Courtney McGrailFamily and Civilization by Carle Zimmerman
ed. and abridged by James Kurth
(Intercollegiate Studies Institute, € 9.91).
Donal Anthony Foley
Family and Civilization, a work by Carle Zimmerman, a sociologist who taught at Harvard University, was originally published in 1947; it is fascinating to see how the author, on the basis of his studies of the family in past civilizations, foresaw the way Western society would evolve in cultural terms, particularly as regards increased levels of violence, the introduction of “easy” divorce, abortion and the acceptance of homosexuality.
The essence of this book concerns the way in which family structure is very closely related to the way civilizations rise and fall, and Zimmerman focuses particularly on the Greek and Roman civilizations, and on the West from medieval times onwards.
He also demonstrates how family structures have changed over time from those based on tribes and clans – which he describes as “Trustee” families – to more extended nuclear families, and then to the type of nuclear family we are more familiar with, i.e. father, mother and children in one family unit.
What generally follows after this is the sort of “broken” family which is now so prevalent in Western society, and which is a clear indicator of a civilization facing serious decline if not collapse. Thus, this is not just an academic thesis, and the author clearly shows that changes in family structure have very profound consequences for the civilization in question.
Zimmerman notes how from the Reformation onwards, with the rise of the secular state, the traditional view of marriage as a solemn vow made before God was opposed by the idea of marriage as a private contract which could be dissolved.
This principle was put into practice during the French Revolution, and more particularly following the Russian Revolution, when in the 1920s, either party could gain a divorce at will.
This approach has now been extended to the Western World in general, and we are now living in the period of what the author calls the “atomistic family,” that is a structure in which the individual is freed from many previous family bonds, and the State has increased power over the family.
Zimmerman argues that an atomistic family structure is characterized by a decay in general morality, an acceptance of adultery and divorce, and of artificial birth control, and what he describes as the “rise of sexual abnormalities.”
Writing in 1947, he said, “the western world has entered a period of demoralization comparable to the periods when both Greece and Rome turned from growth to decay.”
Zimmerman particularly focuses on the way that the normal family is the “greatest single factor in cultural integration” in any society, and that childbearing is an essential part of the role of the family in maintaining a healthy society.
He also associates the domestic family with belief in a divinity and a moral code, whereas “periods of atomism of the family are always periods of disbelief in that one god”.
This book is essential reading for anyone interested in understanding why the domestic family is so important, and who looks to maintain the status and indeed existence of such families.