The forces generated by the industrialization of societies such as United States and Great Britain have brought about the development of the modern health care system. There has been general acceptance of the idea that these developments have meant that health care functions which were formerly performed by the family have been relinquished by the family and absorbed by the specialized agencies. However, the evidence reported here indicates that families do tend to carry on extensive home medication activity, and that certain of the forces generated by industrialization have tended to sustain and even extend the family’s responsibilities concerning medication. It is suggested that the family’s relationships with specialized social systems cannot be adequately characterized by the concept of functional interdependence. The family and specialized systems such as the health care system have their own distinctive interests and goals - as illustrated by their divergent interests and goals regarding medication - which causes the relationships between the family and the health care system to include an element of conflict and power assertion. The family could not, therefore, safely delegate full responsibility for a critical task area such as medication to any specialized agency.