Pre Industrial Pre Industrial Families Families

Pre Industrial Family

A hetero-sexual married couple

Raising ten or more children

Families would work and make money to finance their survival

Marriage was considered an economic necessity

Life in a Pre-Industrial Family

Not made to be loving or nurturing

Bound together by mutual consent

Members of the family played different roles than families today

Critique of a Pre-industrial Family

Female members of the family may view this era as unfair

No room for progression

Gender laws did not allow for women to have many opportunities.

Families Today Gay Marriages are legal

Marriage is based on love

Children are not required to work

Families are smaller

Adoption/Abortion are now options

Changes in Men Men are not always the primary money

maker.

Fathers are at an older age

More men living at home

More job options (aside from farming)

Men are less dominant in relationships

Changes in Women Women have more freedom

More job options

Higher ranking in society

More options for women (abortion, marriage, dating, etc.)

Less house wives

Functions of a Pre-Industrial Family

New members of a family benefited Canadian society by stimulating economic growth

High death rate made it necessary to raise up a dozen children

Mothers taught daughters domestic activities

Fathers would teach sons manual labor

Families raised their children strictly to work

Father was the head of the family

Each individual family played an important role in society

The men were raised to work and make money

Women were raised to protect their family and territory

Functions of the Pre-Industrial Family

Pre-Industrial families did not fulfill all six of the functions

Instead of assuming affective nurturance, relationships were based on what could be provided for one another.

Each family produced all the goods and services it consumed and only used what it could produce. Nowadays, families will use the goods and services of others

Key Reasons to Study Families

Important to Understand:

1. How gender roles have changed

2. How the role of children and concept of childhood have changed

3. Economic factors

Specific To Pre-Industrial Families

Pre-Industrial families are the beginning of modern families

Pre-industrial families can be seen in early Canadian history