AND PHYLLIS E, HUFFMAN, Western Reserve UmversttyTHE PROBLEM 1 HIS PAPER IS concerned with current ways of thinking, or ideologtcal orientatwns, regarding family structure and functioning These orientations can be labeled and grouped in many ways, none of which will do full justice to their individual distinctiveness In the present study they are placed along an autocratic-democratic continuum The autocratic extreme is represented by various forms of "traditional family ldeolc^jy"-^viewpoints which involve an hierarchical conception of familial relationships, emphasis on discipline in child-rearing, sharp dichotomization of sex roles, and the like The democratic orientations tend to decentralize authonty within the family, to seek greater equality m husband-wife and parent-child relationships, and to maximize individual self-determination The terms "democratic" and "autocratic" refer not to a simple dichotomy but to antipodes of a broad and internally complex continuum Moreover, there are important qualitative variations within each ideological camp and there are numerous "intermediate" positions The present study focuses only on certain gross differences between the two extreme positions and is therefore only a first step in the analysis of the total continuum This study has one technological and several theoretical aims The former involves the construction of a device-the Traditional Family Ideology (TFI) Scale-^for assessing an individual's position on the democratic-autocratic continuum The theoretical aims ln-'The initial research was earned out by the authors at Western Reserve University m 1949/1950 The present paper is a revision of an earlier report and contains additional data obtained at the Laboratory of Social Relations, Harvard University The study was facilitated by a grant from the Laboratory of Social Relations