| Summary: | The primary objective of this thesis is to examine the relationship between household income dimensions — that is, the amount, size, and kind of income — and associated household types. The relationship between different types of income and total income is also examined. In addition attention is given to a number of other variables which could affect the basic relationship. The main argument associates the nuclear family with skilled wage labour; the extended family with kinship controlled resources; and the consanguineal household with unskilled labour and/or welfare dependence. Hypotheses are stated which suggest the relationship between stability of income with different types of households. Analysis of the household income profiles of two reserves in British Columbia was undertaken in order to test the theory. The two reserves used in the study were Alert Bay Reserve and Skidegate Reserve. Each income source was characterized as being one of six possible types of income: wages, kinship, social services, reciprocity, kind and unearned. Tests consisted of proportion comparisons between households of different types and their associated income profiles. Data was examined separately for each of the reserves. Support was found for the predicted association between high income totals and extended family households. There was some support for the proposition that nuclear families are high per-capita income families, but no support for the proposition that extended family households are low per-capita income households. While there were only a few cases of consanguineal households there was strong support for the proposition that such households are welfare or pension income dependent households. There was no association between income sector dominance and household type. Because the data available did not allow for an examination of skill level and stability of income it was not possible to do a thorough examination of the argument for income dominance and certain household types. Arts, Faculty of Anthropology, Department of Graduate
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