CANADA'S FAMILY/HOUSEHOLD PATTERNS

By Samatha Oliver

General Characteristics of Agricultural, Industrial, and Information Age Family/Household Patterns

Agricultural Age Family/Household Patterns:
Extended family: several generations living and working together on the land.
Industrial Age Family/Household Patterns:
Nuclear family: father working, mother at home not working, and approximately two children for middle and upper classes in developed West. Also nuclear family in lower class West and socialist countries except that women worked.
Information Age Family/Household Patterns:
Multiple family patterns: no one model everyone must follow to be socially accepted. Examples include: married couples with or without children; unmarried couples living together; single parents; divorced parents with children who remarry, making children part of different housholds; single-person households; people living in groups; gay and lesbian couples etc.

Information/Data on Canada's Family/Household Patterns

While the family unit is the center of society, it is common to have both parents working outside the home. Licensed daycare and homecare facilities are widely available to assist working parents. Traditional norms have changed somewhat during the last decade; however, the father in a family usually leads, while mother exercises influence on all decisions. Likewise, the mother retains primary responsibility for household chores. The average size family is comparable to that in the United States. Families are close, although economic conditions, the need for employment, are taking relatives away from each other. This causes extended family unit to become more looseknit on a daily basis but encourages such things as more family reunions to renew and preserve family ties. The number of single-parent homes is on the rise, creating a strain on social services. Outside cities, large, most people(62%) own their own homes.

Conclusions on Canada (Whether Primarily Agricultural, Industrial, or Information Age Re: Its Family/Household Patterns)

Canadians are inbetween the agricultural and information age. (Family/Household Patterns)

Additional Online Sources on Canada's Family/Household Patterns

Blue Mountain Family Travels in Canada

Traditional Bibliographic Sources on Canada's Family/ Household Patterns

Culturgram 96, background notes on Canada,and many books on Canada

Cultugram '96 (no author).
World Fact Book (no author).
Background notes on Canada (no author).

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