. Family and Role-division: The Polarisation of Sexual Stereotypes in the Nineteenth Century – an Aspect of the Dissociation of Work and Family Life Karin Hausen  3. Family and ‘Modernisation’: The Peasant Family and Social Change in Nineteenth-century Bavaria Robert Lee  4. Family and Household: Social Structures in a German Village Between the Two World Wars Gerhard Wilke and Kurt Wagner  5. Women, Family and Death: Excess Mortality of Women in Child-bearing Age in Four Communities in Nineteenth-century Germany Arthur E. Imhof  6. The Family Life-cycle: A Study of Factory Workers in Nineteenth-century Wüttemberg Heilwig Schomerus  7. Overcrowding and Family Life: Working-class Families and the Housing Crisis in Late Nineteenth-century Duisburg James H. Jackson  8. Women’s Work and the Family: Women Garment Workers in Berlin and Hamburg Before the First World War Robyn Dasey  9. Politics and the Family: Social Democracy and the Working-class Family in Theory and Practice Before 1914 Richard J. Evans;  Notes on Contributors;  Index