FAMILY

The family is one of a number of basic social institutions that have been subjected to scientific study and affected by changes in science and technology. Because of the fundamental role the family plays in socialization, including the inculcation of moral behavior and ethical attitudes, it merits consideration in relation to science, technology, and ethics.

Throughout human history there has been a strong relationship between the family and technology. That relationship can be understood by tracing the successive technological revolutions that began with hunting and gathering societies and the discovery and use of tools and progressed through a series of technological societies, such as horticultural, agricultural, industrial, and postindustrial societies (Ribeiro 1968). Each successive step has altered ways of thinking and doing things by human beings, and this progression has been made possible primarily by new means of environmental adaptation. In the past families provided the organizational structure needed to develop tools and techniques to meet basic human needs, and this has continued in many ways into the present.

Defining the Family

A family may be defined as a group of people linked by descent. However, because descent can be understood in biological or nonbiological terms and is subject to narrow or broad interpretations, the scientific study of the family has led to the recognition of a number of basic distinctions. Indeed, the family has taken different forms throughout history and across cultures, related to diverse functions. In hunting and gathering and horticultural societies the kin group performed all religious, economic, and political functions. Kinship groups were broad enough to include relationships with almost everyone with whom a person interacted (Radcliff-Brown 1930). The kin group remained the major socializing agent, and the production and consumption of material goods continued to be centered in the family.

With the advent of agrarian families inheritance of property, primarily along male lines, became a central concern. The evidence from several studies (Gough 1971) indicates that because of land ownership and a more settled way of life the power of males increased (compared with the situation in hunting societies) at the expense of females. In agrarian families parents had considerable control over their children. However, agrarian families still were concerned about alliances with immediate and distant relatives. Those alliances are known as the extended family.

Industrialization brought the rise of the conjugal family unit. The nuclear family was becoming less embedded in the extended family, bringing a host of changes (Goode 1963). The major changes, according to William J. Goode, included social mobility, specialization, and geographic mobility. The family was no longer economically a producing unit, but its function as a consuming unit was heightened. In addition, many functions were outsourced from the family unit, resulting in greater dependence on the larger society.

The relationship between families and society thus has undergone major changes throughout history. In hunting societies institutions such as the economy and religion were embedded in kin groups. In agricultural society various institutions still were embedded in the extended family, although some institutional differentiation started to appear. In industrial society, disembedding reached a peak and the nuclear family became one of the many institutions that served individuals.

These distinctions are especially important in understanding interactions among families, science, and technology in relation to three social functions: producing and consuming material goods, information technology, and human reproduction.

Producing and Consuming Material Goods

The earliest families used hunting and gathering as their modes of production. Family members were producers of food for sustenance, and most tools were associated with the basic activities of survival: spear and bow and arrow for hunting, stone ax for skinning animals to make clothing, and basketry for food gathering. Hunting tools were made from stone, bone, and wood. Hunting and gathering societies were small and migrated frequently. In the family gender roles were defined clearly: Men had a monopoly on hunting, and women gathered food and raised children. In addition, men, being physically stronger, were expected to defend the tribe, thus accumulating more decision-making power. Once those gender roles became traditional, they were considered not only practical but "natural." Some scholars believe that this is where sexism or gender superiority began, although not in as pronounced a form as was to occur later.

Families continued to be producers of food in horticultural societies. Horticultural societies, a precursor of agricultural societies, were based on hoe agriculture: small-scale farming using a hoe and a digging stick. Some copper tools and sickles made from clay fired at a high temperature also were used. Horticulture allowed populations to settle and provided some permanence in people's lives, something that had not been possible in foraging societies.

Simple horticultural societies gave way to agrarian societies around 3000 b.c.e. The family remained the primary producer, but agriculture provided the means to move from an existence that was dependent on what was given by nature to one of active participation, utilizing the environment to enhance the potential for a better life. One of the most important innovations in that period was the introduction of plow cultivation, which Gudmund Hatt (1961, p. 218) has called "the prerequisite of civilization." Animals were used to pull a plow. With the introduction of iron, superior plows, weapons, and tools were produced. Male dominance increased because agrarian tasks required greater strength and more intensive labor. Women's status declined further because of economic dependence, which was a result of a lack of direct contribution to the economic activities required in large-scale agriculture.

Families in industrial societies lost many of their production functions and became little more than a source of labor. Gerhard Lenski and Jean Lenski (1987) divided the Industrial Revolution into four phases on the basis of technological innovation. The first phase (1760–1850) began in England with major developments in the textile, iron, and coal industries. The second phase (1850–1900) saw expansion throughout most of Europe and North America. The steam engine was adapted for transportation by railroads and steamships. Agricultural production increased with the use of new kinds of machines and chemical fertilizers. Family ownership of companies began to give way to corporations, and the number of industrial workers increased substantially.

The third phase (1900–1940) was characterized by major advances in energy technology. The use of automobiles increased in most industrialized countries, and with it the demand for petroleum. Most homes were electrified and were connected to others by telephones. The fourth phase (1940–1970) saw major changes in the aviation industry spurred by World War II. The war economy also saw the expansion or development of nuclear power, plastics, and aluminum. Entertainment industries such as television, radio, and films experienced tremendous growth. The industrial sector became automated, and the nature of labor changed considerably. The most important innovation in this phase was the development of electronic computers.

All this technological innovation had a substantial impact on the structure and functions of the family. Home and work were separated. Family members—mostly men—had to work outside the home to purchase goods and services. In the early phase of industrialization the status of women reached its lowest point because women had no role in the economy outside the family. However, that changed after World War II as women entered the workplace in increasing numbers. By contrast, children had to wait longer to enter into the labor market because industrial economies required specialized skills. Hence, their economic dependence on parents increased compared with that of their counterparts in agricultural economies.

Information Technology and the Family

The concept of a "postindustrial society," as developed by Daniel Bell (1973), refers to a new mode of technological and economic production that is based increasingly on information and services. Information technology (IT) has revolutionized almost all aspects of human life.

Although its effects on families vary, family members tend to use IT as often in managing home life as in regulating work-home relationships. Pagers, faxes, cell phones, telephone answering systems, and computers are used to keep track of children, spouses, and other family members. Paging children to find out if they have arrived home safely from school demonstrates parental responsibility. E-mail and cell phones keep family members in constant contact. In addition, family members use answering machines, cell phones, and palm pilots to coordinate complex household schedules. However, not every effect of the use of IT has been positive. The colonization of home time by work is one obvious negative. The technical ability to work from home has blurred the distinction between workplace and family life.

Human Reproduction

Technology also has altered human reproduction, initially by means of birth control. Artificial contraception has disembedded conception from sexual intercourse and made fertility dependent on personal decisions. At the same time, with the growth of genetic research infertile couples now have many options for having a child through assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs). Among the many types of ARTs, artificial insemination is the most common.

The other commonly used procedure is known as in vitro fertilization (IVF), in which a woman's eggs are removed surgically and placed in a petri dish with sperm from her husband or a donor. One or more fertilized eggs then can be implanted directly into the woman's uterus. Sometimes extra fertilized eggs are frozen for possible later use. Surrogate pregnancy is available for women who cannot bear children.

Ethical Considerations

Science and technology not only have altered family life, they have generated fundamental ethical questions. The most controversial are associated with reproductive technology.

Are new technologies redefining previously held notions of family, parent, mother, and father? In embryo transplantation a fertilized egg from a female donor is implanted into an infertile woman. The developing embryos may be tested for genetic abnormalities before implantation. Critics (Benokraitis 2002) have raised concerns about parental rights to reject imperfect fetuses and create "designer babies." In 1999 a wealthy couple placed an ad in the newspapers of universities such as Harvard, Princeton, and Stanford, offering $50,000 for the eggs of a woman who was intelligent (SAT score 1,400 and higher), athletic, and tall. More than 200 college women responded to the advertisement (Weiss 2000). The implications are that rich people can "manufacture" babies and women who are in debt may offer their bodies.

A surrogate mother may decide to keep the baby. In 1987, in the celebrated "Baby M" case, Mary Beth Whitehead was artificially inseminated with the sperm of William Stern. Although Whitehead signed a surrogate contract with Stern, she changed her mind and turned down the $10,000 she had contracted to receive. She lost the case, but the court granted her visitation rights. Many critics who object to surrogacy argue that it exploits poor women because rich couples can afford to "rent a womb" (Benokraitis 2002).

Barbara Rothman raises a larger question in regard to motherhood: Should it always be defined in biological terms? Her answer is no. For Rothman, "Every woman is the mother of the child she bears, regardless of the source of the sperm and regardless of the source of the egg. The law must come to such an explicit recognition of the maternity relationship" (Rothman 1994, p. 201). In another situation surrogacy raised a complicated question of kinship. In 1991 Annette Schwartz served as a surrogate for her daughter, Christa, and gave birth to twins who became Christa's legal children. What kinship term should be applied to the relationship between the twins and Schwartz (Benokraitis 2002)?

Questions also arise about the impact of IT on the family. Information technology has had many unintended consequences. The issues of privacy and security breaches have become a major problem in most advanced countries. For instance, users of cellular phones can have their location tracked and hackers can get into family computers and remove private information. Parents can use IT to keep track of their children.

Does IT create stronger social relationships or distract people because it does not promote face-to-face relationships? Harold Rheingold (1993) and Sherry Turkle (1995) argue that computers and telephones provide emotional support and a sense of belonging. However, skeptics such as Mark Slouka (1995) and Clifford Stoll (1995) think that online relationships are narrow and lacking in quality. Those relationships are also manipulative because making affiliations in an electronic medium teeming with strangers is dangerous for young people. Moreover, "In the office, in their cars, and in their houses, the demands of work come pouring in. Work is so pervasive that conventional boundaries between work and home have all but collapsed" (Rheingold 2002, p. 191).

The fact that the use of technology is never neutral is demonstrated clearly by its impact on the family. Technology has been considered the hallmark of civilization; it has enabled humans to overcome the inertia and entropy of a harsh physical environment. However, dependence on technology has created cultural disorder as well, calling forth ethical reflection and responses.

MURLI M. SINHA

SEE ALSO Education;Eugenics;Feminist Perspectives;Genetic Counseling;In Vitro Fertilization and Genetic Screening;Natural Law;Psychology.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bell, Daniel. (1973). The Coming of Post-Industrial Society. New York: Basic Books. Deals with changes in social structure and the influence of science and technology and society and polity.

Benokraitis, Nijole V. (2002). Marriages and Families: Changes, Choices, and Constraints. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall. A comprehensive analysis of major issues facing families in the twenty-first century.

Goode, William J. (1963). World Revolution and Family Pattern. New York: Free Press. Deals with the Industrial Revolution and how it was associated with predictable changes in family patterns.

Gough, Kathleen E. (1971). "The Origin of the Family." Journal of Marriage and the Family 33: 760–770. Traces the evolution of the family in various cultures.

Hatt, Gudmund. (1961). "Farming of Non-European People." In Plough and Pasture: The Early History of Farming, ed. E. Cecil Curwen and Gudmund Hart. New York: Collier. Studies the history of farming in various cultures.

Lenski, Gerhard, and Jean Lenski. (1987). Human Societies: An Introduction to Macrosociology. New York: McGraw-Hill. Attempts to classify human societies from hunting and gathering to industrial societies.

Radcliff-Brown, A.R. (1930). "The Social Organization of Australian Tribes." Oceania 1: 44–46. The organization of earlier societies in terms of economy, religion, and polity.

Rheingold, Harold. (1993). The Virtual Community: Homesteading on the Electronic Frontier. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley. Examines the social phenomena emerging from the early days of the Internet.

Rheingold, Harold. (2002). Smart Mobs. New York: Basic Books. Studies the impact of mobile communication technology and how people use it.

Ribeiro, Darcy. (1968). The Civilization Process. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press. Presents stages of change from earlier society to the present.

Rothman, Barbara. (1994). "Artificial Means of Production and Our Understanding of the Family." In Contemporary Issues in Bioethics, ed. Tom Beauchamp and LeRoy Walters. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. How technology has changed the reproductive system.

Slouka, Mark. (1995). War of the Worlds: Cyberspace and the High Tech Assault on Reality. New York: Basic Books.

Stoll, Clifford. (1995). Silicon Snake Oil: Second Thoughts on the Information Highway. New York: Doubleday

Turkle, Sherry. (1995). Life on the Screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Weiss, R. (2000). "Limited Pay for Egg Donors Advised." Washington Post, August 4.