Significance: When I travel to Europe or the U.S.A., I'm always shocked at how differently families are in relation to Brazil. Most people in South America, the Middle East and Asia seem to be close to their whole family. We celebrate in dozens of people, can't even count the number of cousins we have, and always come together for special occasion, even if we live far from each other. In the US/Europe, people tend to be close only to their nuclear family, and often don't live in the city they were born. Is the Industrial Revolution a significant factor of that? The people from formerly colonized, rather than imperialist, areas tend to have a stronger connection to their roots, where they came from, who they came from, etc. Could this be a reflection of the shift in family dynamics during the Urban Revolution?
