ave remained
aloof from the Hungarian-Romanian issue in Transylvania. As a whole,
Germans have remained to themselves in their own communities and have
made little effort to integrate into the national society. This has
engendered some resentment on the part of Romanians but no real
hostility.

Historically, the relations between Jews and other Romanians have been
fraught with suspicion and resentment, which found expression in
occasional outbursts of anti-Semitism (see ch. 2). Although the same
emotions undoubtedly still color the attitudes and reactions of some of
the people, they have been less evident since World War II, possibly
because those Jews who survived and remained in the country have
integrated themselves into society and identify with the Romanian
majority.

SOCIAL STRUCTURE

Family

Traditionally, the family had been the basic social unit that gave
identity and security to the individual and furthered the values of
society. Family cohesion was great, and close relations were maintained
with parents, brothers and sisters, uncles and aunts, and first cousins.
Increased mobility and changing life-styles have somewhat loosened this
cohesion, particularly among urban families. A growing number of women
work outside the home; many men combine work and study, or they work at
more than one job in order to improve the family standard of living; and
children spend most of their time in school or youth organization
activities. Thus, members of the family spend less time together, and
the emphasis in daily life is to some degree shifting from the family to
the outside world.

In official writing the family is hailed as the cornerstone of socialist
society; and family cohesion, loyalty, and responsibility, as socialist
virtues. Exemplary family life, particularly exemplary motherhood, is
honored with citations and prizes. At the same time, however, all the
factors that tend to undermine traditional family life, such as the
employment of a greater number of women, are encouraged and promoted.

Since World War II families have tended to be small, having one or two
children. Among the German and Hungarian minorities, families have
always tended to be small, but Romanian families in the past were
larger, particularly in rural areas where children were an important
source of labor. The government became so alarmed by the dropping birth
rate that it passed strict new laws in the 1966-67 period to limit
divorce,