La gran transformación de la familia española durante la segunda mitad del siglo XX

Abstract

The transition from the extended family to the nuclear family occurred in Spain before the
fifties, when the model for married life, together with limited and decreasing fertility, imposed
themselves on us. The sixties were decisive for Spanish society, and within it the many changes
occurring in the family had great repercussions, such as the reduction of the average size of the
family, because of the reduction in the birth rate and the exit of other relatives from the home.
As from the eighties, evolution became accentuated and the nuclear family stopped being
almost universal, moving closer to the models prevalent in Europe, while preserving some
characteristics shared with other Mediterranean countries. Besides this, the new transformation
of the family detached itself from the structural parameters that typified the change from
traditional to advanced industrial society, turning into an eminently cultural society, as can be
seen in characteristics such as the increase in the number of children born out of wedlock and of
consensual couples, single-parent families and family tensions arising out of the change in the
status of women in society.
Family planning has become common practice and, although abortion has been legalized
in certain cases, general opinion is against making it freely available. Family relationships are
progressively moving towards equality between spouses and is evident in decision-making and in
helping in the home. Strain in Spanish marriages is relatively low and marital break-up has not
reached the same levels as it has in Europe. As for family policy, the article mentions legal
reforms, both civil and criminal, and the evolution of social protection of the family from 1943
up to the present.