HISTORY OF THE FAMILY The Changing Structures and Roles Within the Family

The Etymology of Family Etymology is the history of the formation or derivation of a word The word family is relatively new. Prior to 300 years ago, there was no word in any European language that meant a living arrangement based on parents and children living together. The English word family is derived from the Latin word familia, which was derived form a word that meant house.

Families in History - Beginning with the ancestors of Canada’s First Nations peoples, different cultural groups all over Canada have organized their family structures in a variety of ways - Development has happened over hundreds of years but at a different paces - Specifically, cultural anthropologists study isolated human societies both from the outside and on the inside - As a result many theories have been developed to explain the development of human civilizations and the origin of the human family unit - Our brain distinguishes us from other animal species and enables us to think, problem-solve, to use language as a means of communication, to invent, and to feel emotions - Humans may not have survived as a species unless some form of family grouping developed to provide care and protection and socialization

Families in History - First family groupings may have been hordes or bands - Loose groupings of males and females and their offspring - Perhaps they were similar to social organizations of chimpanzees - But, unlike primates we have developed taboos against certain kinds of aggression and sexual activity - We created relative peace and cooperation necessary for the survival of the horde - Later, a system of social organization based on kinship replaced a social hierarchy based on the size and strength of the dominate male - Likely, the earliest human family form was a kind of group marriage within the horde, in which informal pairing occurred for various lengths of time

HUNTER-GATHERERS -estimated that for 99% of human history, h/g was the major means of subsistence (you ate what you killed/grew) -daily quest for food – made sense to keep moving (nomadic)

HUNTER-GATHERERS – Men: hunters and toolmakers often left family to hunt for long period of time (took days to tire out larger animals for easier kill) – Women: gathered fruits, nuts, grains, herbs and small prey responsible for nurturing young learned to use plants for medicine b/c of these 3 roles, women were seen as essential to survival –  had high status within group

HUNTER-GATHERERS small nomadic groups typically 5-80 members related by consanguinity: by blood, or by informal relationships

HUNTER-GATHERERS Differences: -Women: -Gathered plants/herbs/small prey -Birthed/nurtured children -Learned to use plants for medicine -Men: -Hunters/toolmakers Men/Women Roles: -Though different, tasks of men and women shared equally

HUNTER-GATHERERS FAMILY FUNCTIONS -Physical Maintenance: -Women took physical care of children -Women used plants for medicine -Production/Consumption -Purpose of each day to find (produce) food for group (distribution/consumption)

AGRICULTURAL FAMILIES once our ancestors domesticated animals and grew plants for food, need for hunting/gathering eliminated –  made more sense to stay in permanent settlement

AGRICULTURAL FAMILIES agricultural settlements required more labour (working land/tending to animals) –  more people needed = have more babies!!!

AGRICULTURAL FAMILIES The beginning of societal roles and wealth: – Areas of high agricultural yield = more people settling there = development of towns/cities – Concept of “owning land” emerged – Families could acquire more land = wealth – Food surpluses had to be controlled/distributed = merchants/builders – All of these new roles needed to be organized = politicians – women became more focused on the personal household (looking after children/house) – Monogamy: having one marital partner, became preferred in most parts of the world

AGRICULTURAL FAMILIES Patriarchy: men are the rulers and decision-makers of family, established to ensure fatherhood and inheritance of property Unfortunately, this new organization = gender power imbalance – Women had few legal rights – Seen as husband’s property – Very successful men could afford several wives – polygamy: having more than one wife, became popular

AGRICULTURAL FAMILIES -Need for labour kept young adults in parent’s house after marriage, to continue to work land, creating households with extended families: families consisting of all relatives (parents, children, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.)

AGRICULTURAL FAMILIES Factors Causing Changes -Ownership of land created concept of “wealth” -Patriarchy established to ensure inheritance of land Changing Roles of Men/Women: - Women became property of their husbands/had few rights

AGRICULTURAL FAMILIES FAMILY FUNCTIONS -Addition of New Members -(necessary for working land; sometimes had more than one wife and family to increase this even more) -Production/Consumption -(you consume what you produce)

PRE-INDUSTRIAL FAMILIES (1600’s-1700’s) as towns and villages formed, so did commerce, technology and crafts. Merchants/artisans began working from the home (with family’s help) These families less able than farms to sustain large households, so marriages were monogamous and had fewer children

PRE-INDUSTRIAL FAMILIES (1600’s-1700’s) Marriage not about love as much as economic necessity – No work for single woman – No house keeping for single man – Children economic necessity

PRE-INDUSTRIAL FAMILIES (1600’s-1700’s) Factors Causing Change -men/women/children all needed to work in home Changing Roles of Men/Women (Children) -Sharing of roles in family

PRE-INDUSTRIAL FAMILIES (1600’s-1700’s) FAMILY FUNCTIONS -Production/Consumption -(everyone in family involved)

URBAN INDUSTRIAL FAMILIES industrial revolution changed family system – especially women – shift from agriculture/commerce (at home work) to factory work to earn a wage (outside home) – family unit no longer produced, but rather consumed Phase 1: Industrial Nuclear Family

URBAN INDUSTRIAL FAMILIES – industrial nuclear family: woman’s sole purpose is nurturer at home, supported financially by husband man’s sole purpose to work/provide for wife and children no need for children in factories – education compulsory under 14 (1871, Ontario) home no longer centre of economic activity, but rather place of love and emotional contentment Phase 1: Industrial Nuclear Family

URBAN INDUSTRIAL FAMILIES – early 1900’s: family sizes shrink delayed marriage until own house could be afforded increasingly became consumer family: – husband is exclusive provider/link btwn family and society – wife = homemaker (thought that women reached potential ONLY if married with children) » new products made for her to make home more comfortable for husband and children – peaks in 1940’s-50’s Phase 2: Consumer Family

URBAN INDUSTRIAL FAMILIES Changing Roles of Men/Women - Traditional roles of men as sole providers and women as nurturers of children/housekeepe rs established Factors Causing Change -Men returned from war, taking back jobs -Baby Boom ( ) -T.V. portrayed ideal nuclear family became popular and strived for -“Mystique of Motherhood”: belief that women only reached full potential once they had children

URBAN INDUSTRIAL FAMILIES FAMILY FUNCTIONS -Physical Care & Affective Nurturance -(Mother as Nurturer/Housekeeper) -Addition of New Members -(seen as “worth”, and baby boom!) -Production/Consumption -(very clear roles (Husband = producer; Wife = Consumer

CONTEMPORARY CANADIAN FAMILY by 1960’s-70’s: – became difficult for family to afford “necessities” – women begin to work outside home to supplement family income birth rate declines women less financially dependant on men = increased status of women transitional family emerges, mother temporarily leaves work to raise small children (mat leave) as well as dual-family income, both spouses work full-time with increased women’s rights came new divorce laws, creating blended families, divorced partners with children remarry.

CONTEMPORARY CANADIAN FAMILY – Family formation in last 40 years reflects broader multicultural influences from increased immigration Brought diverse family systems (arranged marriages, matriarchal families, etc.) Influence next generation – Some cynics say these changes mean end of “the family”, but “family institution” endures because of ability to change

CONTEMPORARY CANADIAN FAMILY Factors Causing Changes -supplementary income needed, leading to women in going to work -Financial independence of women leads to change in divorce laws -Birth control pill (gave women power to choose motherhood) Changing Roles of Men/Women - Increased status of women

CONTEMPORARY CANADIAN FAMILY FAMILY FUNCTIONS -Affective Nurturance -both in families and intimate relationships -Production/Consumption -we are BIG spenders, and rely heavily on our income