Book Review: From Cottage to Work Station: the Familys Search for Social Harmony in the Industrial Age by Allan C. Carlson
(San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1993) $12.95 softcover
Mr. Carlson's thesis in this very interesting book is that the traditonal economic functions of the family, functions that had endured for thousands of years in Europe and its colonies in the new world, have been undermined by both the industrial revolution and the resulting factory system, and the intrusive efforts of modern governments meddling with marriage, the family and children.
This book is full of fascinating and little-known facts. How many know, for example, that Frederick Engels, Karl Marx's collaborator, eloquently argued that the proper place of the married woman was at home, caring for her children, or that the prohibition of sex discrimination in employment was added to the 1964 Civil Rights Act on the House floor by a segregationist Virginia congressman who apparently was trying to kill the bill or at least hinder its effects in ending discrimination against Blacks? While narrating all these interesting matters, Carlson presents a kind of history of the attempts of labor organizations, industrialists, economists, religious leaders, governments and others to respond to the problems created for the first time by industrialized society: How can a man be guaranteed enough money for his work so that his family can live in a manner befitting its human dignity without forcing his wife and children to work for pay outside the home. At various times and places these responses have included special villages established for workers and their familier; demands for a living wage; the family wage system, whether sponsored by governments or industrialists; refusing to employ married women whose husbands worked; various tax arrangements and other plans.
Later chapters, however, chronicle the demise of these multiform schemes to help the family. Carlson well understands that capitalism and feminism, though some naive people consider them enemies, are in reality allies in creating a new world of rootless, competitive individuals, devoid of attachment to spouse or children. Here are chapters on the changing role of religion, the military family and the home economics establishment.
After recounting these various efforts to save the family, Carlson makes it clear in his final chapter that he believes that the loss of the economic basis for family life in the separation of work from home is just as important, perhaps more so, than anti-family and anti-child philosophies in bringing about the decline of the family. The author does not consider that even strong religious belief can in the long run provide a stable basis for family life if the economic basis is lacking. Thus the strong and large Catholic family, especially of the 1945-1968 period, was made possible by an unusual set of circumstances, unlikely to be repeated.
I do have criticisms of the book, however: First, Mr. Carlson does not develop sufficiently several of the themes he states in his first and last chapters. For example, he avers that the Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the amendment that reserves certain unspecified powers to the several states and to the people, was to be a "primary bulwark against social experimentation" by the federal government. Yet he does not carry this analysis through, by trying to show that as state governmental power was eroded, this "social experimentation" increased. Indeed, to this reviewer, this reliance on state power seems misplaced, since it was against the attempts of individual states to outlaw private schools that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the 1920s in favor of such schools and of parental rights (a case Carlson does not mention); moreover, many of the examples he does include of governmental attacks on parents' rights, such as reform schools (p. 18) and compulsory education (pp. 19-20), were done precisely by state governments. Every home schooler knows that it is not just the "distant" federal government, but the presumably "nearer" state governments, that pose a threat to family freedoms.
Moreover, though I would agree with Carlson that the family's economic role is normally necessary, or at least very helpful, to its survival as a strong institution, I think he could have done more to show why this is true. Perhaps a sketch of a healthy society, in which the family did have such a function would have been helpful.
Lastly, Carlson's attitude toward the role of government seems to this reviewer to be in need of refinement. He rightly attacks the anti-family acts of the contemporary U.S. government, and of state governments since the mid 19th century, but he seems to be lacking any thought-out concept of what exactly the government should do, especially since he realizes that capitalism is also anti-family. But who today can protect the family against economic forces if not, at least in part, the government? It is true that in a healthy society, various mutual and cooperative groups, such as guilds, farmers's associations and others, would both regulate the economy, guard against governmental excesses and protect the family and local institutions. Not only are we nowhere near such a happy state, but Carlson does not even adumbrate such an arrangement, only cautioning against reliance upon the State, without saying what can protect the family against the ravages of capitalism under present circumstances.
I am sure this book will be eagerly read by those interested in the social history of the last two hundred years and its effects on the family, but those seeking a theory of the proper relations of the family, the economy and the government will have to go elsewhere.
