Household composition and economic change in a rural community, 1900–1980: testing two models

Abstract

Historical changes in the composition of households in Western society have largely been analyzed without reference to social theory. Two empirically‐based theoretical models of changing household composition have recently been presented; the first predicts change as a result of class conflict in the development of a capitalist economy, and the other predicts change as the result of adaptation to changes in a community's level of economic diversification. Using data from a rural U.S. community, both models are tested to evaluate their relative explanatory power. [household structure, social change, social organization, cultural ecology, rural United States]