ABSTRACT
Two main paradigms encompass social change and the family (Ismael 1979). The first perspective is functionalist and is epitomized by the works of Ogburn (1955) and Goode (1963). The second is Marxist which did not become active until the late 1970s. The former model emphasizes the waning of the extended family under industrialization. However, it is largely ahistorical; it only traces vague links between internal family processes and the external world of experience. The latter model has only recendy begun to explore the systematic linkages between the mode of production and labor as categories of family analysis. Schneider and Schneider (1984) illustrate its approach in their study of a Sicilian rural town.
