Beyond the Family is an Australian Research Council Discovery Project investigating fragmented families and household dynamics in England, circa 1400-1830.

The project will present new research on medieval and early modern non-nuclear family structures, to provide fresh perspectives on the historical context of the perceived 'breakdown' of nuclear families in modern western-type societies.

Aims and approach

We aim to provide a systematic analysis of the extent, variety and significance of non-nuclear family forms in this period, explore their affective relationships and locate them in European contexts.

Our approach draws on methods from literary textual analysis to statistical demography and we are concerned to recognise and address power differences and contests within domestic groups.

Project team

The Beyond the Family project is based at UWA, where there is a vibrant community of scholars studying medieval and early modern Europe and a strong tradition of interdisciplinary collaboration.

Team members have research expertise in fields as diverse as environmental history, social and legal history, demography, economic history, history of print culture, history of medicine, moral regulation and witchcraft. However, they are united by their common commitment to the history of women and gender, which stimulated their interest in the history of the family.

Chief Investigators

• Winthrop Professor Philippa Maddern
• Dr Pamela Sharpe
• Winthrop Professor Susan Broomhall

Research Fellow

• Dr Stephanie Tarbin

Research questions

The Beyond the Family project is pursuing four main groups of questions.

What was the range of existing non-nuclear family forms?

• What factors led to non-nuclear family forms and how did people reconstitute their families after crises such as poverty or mortality?
• To what extent was the family (kin grouping) coterminous with the household (co-resident groupings)?
• What varieties of household formation were most commonly found at different social / wealth levels; or (after the 1520s) in different religious affiliations; or in urban as opposed to rural groups?
• How did households change over the life-cycle of people in them?

What roles and tasks were households supposed to perform in this period?

• How did prescriptive literature shape the family, and what range of family / community forms did prescriptive literature allow?
• To what extent did the basic tasks of families and households in prescriptive discourses resemble the functions of families as identified by modern social theorists?
• How well could actual families perform these roles?
• To what extent were domestic units able to constitute themselves according to the models proposed by contemporary prescriptive literature?

Where families or households did not provide either basic or developmental functions, what social strategies were employed to provide these functions?

• For example, what provisions were available for the single elderly?
• How were orphans cared for and raised; how far did the community try to recreate a familial environment?
• What were the implications of different strategies for caring for children, such as institutionalisation in hospitals or apprenticeship and service?

How did families and households perceive themselves and what kinds of emotional bonds were characteristic of domestic settings?

• What patterns of relationships existed between household members?
• How was membership in a family or household defined and how did definitions vary in different contexts and by different observers?
• Where were the boundaries between family, household and community perceived to be located?
• What were the sites of particular conflict or strain in domestic life and how (if at all) were these resolved or mediated?

Back to top