Introduction to special issue: contradictory interests of offspring and parents, 1500–2000

Abstract

Conflicts between parents and offspring at home are not a popular issue, at least not in the field of the history of the family. Nevertheless do they occur and it might be rewarding to study these phenomena, although historical sources are scarce. They can be an expression of more general social tensions and they might provoke social changes. This Special Issue presents four contributions in which the central focus is about tensions between parents and grown-up offspring that is still at home. Three topics will be dealt with: marriage, earnings of children working elsewhere, and the threat of leaving home. Factors that seem to affect the balance of interests between parents and offspring include parental power, family needs, public authority and interests taken by children in the outside world.

Keywords:

• Offspring
• Children
• Parents
• Generational conflict
• Parental power
• Family needs
• Marriage
• Earnings of working children
• Leaving home