Abstract
IN what sense is it right to speak of the history of the family? As an institution it occupies so central a position in the social structure that it may well seem fundamental. Should we write a history of stellar motion so long as. the component forces determining it are constant? Are the forces which find expression in the family constant? Can it be said to have a history? The institutions surrounding the family vary from one age to another, and from people to people. Marriage ceremonials, customs in such matters as dowries, settlements, and other marriage contracts, are not uniform. The rights of parents over their children, of husbands over their wives, differ in a similar way. But can these differences be brought into any general historical scheme, or are they local variations brought about by economic and ideal forces acting upon an institution the essential nature of which has never altered?
The History of the Family as a Social and Educational Institution.
By Prof. W. Goodsell. Pp. xiv + 588 pp. (New York: The Macmillan Co.; London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1915.) Price 8s. 6d. net.
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GREEN, J. The History of the Family as a Social and Educational Institution . Nature 97, 477 (1916). https://doi.org/10.1038/097477a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/097477a0