The Differentiation of Households in a Ghanaian Community
- Resource Type
- Authors
- Frances Larkin; Carol Owen; Kathleen Rhodes
- Source
- Journal of Marriage and the Family. 32:304
- Subject
- Generality
Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous)
Order (business)
Policy decision
Anthropology
Stability (learning theory)
Economics
Econometrics
Social Sciences (miscellaneous)
- Language
- ISSN
- 0022-2445
One hundred and eleven households in a community in Ghana were studied to assess the applicability and generality of the concept of structural differentiation as proposed by F. W. and R. C. Young (1968). Eight individual-based and six household-based indices were used. The analysis shows that, for these households, a modification of the Youngs' proposal extracts more order from the data. This modification involves 1) a consideration of individual attributes as representing "potential" household differentiation and 2) the stability and ease of communication within the household as intervening factors between "potential" and "actual" household differentiation. Implications for policy decisions are briefly discussed.