In France as elsewere, the 1970`s were years of animated discussions
confronting family historians and demographers, in whose light were evidenced :
1) the weight of the various demographic parameters as
factors shaping the household forms,
2) the specificities of urban families and
3) the need to consider intergenerational family
behaviour on the long term.
These are three main points I shall consider in the present
presentation. But intergenerational family behaviour, the last of these points, gained
importance in these last decades, owing to the contribution of historical anthropology.
The research previously focused on households was very often transferred to the ``house``
itself, with a stong comparative linkage to non-European societies, emphasizing the
transmission processes of assets and power on the household as economic and social unit,
or analysing the specific role of children according to birth order, sex and skills. There
is thus a general tendency, with interdisciplinary studies, to enlarge inquiries about
family studies. The concern is not only family formation patterns but models of rupture
and recomposition.
