HHS4U1
Mr.Laezza
October 15,2014
The principle of this study towards family diversity is to bring fourth the idea of diversity in Canada by looking at the relationships and responsibilities that contribute to form families. This article provides an understandable, reliable and statistical outlook on the different forms of families in Canada. In the time span of 40 years, the Vanier Institute of the Family looks at the structures, formations and functionalities of families. Dr.Sager, the author of the first half of this article, continuously utilizes a sequential map to highlight the socio-cultural and political idea in how the meaning has shifted over the previous years until now.
Family is a historical construct, and is what we remember it to be-a social memory. In other words, the understanding of a family is shaped by ones past or experiences. It can never be described as just a social unit, because it is considered as an ideal, important structure and has countless values in the context of its use. For example, Frances Stewarts had a patriarchal economic, co-operative family. Her three daughters were under the age of 16 but all had a great deal of responsibilities of taking care of younger siblings, and being caretakers for poultry.
The sense of a rural family household began to crumble due to the necessity of children under 12 attending school, and manufacturing and retail slowly replacing home production. Fathers began working jobs that pay and their offspring began to follow, this caused the family to eventually shrink in size because members were not working with each other. At this point, there were many socials groups like churches, moral reformers and the Canadian state itself starting movements to save marriages, children and families due to the shrinkage in family sizes.. The co-resident family was about 3.7 people on average and transformed into a nuclear family which is a man, woman and their biological children.