| Modernization theory emerged from the experiences of Western industrial nations. It has been applied, sometimes rather blindly, to the non-Western developing world. Understandably, some critics have called for its modification, if not complete abandonment. The most severe attacks on modernization theory have been in the areas of family, politics, and government. Critics have insisted that the Western experience in these areas is rarely repeated in societies that have a non-Christian and nonidentical heritage. In particular, critics believe that the traditional Muslim family persists even in the urban, modernized, and even industrial sectors of the economy. Both the traditional family structure and individual beliefs about the extended family are said to resist the so-called modernization forces experienced in the West.;In short, while modernization theory has general application in Egypt, certain caveats must be recognized. First, the actual level of modernist achieved by men and women varies. Women hold more modern family beliefs than men when equally exposed to modernizing forces. Second, the exposure to modernizing forces varies due to differing patterns of social interaction in communities that vary in their economic development. Third, the manifestations of modernity may be more constrained for men than for women among those reared in traditional Islamic culture.;This dissertation examined the application of modernization theory to the structure and beliefs system of the family in Egypt, a predominantly Muslim society. With the use of survey data, censuses, and historical resources, this dissertation examined family structure and family modernization beliefs in three Egyptian settlements that varied in their level of development. The prevalence and preferences for the conjugal family was strongly associated with urban residences, as well as substantive complexity of occupation of labor force participants. It also showed a strong association to modern family and family beliefs. The data showed that living in a more technologically advanced community exposes the individual to more institutional forces of modernization, and variables related to occupational complexity are just part of modernization influences. Thus, occupational forces in modernization become part of the contextual effect along with the increased structural complexity of the community. |
