The Developmental Paradigm, Reading History Sideways, and Family Change

Bibliographic Data

ID5771296
AuthorsArland Thornton (0000-0002-1607-2047, Survey Research Center, Population Studies Center, and Department of Sociology, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, corresponding author)
Year2001
Volume38
Issue4
Pages449-465
Publication date2001-11-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueDemography (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0070-3370 • E-ISSN: 1533-7790
PublisherSpringer Science+Business Media (PUBLISHER • DE)
DOI10.1353/dem.2001.0039
PMID11723944
OpenAlexW2031727718
LanguageEN
Citations received203
References cited116

The developmental paradigm, reading history sideways, and cross-cultural data have converged to exert a profound influence on social scientists and ordinary people. Through the use of these tools, social scientists of the 1700s and 1800s concluded that family patterns in northwest Europe had undergone many substantial changes before the early 1800s. These conclusions were accepted until the last several decades of the 1900s, when almost all were seriously challenged; many were declared to be myths. Further, the developmental paradigm, reading history sideways, and the conclusions of generations of social scientists created a package of ideas—developmental idealism—that subsequently became a powerful influence for family change in many parts of the world during the past two centuries. This developmental idealism has been a substantial force for changing living arrangements, marriage, divorce, gender relations, intergenerational relationships, and fertility

Early Childhood Education and Development · Family Dynamics and Relationships · Gender, Labor, and Family Dynamics · Rural development and sustainability

Tools

Open DOISci-HubOpen Access