Reply to Why do western people have such disregard for family?

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[quote=Anonymous]I think it also is cultural based on what one's ancestors had to do to survive and what social structure the rulers of a country allowed.  In an agrarian society, it was better for all to stay together as farming required the labor.  There was no social security, so what better way to assure care in old age than to teach children to care for their elders and have society consider it honorable.

If they lived in the city, it was better to go off individually.  The woman who wrote a book on her life as a domestic sevant in London in the early 1900's (on which Downton Abbey is based) wrote that even though both her parents worked, as did many parents in the city, they could barely afford to feed their own children.  So, children were sent off as young as their early teens to get jobs as domestic servants in the big houses.  That way they at least got a roof over their heads and food to eat every day plus a small salary. Domestic servants got very little time off; maybe half a day a week. When the children were able to visit family, they had to contribute money since the parents just couldn't afford to feed an extra mouth. Lack of money and the long hours required at work kept families apart, so that social structure promoted individualism.[/quote]

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