Patrician Society, Plebeian Culture, by E.P. Thompson. Journal of Social History, Vol 7 #4, Summer 1974

sez says: EP Thompson is one of my heroes--an historian who really makes sense of the world and who never ceased to fascinate me. This article is about how "the classes" communicated their power and opposition to power (going both ways) via not verbal means. He talks about the "theater' of the ruling class the garb/literally the clothing worn by those who administer justice. He talks about the actions of crowds to accomplish precise ends.  He say paternalism fell apart--the upper class did not deliver --the church abandon the project in favor of indulging in the high life with the ruling class. So the working class established there own traditions and means for 'expressing' their desired --they were 'unruly' ie they were not easy to rule. There are too many examples give to even know where to start talking about any of them ,. If you are interested in this sort of thing this is a great intro. Recommended!

RECENT WORK ON THE HISTORY OF THE FAMILY: A Review Article, by Barbara Harris

Published in Feminist Studies, 1976


summary: Harris takes Christoper Lasch to task for trying to fit the available information on the history of family structure into a new overarching  theory to explain changes. She agrees with Lasch that the standard theory, that is that 'modernization' was the impetus  for the change from the extend family to the nuclear family, is inadequate. She points out convincingly that there is not enough information in general -- and the information that is availabe is contradictory. But where she disagrees with  Lasch's is in his trying to substitute another theory for the old one.