SOCIAL CONTROL AND FAMILY FUNCTION 701 



acteristic of the family survives. From the infancy of the human 

 race, in the light of our fullest knowledge, monogamy appears as the 

 prevailing type of sexual life. Under diverse conditions, religious, 

 economic, or social, there have been many aberrations from that 

 type; but, at first for biological or economic and later for ethical or 

 spiritual reasons, always the tendency has been toward a more 

 clearly differentiated form of the single pairing family. Among all 

 peoples, whether Christian, Jew, or Gentile, the highest ideal of 

 marriage is that of lifelong partnership. 



On the other hand, under the twofold leveling process, the inter- 

 relations of the members of the family group are being gradually 

 transformed. The patriarchal authority of the house-father is 

 crumbling, although here and there it is still sustained by the 

 relics of medieval tradition. The wife is declining to pass into 

 the husband's hand, in manu viri, but physically and spiritually 

 she is more and more insisting on becoming an equal member of the 

 connubial partnership. Not only are sons and daughters legally 

 emancipated at a reasonable age; but during nonage, in the most 

 enlightened households, their individuality is being recognized in a 

 way which would have shocked social sentiment a few generations 

 ago. Young boys and even young girls show a tendency to cut the 

 parental moorings and embark in affairs for themselves. The busi- 

 ness precocity of the American youth is notorious. Moreover, the 

 state in the interest of the larger social body is attacking the ancient 

 constitution of the household. It is taking a hand in the rearing of 

 the young. Through educational requirements, factory laws, and 

 other child-saving devices it is invading the ancient domain of the 

 parent. Little by little, to use the generalization of Dr. Commons, 

 the original " coercive " powers of the family under the patriarchal 

 regime have been " extracted " and appropriated by society. Thus 

 the family becomes " less a coercive institution, where the children 

 serve their parents, and more a spiritual and psychic association of 

 parent and child based on persuasion." The state, the " peculiar 

 coercive institution," he declares, in the interest of children's rights 

 has " annexed " a large part of the patria potestas; and " all families 

 are thereby toned up to a stronger emphasis on persuasion as the 

 justification of their continuance." * In fact the leveling tendency 

 just considered, instead of being a serious menace to the family, is 

 probably a regenerative force. The question is, may the old legal 

 patriarchal bonds be adequately replaced by spiritual ties, and thus 

 a nobler type of domestic life be produced? 



In more sinister ways the solidarity of the family appears to be 

 menaced through the individualism fostered by our economic and 



1 Commons, "The Family," in his Sociological View of Sovereignty, Ameri- 

 can Journal of Sociology, v, 683 ff., 688-689. 



