HOUSEHOLDS AND FAMILIES IN PREINDUSTRIAL SWEDEN

There has, as yet, been no study of historical Swedish families and ho useholds from a life cycle perspective of the type carried out by Lutz Berkner. This study of several parishes in Scania is an adaptation of Berkner's approach, and includes both a cyclical perspective and long itudinal data and methods. The results show that household size and co mposition varied throughout the family life cycle, and large social di fferences are noted. Peasant farmers generally had larger and more com plex households than the landless, with more children and more servant s. Most freeholders went through a stem family phase, while many tenan t farmers and the majority of the landless lived in nuclear families t hroughout the family cycle. Servants were often included in farmers' h ouseholds, especially during the family cycle phase during which the c hildren were young, while the landless seldom had servants. The retire ment contract system was well established among peasants (but worked i n different manners for freeholders and tenants), while the landless w ere not affected by this institutional arrangement.