Illegitimacy in the Caribbean Social Structure

reports rather than systematic evidence, and therefore are more likely to concentrate on sensational family disruptions than ordinary uniformities.33 Aside from the shortcomings of these earlier studies, there are some investigations which provide positive support for the hypothesis suggested in this paper.34 Yet there are some major limitations in the present inquiry which must be dealt with before the findings can be fully accepted. A more adequate sample is necessary than the present one, in which individuals on the bottom of the occupational ladder-unskilled laborers-are not adequately represented. It could well be argued that upward mobility from this group would provide evidence supporting Parsons' hypothesis. However, it should be noted that the proportion of the labor force in this category has greatly declined during the last fifty years and that unskilled workers are likely to disappear as a significant factor in urban life under the twin pressures of automation and bureaucratization. This study is also limited by the fact that there are no data on people over 45 or those without children; there might be significant differences within these two groups.35 Even more important, additional work should be done on the indexes of extended family relation, occupational mobility, and the differentiation between bureaucratic and nonbureaucratic occupations if the hypothesis suggested in this paper is to be substantiated. Despite these limitations, it is concluded that the hypothesis of a negative relation between occupational mobility and the extended family is not sufficiently established to support future research by itself. That part of Parsons' hypothesis which points to the functional inadequacy of the classical extended family is accepted, but that part which posits the isolated nuclear family as the most functional type for contemporary industrial society is rejected. It is hoped that the present modification and elaboration of Parsons' formulations will provide some additional understanding or raise significant questions about the relation between the family and the occupational system.36