Parent-Child Relationships In Early Modern England

There are many profound changes in the politics, economy, culture, ideology, religion and other fields in the transitional period of the United Kingdom, so the United Kingdom experienced the gradual transition from agricultural society to industrial society. In such a society where great changes have happened, the family as the basic cell of society was not changed dramatically accordingly. There is no denying that the changing of the economy transforms the economic functions of the family, but its structure and internal emotions show obviously continual characteristics, especially the relationships between parents and children. In the transitional period, a common trait of United Kingdom is a servant of the community, that is, parents send their children to other homes to be servants and apprentices. The parent-child relationships of this period include parent-child relationship in native families and parent-child relationship in virtual families. The former is the relationship between parents and children in their birth families, whereas the latter is that children live in the host, and the relationship between the children and the owners. The aims of this article are to analyze and research the continual characteristics of parent-child relationships in the both families in the transitional period.In structural, this paper is divided into three main parts:introduction, main body part and conclusion.The introduction part mainly talks about the reasons and topics of this paper, and describes the research overview of United Kingdom families in the transitional period. It also combs the research status of parent-child relationship in United Kingdom family both at home and abroad. Thus it puts forward the main topics this paper mainly discussed. meanwhile it discusses the main research methods and thinking which this paper will adopt.The body part includes four chapters. The first chapter briefly introduces the servants and apprentices of United Kingdom in transitional period from age, number of children leaving home; it analyzes the characteristics of servants. It is a general understanding of social servants and apprentices of United Kingdom in the transitional period.The second chapter introduces the parent-child relationships in native families from the two angles of parent to child and child to parent. The parent-child relationships in native family in the transitional period are influenced more or less by the individual growth. But this impact is very small, and the weakening patriarchal system is not a increased weight of parent-child relationship. On the contrary, parent-child relationship during this period is very deep. more researches focused on bi-directional care between the parent and child and the help each other, especially the loving care that parents opposed on their children and return the children for parents. Compared with the parents’ giving, of course, children’s return is clearly not positively correlated with it, but when the children have the ability to make money, they make every effort to reward parents. What they bring to their parents is not only material assistance but emotionally satisfying. The relationships between parents and children are the most intimate human relationships, and the love of parents for their children is broad and deep.The third chapter describes parent-child relationship in the virtual families, that is, the relationship between master and servant, which includes the relationships both in contract and in reality. Relationship of master and servant in the contract made the rules of the rights and obligations of parent-child relationship in virtual families in written or oral form, which has in reality been practiced. The relationship between material and emotion fully expressed the friendly degree of the virtual parent-child relationship, and these examples mainly from Bristol apprentice’s diary and Chancery case.The fourth chapter does a more rational and fair evaluation on the parent-child relationship of United Kingdom family in transitional period. United Kingdom family in the transitional period experienced the most fundamental change. The problems of young people, family size and misunderstanding of marriage phenomenon brought about by servants and apprentices’presence has caused people’s extensive concern. The continual characteristics of family life, especially in the family parent-child relations, family plays a positive role in social transformation.The conclusion summarizes the full text:in the process which the United Kingdom transforms from traditional agricultural society to modern industrial society in the transitional period, the parent-child relationship of the United Kingdom is not drastically changed, but shows the continual characteristics. The parent-child relationships both in native family and in virtual family in United Kingdom in transitional period and the relationships between families are the universally emotional problems in human development. Some features are never changed, and love and hate exist in all cultures and societies, differing only because of the degree of the each period’s development of civilization and the difference people express their emotional forms and methods.