‘Nationalisation’ of Rural Households? New Teams for Old Tasks in Agricultural Households

Abstract

This chapter discusses the changing role of the household in agricultural production in a rural locality in northern Norway characterised by economic restructuring and the reduction in traditional industries. Within primary industries, the household unit has been especially important with respect to resource management and production. Due to both external and internal influences, the position of the household in relation to agricultural work has experienced a transformation. The external influences arise from economic restructuring, while the internal influences concern the gendered division of work and the management of gender identity and changes in national agricultural policy. Agricultural work is now primarily one man’s work, while housework is, at least at the symbolic level, a task where both husband and wife work together. This division of work is not only a question of finding instrumental solutions to practical and economic challenges, it also involves cultural codifications of different tasks.