ABSTRACT
Australia, New Zealand and Canada can be viewed as ‘settler’ societies because the families of the majority of the population initially migrated from somewhere else. Cultural variations in family structure tend to be influenced by traditional beliefs and practices, but they are also modified by two other factors. The first is the experience of colonial contact or immigration, which in most cases has substantially modified cultural practices. Second, socioeconomic status is a mediating factor, as the family practices and experiences of rich and poor always differ. In the 1950s, sociologists lamented the isolation of the modern nuclear family, implying that extended family households used to be more prevalent before industrialisation. Colonial families in Australia, New Zealand and Canada used to be patriarchal in terms of political and legal rights as well as authority within the family.
