Changing patterns of hierarchy within Swedish stepfamilies in the late 1700s
During the early modern period Swedish society was structured by a variety of hierarchies, and the principle of filial deference, or the obedience and recognition children–young or adult–were expected to show their parents, was more or less absolute. These ideas of family hierarchy influenced marriage laws and the formal rules of who was allowed to marry whom. During the 1700s the number of applic
