本文的目的是要檢討臺灣農村經濟發展與家族結構的關係。換言之，農村經濟發展是否影響家族結構的改變。筆者根據南投縣竹山鎭社寮的田野調査資料來討論這個問題。
首先，分析社寮的農業經營及農村一般的經濟發展。社寮從日據中葉以來農業開始走上商業化及多角化的經營。光復以後由於政府實施土地改革及四次的四年經濟計劃，農業又開始邁向機械化發展，生產工具不斷地改善，農作物的生產量亦大量的提髙,不過由於農作物的生產成本及地税等過高，而農產品的價袼偏低，致使農業投資失去了合理的收益。加以農家耕地面積日益狹小,促使過剩的農業人口流向都市，尤其是年靑人，只要有一技之長大多被吸收到都市，社寮就有一半以上的年靑人向外遷移。
其次，分析社寮的家族結構。中國的家族結構一向被認爲是家族圑體及財產集中，而家族經濟是一種包容性的經濟。近年來由於農村人口的向外遷移,不僅影響到傳統的農業經營方式，而且導致家族結構的變遷。這種改變並不意味着傳統家族的解組，而是引起家族型態的分歧化，聯邦式家族的出現就是其中的一個例子。它在家族的功能上有漸取代擴展家族成爲中國人心目中最理想的家族型態。此外，‘吃伙頭’現象的消失也是一種家族型態的轉化。雖然‘吃伙頭’在從前相當盛行，近年來却幾已消失。由於農業機械化及農業代耕隊的出現，老年的父母在子女分家之後仍能經營農事，不必依靠兒子輪流供養，結果導致因‘吃伙頭’所產生的條件主幹家族消失，變成一種變形的核心家族或標準的主幹家族。

The purpose of this article is to discuss the relation between economic development and family structure in rural Taiwan. It attempts to explore the idea of whether change in family structure is affected by economic development. We find in the case study of She-liao, that agricultural management became more commercialized and diversified in the middle of Japanese rule. After this period, land reform and several four-year economic development projects were carried out by the government. Farm mechanization began at this time and farm produce saw marked increase. However, agricultural crops did not command a good price in the market. Moreover, land tax and cost of farming were too high. These factors did not provide a margin of profit for agricultural investment. At the same time, the average size of the household’s farm land Was decreased year by year. This situation encouraged the surplus agricultural labor to migrate to the cities.
With this background, the article proceeds to present how the new situation brought about change in the family structure of She liao. In recent years, a great number of people moved out of the farm village. This kind of migration not only affected traditional cultivation but also the family structure itself. It does not mean that change resulted to a disorganized family system but rather, it has introduced an innovation—diversification of family types. The federal family is one of the examples and has become an ideal type to take the place of the traditional extended family.
Although it has been very popular in the past that parents were supported by their sons with rotating system; now, this kind of rotating system has almost been entirely displaced. Due to industrialization of agriculture and the advent of professional cultivation teams, old parents can still manage the farm land even after the division of the family and the departure of the sons to pursue their own ambitions. There is therefore no need to depend on their sons by rotating system to keep the farms going. They can live by themselves or live together with one of their sons. Consequently, this has resulted in the conversion of the conditional stem family into nuclear or standardized family.