Overview:

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 different paces

The Origin of the Family

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

The Need for Families

Our brain distinguishes us from other animal species and enables us to think, problem-solve, use language as a means of communication, invent, and feel emotions Humans may not have survived as a species unless some form of family grouping developed to provide care and protection and socialization

First family groupings may have been HORDES

• Loose groupings of males and females and their offspring

• Perhaps they were similar to the 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

The Invention of Families

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-Gatherer Families

The earliest families (Canadian First Nations people were hunter-gatherers) 99% of human history, hunting and gathering were the major means of subsistence Driven by a daily quest for food (both men and women)

Researchers in today’s hunter-gatherer societies suggest that women routinely supply two-thirds or more of the calories consumed by the group

• Women's roles essential to the survival of societies

• Both men and women had a relatively high status within the group

Beginning of Marriage

Families were more loosely formed than families of today and Continued to dominate until the development of agriculture Fifteen thousand years ago, many hunter-gatherer communities began to stay in one location because of a sustainable and abundant food source nearby, such as a river where one could fish

With this came the formation of enduring relationships between men and women so that man could support his own children until they could keep up, at about 5 years of age New formation of the couple as a married couple

The First Canadian Families

First Nations families, were hunter-gatherers when they first came to live here thousands of years ago Some remained hunter-gatherers as they preferred to forage food than to develop agricultural production, and lived in small nomadic bands First nations families diversified because they adapted to different environments Egalitarian decision making, leadership was acquired through personal qualities (strength and intelligence) Bands consisted of anywhere from 5-80 ppl who related by consanguinity or conjugal relationships

Agricultural Families

Began 11 000 years ago in the middle east

Once our ancestors domesticated animals and grew plants for food, their daily quest for food was eliminated, and they were able to live in more permanent settlements

Agricultural communities formed, changed the fundamental structure of families

Family Households

Agriculture allowed more food but required more manual labor (tending the animals and land) Concept of private property developed, land had to be defended and food surpluses had to be controlled and distributed

Got wealthier by selling food to those who didn’t produce

Men's and women’s roles became more defined and focused

Women’s work became more about private household needs (children, domestic work, own fields) Kids were an economic asset – helped on the field, and supported parents when they got older

The Patriarchal Family

Families became highly organized.

This was a preferred arrangement in many parts of the world Men established a role as decision-makers and authority of the family.  The notion of inheritance of property was established through birthrights

Pre- Industrial Families

While the majority of people continued to live on family farms, the population increase that an agricultural economy allowed meant that families outgrew the land Male family members without land moved with their wives into towns and cities, and became artisans, builders, merchants, soldiers, and politicians. Merchants and artisans worked in the family home where whites and kids could help with the work – called cottage inudsry  Father(head of the household), wife, kids, and servants, apprentices learned crafts.

European settlers came to Canada at the start of the 17th cent and brought this preindustrial family system with them. Gov officials military personnel, merchants, and craftspeople all lived in villages/towns but many spread out across the countryside and lived in self-sufficient homesteads These new Canadians had monogamous marriages, but love was not usually the basis for marriage – economic necessity, as their was no work for single women and no housekeepers for single men

Child Labour

Children were an economic necessity during a time when less than 50% of them reached adulthood Survival of an economic family depended on all family members working, including children Notion of childhood did not exist By 7 or 8, kids assisted in economic activities of the family, and work was dictated by their gender. Young adults left home to live and work in other families (boys on farms, or as apprentices; girls did housework or domestic servants)

Urban Industrial Families

As the economy shifted from one based on agriculture and commerce to one based on factory production in towns and cities, work became something done outside the family home to earn a wage to provide for the family’s subsistence Role of consumer remained but as producer was lost

Families in 19th-Century Canada

Families became urban; more than 1/3 lived in towns and cities and more and more Canadians migrated to the cities where work could be found The ideal was the Industrial Nuclear Family Motherhood as a sacred and primary role of women was the ideal Role of children changed; mandatory education leads to child labor laws and more leisure time and the “age of innocence”

Stay-at-home Mothers in the Industrial Nuclear Family

However, by the beginning of the 20th century, it was unusual for married women to work outside the home and the ones who did receive 1/3 less than the family wage earned by men for the same work Only about 5% of women worked outside the home, and it was out of economic necessity  Women who worked “threatened” the role of men as the providers therefore demeaned by society.

Early 20th Century Family

Delayed marriage until they could afford their own home Children had to be supported until they finished school Husband as the provider, head of the home, the link between family and society Consumer family was formed – hubby exclusive provider and link between family and society, the wife was homemaker, kids played under the supervision of moms and went to school

The Modern Consumer Family

Gender stereotypes at their highest point

Women: gentle, more patient, and loving, so better for emotional nurturing of children

Men: aggressive, perseverant, and tough so better for the workplace

Children were disciplined but protected from the hardships of the adult world

Adolescence emerged as a distinct age because of the extension of schooling into the teenage years Stereotypical modern family was the nuclear family

The Contemporary Canadian Family

The nuclear family is still dominant, but many new forms of families have developed  The past 50 years – significant changes to family structure Transitional family – the mother temporarily leaves the workforce to look after the kid's Dual income family – both parents work full-time Blended family – divorced, with kids, and remarry