As increased access to employment and educational opportunities brought dramatic changes to women's lives, sociologists began to look at the effect of women's changing roles on their children and families. Based on empirical investigations and personal experience, the studies included in the volumes of The Sociology of Gender and the Family set of The International Library of Sociology set out to establish patterns and regularities in social behaviour, and to understand the social roles of kinship groups, mothers, wives, children and the elderly.