- pre IR, extended family norm
- based on romantic love, mutual appreciation, prolonged childhood
- William Goode: IR migration to urban centres
- women forced to work, affected fertility, size of family
- woman’s status in nuclear family became equivalent to man
- modern nuclear family glorifies individualism & utilitarianism
- however, there is greater threat to disintegration to family from within
- weak foundations, lack of mutual dependence, gap between achievement & expectation suspicion, violence, divorce, children running away
- emerging live in relationships, single parent family etc
- focus of sociologists changing from studying family to household
- changing nature of sexuality, marriage, family