Introduction

Abstract

This book was initially motivated by a seemingly simple question: What is the family like in Latin America? A quick perusal of family texts—even Goode—s classic 1963 study, which was so illuminating about the family in many parts of the world—paid no dividends. Thus, the simple question rapidly turned into a complicated one. The result? A demographic study of household composition in six Latin American countries (Mexico, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Panama, Colombia, and Peru) in the mid-1970s based on information contained in World Fertility Survey household standard recode files (see Figure 1.1). The study is demographic because I am a demographer and tend to see demographic factors as fundamental. The study describes an important compositional aspect of the population—the household—and it examines household characteristics in relation to such basic characteristics as age, sex, and marital status. At present, the household is the major way demographers get at the family; it is the residential dimension of the family and can be measured through surveys or censuses. The household is a basic social unit, the major consumption and production unit, and the arena where most people spend a major portion of their lives. This descriptive book might serve the dual purpose of examining a topic of inherent substantive value and illustrating a simple and useful methodology for conducting a descriptive comparative analysis of the household.