Before industrialization, families served both social and economic purposes. Married couples and their children often worked together in farms or shops. In 18th-century Great Britain, women and men often worked in their homes doing jobs such as spinning wool into textiles and weaving textiles into cloth.

It is not very common for religious individuals to marry individuals from different religious backgrounds. Oftentimes, it would cause conflicts within the relationship.

Industrialization changed the family by converting it from a unit of production into a unit of consumption, causing a decline in fertility and a transformation in the relationship between spouses and between parents and children. This change occurred unevenly and gradually, and varied by social class and occupation.

In short, the extended family was seen to be the major family structure in pre- industrial society because the family was a unit of economic production (that is, people lived and worked within the family group itself).

And because family members are in association with each other, we can tack the word social onto the term system, thereby categorizing families as social systems. These positions are filled by individuals who, in their interaction with other family members, create the structural framework that makes the family a system.

Life generally improved, but the industrial revolution also proved harmful. Pollution increased, working conditions were harmful, and capitalists employed women and young children, making them work long and hard hours. The industrial revolution was a time for change.

Working class family life was significantly changed as a result of industrialization. Families were driven by the need to generate money. As it became evident that working class families could not make appropriate economic realities meet with one wage earner, women and even children ended up working equally long hours.

People began to move into cities to get jobs in industry. It also improved transportation, communication and banking. The Industrial Revolution improved the standards of living for most people, but resulted in tragic living and working conditions for the working class.

The Industrial Revolution brought rapid urbanization or the movement of people to cities. Changes in farming, soaring population growth, and an ever-increasing demand for workers led masses of people to migrate from farms to cities. Almost overnight, small towns around coal or iron mines mushroomed into cities.

Poor workers were often housed in cramped, grossly inadequate quarters. Working conditions were difficult and exposed employees to many risks and dangers, including cramped work areas with poor ventilation, trauma from machinery, toxic exposures to heavy metals, dust, and solvents.