Abstract
The family, and changes in the family, have been a subject of political and public debate and an topic of scientific research since the very inception of the social sciences. Changes in the family have been interpreted very differently according to time and place (Harris 2008). In all cases, several of the main paradigmatic approaches to sociology have taken up an immanent normative standpoint with regard to the features of the family and the direction and meaning of family changes. For instance, the nuclear family—and its establishment as the standard private living arrangement—played a major role as a characteristic of modern society in Talcott Parson’s structural–functional theory (Parsons and Bales 1955). Correspondingly, the decline of the nuclear family and the pluralization of forms of private living became an indication of individualization or of other late-modern social diagnoses by some influential scholars in the late twentieth century to which partially negative and partially positive connotations were attached (e.g., Beck 1992; Beck and Beck-Gernsheim 1995; Baumann 2003; Giddens 1991, 1992; Van de Kaa 1987).
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Baumann, Z. 2003. Liquid Love: On the Frailty of Human Bonds. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Beck, U. 1992. Risk Society: Towards a New Modernity. London: Sage.
Beck, U., and E. Beck-Gernsheim. 1993. Nicht Autonomie, sondern Bastelbiographie: Anmerkungen zur Individualisierung Diskussion am Beispiel des Aufsatzes von Günter Burkart. Zeitschrift für Soziologie 22(3): 178–187.
———. 1995. The Normal Chaos of Love. Cambridge: Polity Press.
———. 2002. Individualization: Institutionalized Individualism and Its Social and Political Consequences. London: Sage.
Berntsen, D., and D.C. Rubin. 2002. Emotionally Charged Autobiographical Memories Across the Life-Span: The Recall of Happy, Sad, Traumatic and Involuntary Memories. Psychology and Aging 17: 636–652.
Billari, F.C., A. Goisis, A.C. Liefbroer, R.A. Settersten, A. Aassve, G. Hagestad, and Z. Spéder. 2010. Social Age Deadlines for the Childbearing of Women and Men. Human Reproduction 26: 616–622.
Brannen, J., and R. O’Connell. 2015. Data Analysis 1: Overview of Data Analysis Strategies. In Oxford Handbook of Mixed and Multimethod Research, ed. S. Hesse-Biber, and J. Burke, 257–274. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Brückner, H., and K.U. Mayer. 2005. De-standardization of the Life Course: What It Might Mean? And If It Means Anything, Whether It Actually Took Place? Advances in Life Course Research 9: 27–53.
Buchholz, S., Hofäcker, D., Mills, M., Blossfeld, H.-P., Kurz, K. and Hofmeister, H. (2008) Life Courses in the Globalization Process: The Development of Social Inequalities in Modern Societies. European Sociological Review, 25(1): 53–71.
De Singly, F. 1996. Le Soi, le couple, la famille. Paris: La Découverte.
———. 2000. Libre ensemble. Paris: La Découverte.
De Swaan, A. 1982. Uitgaansbeperking en uitgaansangst. Over de verschuiving van bevelshuishouding naar onderhandelingshuishouding. In De mens is de mens een zorg, ed. A. de Swaan, 81–115. Amsterdam: Meulenhoff.
Du Bois-Reymond, M. 1995. The Modern Family as Negotiating Household. Parent–Child Relations in Western and Eastern Germany and in The Netherlands. In Childhood and Youth in Germany and The Netherlands. Transitions and Coping Strategies of Adolescents, ed. M. Du Bois-Reymond, R.F.W. Diekstra, K. Hurrelmann, and E. Peters, 127–161. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.
Elder, G. 1985. Perspectives on the Life Course. In Life-Course Dynamics: Trajectories and Transitions 1968–1980, ed. G. Elder, 23–49. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
Elias, N. 1994[1939]. The Civilizing Process. Oxford: Blackwell.
Giddens, A. 1991. Modernity and Self-Identity: Self and Society in the Late Modern Age. Cambridge: Polity Press.
———. 1992. The Transformation of Intimacy: Sexuality, Love and Eroticism in Modern Societies. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Harris, S.R. 2008. Constructionism in Sociology. In Handbook of Constructionist Research, ed. J.A. Holstein, and J.F. Gubrium, 231–247. New York: Guilford.
Huinink, J. 2013. De-Standardisation or Changing Life Course Patterns? Transition to Adulthood from a Demographic Perspective. In The Demography of Europe, ed. G. Neyer, G. Andersson, H. Kulu, L. Bernardi, and C. Bühler, 99–118. Dordrecht: Springer.
Imhof, A.E. 1984. Von der unsicheren zur sicheren Lebenszeit. Ein folgenschwerer Wandel im Verlauf der Neuzeit. Vierteljahresschrift für Sozial- und Wirtschaftsgeschichte 71(2): 175–198.
Janssen, S.M.J., and D.C. Rubin. 2011. Age Effects in Cultural Life Scripts. Applied Cognitive Psychology 25: 291–298.
Kohli, M. 1988. Ageing as a Challenge for Sociological Theory. Ageing and Society 8(4): 367–394.
Kohli, M., and J.W. Meyer. 1986. Social Structure and Social Construction of Life Stages. Human Development 29(3): 145–149.
Kohli, M., J. Rosenow, and J. Wolf. 1983. The Social Construction of Ageing Through Work: Economic Structure and Life-World. Ageing and Society 3(1): 23–42.
Lesthaeghe, R.J. 1995. The Second Demographic Transition in Western Countries: An Interpretation. In Gender and Family Change in Industrialized Countries, ed. K.O. Mason, and A.-M. Jensen, 17–62. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Mayer, K.U. 1985. The Process of Leaving Home: A Comparison of Three Cohorts in West Germany. SFB 3 Working Paper No. 168.
———. 2001. The Paradox of Global Social Change and National Path Dependencies. Life Course Patterns in Advanced Societies. In Inclusions and Exclusions in European Societies, ed. A. Woodward, and M. Kohli, 89–110. London: Routledge.
Mayer, K.U., and Schulze, E. 2009. Delaying Parenthood in East and West Germany: A Mixed-Methods Study of the Onset of Childbirth and the Vocabulary of Motives of Women of the Birth Cohort of 1971. Working Paper No. 123. Mannheim: Mannheimer Zentrum für Europäische Sozialforschung (MZES).
Morgan, D.H.J. 2011. Rethinking Family Practices. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Özcan, B., K.U. Mayer, and J. Luedicke. 2010. The Impact of Unemployment on the Transition to Parenthood. Demographic Research 23: 807–846.
Parsons, T., and R.F. Bales. 1955. Family Socialization and Interaction Process. Glencoe, IL: Free Press.
Pearson, R.W., M. Ross, and R.M. Dawes. 1992. Personal Recall and the Limits of Retrospective Questions in Surveys. In Questions About Questions: Inquiries into the Cognitive Bases of Surveys, ed. J.M. Tanur, 65–94. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
Punch, S., I. Mcintosh, and R. Emond. 2010. Children’s Food Practices in Families and Institutions. Children’s Geographies 8: 227–232.
Riley, M.Wh. 1987. On the Significance of Age in Sociology. American Sociological Review 52(1): 1–14.
Settersten, R.A. Jr., and G.O. Hägestad. 1996. What’s the Latest? Cultural Age Deadlines for Family Transitions. The Gerontologist 36(2): 178–188.
Van de Kaa, D.J. 1987. Europe’s Second Demographic Transition. Population Bulletin 42(1): 3–55.
Wengraf, T. 2000. Qualitative Research Interviewing: Biographic Narrative and Semi-structured Methods. London: Sage.
Widmer, E.D. 2010. Family Configurations. A Structural Approach to Family Diversity. London: Ashgate.
Yeandle, S. 2001. Balancing Employment and Family Lives: Changing Life-Course Experiences of Men and Women in the European Union. In Restructuring Work and the Life Course, ed. V.W. Marshall, W.R. Heinz, H. Krüger, and A. Verma, 142–158. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2017 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Lück, D., Widmer, E.D., Česnuitytė, V. (2017). Conclusion: Changes and Continuities in European Family Lives. In: Česnuitytė, V., Lück, D., D. Widmer, E. (eds) Family Continuity and Change. Palgrave Macmillan Studies in Family and Intimate Life. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-59028-2_14
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-59028-2_14
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-137-59027-5
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-59028-2
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)