2.1 What is the household?
Source: Nabin Baral / IWMI (CC BY-NC 2.0)
Your household is probably the most important economic institution in your life. Within your household, you care for yourself and others, creating the conditions for life. Understanding the importance of household care and domestic work is critical for individual, social, and ecological wellbeing. Societies need to support people in their households to fulfil this crucial role effectively.
Think about the role your household and the people in it play in your life. How do you contribute to your household?
At the end of Subtopic 2.1 What is the household? you should be able to:
describe the household provisioning institution in terms of its parts, relationships and overall function
outline global differences and the role of demographic transition in household size and composition
discuss the impact of household size and composition on the ability of the economy to meet human needs within planetary boundaries
describe some regenerative economic functions of households, including direct and indirect care, distribution and socialisation
describe various householding skills and their importance for regenerative economies
describe some regenerative economic functions of households, including direct and indirect care, distribution and socialisation
describe various householding skills and their importance for regenerative economies