Reinventing the Family In Search of New Lifestyles

by Beck-Gernsheim, Elisabeth; Camiller, Patrick

• ISBN13: 9780745622132
• ISBN10: 0745622135
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-04-22
• Publisher: Polity

Summary

The traditional image of the family as a life-long unit is fading fast. There are fewer marriages, more divorces, and ever more children born to unmarried or single parents. The forms of our private life are changing rapidly, and people are embarking on new lifestyles based on cohabitation, separation and same-sex partnerships. In this lively and accessible new book, Elisabeth Beck-Gernsheim looks at the future of our lives after the family. Examining the breakdown of the conventional family unit, she explores the new choices that are open to individuals, and analyses our anxiety over the ensuing loss of stability. In Reinventing the Family, Beck-Gernsheim describes how men and women are being confronted with competing and often incompatible demands. Our areas of personal choice have been redrawn, but in a space that involves new social regulations and controls. The talk of 'family values' sits uneasily with the reality of long working-hours, business trips, weekend seminars and career moves. At work, we are encouraged to pursue competition, speed and change; at home we are expected to find community and conciliation. Beck-Gernsheim examines the impact of these conflicting expectations on the relationships between men, women and children, and searches for possible solutions. Reinventing the Family is an important and timely contribution to the growing debate about the family and its future. It will be ideal reading for students of sociology and gender studies, but will also appeal to a wide general readership.

Author Biography

Elisabeth Beck-Gernsheim is Professor of Sociology at the University of Erlangen.

Table of Contents

Preface to the English Edition	vii
Acknowledgments	xiii
The New Confusion about the Family	1	(15)
When Divorce Becomes Normal	16	(26)
Stability of the family-for and against	18	(5)
The dynamic of family development	23	(8)
The complex relations of a divorced family	31	(8)
From the normal biography to the do-it-yourself biography	39	(3)
Life as a Planning Project	42	(22)
The rise of the idea of planning	43	(5)
Precautions in personal relationships	48	(14)
Unplanned consequences of the planning project	62	(2)
Generational Contract and Gender Relations	64	(22)
Traditional expectations: women as a `hidden resource' in relations between the generations	65	(6)
The times are changing: women as a `scarce resource' in relations between the generations	71	(10)
The search for new models	81	(5)
We Want a Special Child	86	(18)
Parenthood in modernity: the precept of optimum support	87	(3)
The supply of prenatal and genetic diagnosis	90	(7)
The promises of reproductive medicine	97	(5)
What future?	102	(2)
Towards the Multicultural Family	104	(35)
A problem of social order	104	(3)
The example of the United States: who is a black?	107	(5)
From the history of National Socialism: who is a Jew?	112	(7)
Difficult concepts: the burden of history	119	(5)
Who is a German today?	124	(7)
Living between cultures	131	(8)
Notes	139	(8)
References	147	(14)
Index	161