Our initial approach to the subject of the household and family took its cue from prevailing expectations about the shape of the family in the past. It was almost inevitable that the discussion should focus on whether families were larger or smaller then than now, and in particular whether households were more or less likely to contain relatives beyond the immediate nuclear core of head, spouse, and unmarried child. Even so, Household and family in past time, when published in 1972, contained within it a great deal more than a simple statement about the predominance of the nuclear family in pre-industrial society, although the information on children, servants, and marital status is often by-passed by those eager to denounce, or defend, its major theme.

In the present volume it is our intention to look in more detail at all the constituent parts of the household and to place the household within the broad economic and social context. There is much more attention paid than was possible in 1972 to the life cycle of the household and to the influence of occupation on its structure. The questions that we have set ourselves include the following: What structure of the household is implied by a given inheritance pattern or work pattern? If we know the occupation or age of the head of the household, how much can legitimately be inferred about the overall composition of the household?