... most people of today are living in. Partners share responsibility for decisions that would affect the whole family, and men and women spend more time at home, with men now being involved with the raising of children and household work. Wilmott and Young believe that the family went from segregated to joint conjugal roles due to the female withdrawing from outside relationships with other female kin and neighbours and drawing the husband into the family circle and letting him become more home centred. They argue that the development of the family has occurred because of a process called stratified diffusion. This means that what the middle class do today, the lower class do tomorrow i.e. If the middle class husbands become more involved in housework then the working class husbands will copy and also become more helpful around the house. Wilmott and Young now believe that the family will change once ...

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