Household and Family in Past Times

by Peter Laslett, R. Wall

This is an extremely important collection of essays in historical social structure. The volume represents the first attempt to examine in historical and comparative terms the general belief that in the past all families were larger than they are today; that the nuclear family of man, wife and children living alone is particularly characteristic of the present time and came into being with the arrival of industry.

623 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1972

About the author

Thomas Peter Ruffell Laslett was an English historian.

Reviews

[Melissa]

Twitter - England unique

[Dinah]

This source addresses the entire early modern period, but in much greater detail than the previous article. Chapter four, "Mean household size in England since the sixteenth century", contains much of the information on servants. This work is soundly based on statistical research, making it easier to follow the steps taken by the author in reaching his conclusions.