Family and Civilization
Script error: No such module "AfC submission catcheck". Family and Civilization is a work by the American sociologist Carle C. Zimmerman on the role of families in the rise and fall of civilizations. The work was published in 1947. Zimmerman examines family structures from tribes and clans to the nuclear family. Zimmerman discusses the suitability of different family models for having and raising children. Zimmerman looks at families in ancient Greece, the Roman Empire, medieval Europe and modern Europe.
Zimmerman's three types of familism[edit]
Zimmerman calls familism family as a social and personal institution.
Zimmerman distinguishes three types of familism: trustee familism, domestic familism and atomistic familism. Trustee familism is associated with the pre-state tribal society, but it also formed the basis of the development of ancient Greece. In Ancient Greece, familism evolved with the growth of the state into domestic familism and eventually into atomistic familism. The phase of atomistic familism culminated in the disintegration of the Greek state and was conquered by populations with more stable and stronger types of familism. Zimmerman shows that this pattern was repeated in the Roman Empire and medieval Europe. Zimmerman shows the close and causal effects of different types of familisms on the rise and fall of civilisations.
The process of transition between different types of familism[edit]
According to Zimmerman, trustee familism and atomistic familism cannot exist in the same society at the same time, because those who practice atomistic familism will be eaten by trustee familism. Domestic familism can exist under the authority of the state. According to Zimmerman, civilization cannot sustain domestic familism for long, as the state grows in size and legislative authority to take over the responsibilities of the family, and the family necessarily diminishes in importance until only a loose collection of individual desires remain. Zimmerman says it is not a question of whether this process will happen, but only a matter of time.
According to Zimmerman, when civilization grows strong and experiences decadence, the family begins to disintegrate. As the family disintegrates, societies with a stronger type of familism (usually of the trustee type) are invaded and replaced by atomistic people who are unable or unwilling to defend their way of life. According to Zimmerman, the pattern is recurrent in history, and there is usually a return from atomistic familism to trustee familism.
The atomism as the road to the sunset of civilisation[edit]
According to Zimmerman, in an atomistic age, family seems indistinguishable and the whole culture takes on an individualistic tone.
The work predicted the later family breakdown experienced in the West, linked to the atomism identified by Zimmerman. Atomism, according to Zimmerman, means that "the atomistic man is the sole unit of society". According to Zimmerman, ancient Greece and the Roman Empire also experienced phases of atomism.[1] According to Zimmerman, the atomistic decadence is reflected in the increased debauchery. The late Roman Empire experienced a dramatic rise in sexually transmitted diseases and a comparable problem was experienced during the Renaissance, when new sexually transmitted diseases became more common and new sexual practices were imported and invented for a growing hedonistic class.
Indicators of transition to atomistic familism[edit]
According to Zimmerman's analysis, the sunset of civilisations is indicated by the following factors, which serve as indicators of the transition to atomistic familism:
- divorces without grounds
- a decrease in the number of children and increased disrespect for parents and parenthood
- the loss of the real meaning of the marriage ceremony
- the proliferation of pessimistic stories about early heroes
- theories of equal marriages (men and women) and the offer of looser unions than marriage as a solution
- older people refusing to follow tradition while other people reject tradition (in Greece and Rome, women refused to stay at home and have children)
- the rise of anti-family sentiment among urban populations and pseudo-intellectuals
- the disappearance of barriers to extramarital sex
- rebellion of young people against parents, making parenthood more difficult
- rapid increase in juvenile delinquency
- general acceptance of sexual perversion of all kinds.[2]
References[edit]
- ↑ https://www.conservativebookclub.com/book/family-and-civilization
- ↑ Carle C. Zimmerman, Family and Civilization (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1947), p. 776-777.
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