Familia Faber: The Family as Maker of the Future.
The concept familia faber focuses on families as makers of social reality, constructors of the future social order, as doers and shapers. The family is more often thought of as product or victim of change than as producer and instigator. Sociological tradition from Durkheim and Simmel to Peter Berger, which is oriented to the social construction of reality, has not been applied often enough to the study of the family. The United States is a nation of immigrants, and yet the immigrant experience of taking the raw materials of the new world and constructing a new reality for one’s newcomer family has received little attention.
Personal distribution of well-being of farm families relative to all U. S. families is substantially improved when wealth is considered along with money income. The "live poor and die rich" paradox facing older farm families could often be overcome by providing an easier means whereby they could use up equity in family living.