Modernization and the Family: A Theoretical Analysis

Abstract

Modernization theory argues that familism entails a traditional or parochial orientation that inhibits economic progress. Informed by critiques of this approach by dependency and world-system theorists and drawing on a case study of Italian immigrants to Louisiana at the turn of the twentieth century, this study argues that familism can be a progressive force which facilitates economic accumulation and upward mobility under certain social conditions. This theoretical analysis also calls into question characterizations of the family as primarily a unit of consumption in modern society. Here the role of the family as a production unit is examined and three types of familial cooperation are identified. In addition, some conditions under which familism can promote economic accumulation are discussed. It is argued that traditional sociological theories of the family failed to take into account this progressive role of familism because these theories tended to ignore the experiences of minority groups in their conceptual schemes.