This report examines matters about which people will need to be knowledgeable in the 1980s to be intelligent consumers and effective homemakers. Its assumptions are based on an examination of work in the field of home economics and related areas of future issues relative to families, publications dealing with social trends and technological developments, and selected recent studies related to the substantive areas of home economics. It contains discussions of the following seven substantive areas of consumer and homemaking education: family life, child care and development, consumer education, home management, nutrition and food, textiles and clothing, and housing and home furnishings. Covered in each of these discussions are newer knowledge in the field (research and theory); relevant social changes, including changes in family life; related technological developments; and predictions for the future related to given course content areas. A section on the social and educational context of consumer and homemaking education includes considerations in areas not covered elsewhere in the paper and attempts to bring together relevant information concerned with social conditions, projections, needs, and the educational program setting. (MN)