Varenne: quotes from Wilk and Netting on "the household"

Wilk, Richard, and Robert Netting

"Households: Changing forms and functions." in Households. Edited by R. Netting, R. Wilk, and E. Arnould, 1-28. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. 1984

Included here are some quotes from the work which I have found most relevant

"Redefining the household in functional terms"

p. 4-5:
Rethinking the problem of definition requires us ... to change the question from one grounded in structure ("How do we place limits around a group?"( to one grounded in activity (("What types of primary groups fulfilled the basic functions of production, ... in ... society).

We group five categories of the activities most often performed by households-- production, distribution, transmission, reproduction and coresidence.

February 18, 1997