This volume is the printed version of a survey carried out in conjunction with a B.B.C. series called "The changing world" which was broadcast in 1932. Four of the talks were monologues by Beveridge (The changing family, The family and the population question, Nature and nurture and The enduring family: a first impression of the returns). The others were dialogues: Hugh Dalton and Eleanor Barton (of the Women's Co-operative Guild) on The economics of family life; Beveridge and Morris Ginsberg on The family as a social group; and, Beveridge and Jennie Laurel Adamson on Some problems for solution. The talks were part of an attempt by the BBC to collect information from listeners which would be useful for social scientists. The BBC would arrange the talks and distribute/collect the forms and the LSE would analyse the forms.