 Subjects -> SOCIOLOGY (Total: 553 journals)
| A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z | | The end of the list has been reached or no journals were found for your choice. |
|
|
- Family in Challenging Circumstances: Ways of Coping
Authors: Jacques‐Antoine Gauthier, Vida Česnuitytė
Pages: 210 - 213
Abstract: The aim of the thematic issue Family Supportive Networks and Practices in Vulnerable Contexts is to provide a cross‐national perspective on the current state of caregiving and support practices within family networks in Europe. The articles featured in this volume were selected from among the presentations made in 2021 at two conferences promoted by the research network Sociology of Families and Intimate Lives of the European Sociological Association (ESA RN13).
Authors of the most promising, topical, and up‐to‐date research papers were invited to contribute to this thematic issue.
PubDate: 2023-03-02
DOI: 10.17645/si.v11i1.6804
Issue No: Vol. 11, No. 1 (2023)
- “Empathetic Egoist” and “Obedient Individualist”: Clash Between
Family Practices and Normative Images of Children
Authors: Małgorzata Sikorska
Pages: 214 - 224
Abstract: The initial aim of this article is to analyze the clash between everyday family practices and parents’ normative images of perfect children. I identified five sets of features and behaviors of the actual child that mirror daily parents–children interactions (including parental socialization strategies) and three sets of features and behaviors that reflect parents’ perceptions of a perfect child. The analysis revealed two “dimensions of contradiction”: egoism vs. empathy and obedience vs. independence. Investigating how family practices combine with parents’ normative images results in insights into parents’ ambivalent attitudes toward children. The second aim is to identify the social sources of these clashes. The Polish case appears to be intriguing due to a particularly rapid systemic transformation, resulting in overlapping patterns of everyday practices, divergent social norms, variant meanings, and contradictory discourses. This article’s contribution is to illustrate the hypothesis that systemic transformation might have a more immediate effect on changing social norms, meanings, and discourses on parenthood and childhood (and thus change parents’ normative images of children), while family practices are transformed with parents’ resistance. The concept of family practices developed by David H. Morgan is employed as a theoretical framework and starting point for the study. The analysis draws on qualitative data and in‐depth interviews with 24 couples of parents and six single parents.
PubDate: 2023-03-02
DOI: 10.17645/si.v11i1.5987
Issue No: Vol. 11, No. 1 (2023)
- Sources of Loneliness for Older Adults in the Czech Republic and
Strategies for Coping With Loneliness
Authors: Marcela Petrová Kafková
Pages: 225 - 233
Abstract: In this article, issues of loneliness and exclusion from social relations in old age are examined from the perspective of older men and women. Our focus is on sources of loneliness they themselves perceive and what strategies they use to cope with it. Twenty‐nine interviews with older adults at risk of loneliness in the Czech Republic and their models of social convoys are analyzed. Surprisingly small gender differences in feelings of loneliness are found. A major source of loneliness for both men and women is the loss of a life partner. Perceptions of loneliness and the shape of social networks differ substantially in the case of lifelong singles and childless people. A second significant source for feelings of loneliness includes unsatisfactory relationships with close family. Based on the participants’ accounts, three strategies for coping with loneliness are identified.
PubDate: 2023-03-02
DOI: 10.17645/si.v11i1.6185
Issue No: Vol. 11, No. 1 (2023)
- Siblings as Overlooked Potential for Care and Support Across Households
and Borders
Authors: Irma Budginaitė‐Mačkinė, Irena Juozeliūnienė
Pages: 234 - 245
Abstract: The growing numbers of Lithuanian families living across borders have prompted the reflection on family relations through the lens of the need for care and support of dependent children and elderly parents. The authors of this article expand the analysis of family lives in the migration context beyond child–parent relationships and shift the attention to understudied areas where sibling relationships are located. Sibling relationships are considered embedded within the family and the wider network of personal relationships. This article builds on the personal networks approach to examine the position of siblings in the personal networks of Lithuanian family members and draws on a toolbox of analytical concepts provided by the solidarity approach to disclose how sibling relationships could come into play in the case of need. The analysis of statistical data and two surveys carried out in Lithuania as part of the research project funded by the Research Council of Lithuania enabled the authors to uncover different layers of involvement of siblings in “doing families” across households and borders and to highlight the gendered patterns of support expectations towards siblings if/when the need of elderly or child care would arise in the migration context. The research data provide empirical evidence that sibling relationships could be affected by differentiated mobility experiences of family members and the re‐definition of family roles due to newly emerging multi‐local interactions. Cross‐border family practices create new patterns of family relationships and an “intimate, but different” type of solidarity, common to Lithuanian residents with prior migration experience.
PubDate: 2023-03-02
DOI: 10.17645/si.v11i1.6062
Issue No: Vol. 11, No. 1 (2023)
- The Intergenerational Representation of Old Age in the Transition to
Frailty: An Empirical Analysis in Italy
Authors: Donatella Bramanti
Pages: 246 - 255
Abstract: The results presented here are part of the outcome of a research project titled Redesign—Frail Elderly, Intergenerational Solidarity and Age-Friendly Communities (https://redesignanziani.com) funded by Fondazione Cariplo and coordinated by the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan, in collaboration with Università degli studi di Verona and Università degli studi del Molise (2019–2022). The research aims to co-acquire knowledge of the transition to old age in vulnerable situations, to develop and implement new community networks of care, and thus promote health and well-being, active ageing, and intergenerational solidarity in eight Italian municipalities. The analysis of the dyadic interviews, conducted with the NVivo software, will provide the image of ageing and old age emerging from an intergenerational dialogue. By analysing results, it will therefore be possible to identify some specific types of representation of old age in relation to the dyad, the stressful events that occurred to the interviewees and in relation to the ways of living the transition. The representation of old age seems closely connected with the quality and intensity of relationships, the environment of associative and local life that the interviewees relate to, and the stressful events that have recently occurred to them.
PubDate: 2023-03-02
DOI: 10.17645/si.v11i1.6027
Issue No: Vol. 11, No. 1 (2023)
- Three‐Generation Households in a Central and Eastern European
Country: The Case of Hungary
Authors: Judit Monostori
Pages: 256 - 268
Abstract: Using data from censuses and a microcensus between 1980 and 2016, this study examines the trends in three‐generational living arrangements, along with the factors that determine the prevalence and characteristics of the phenomenon in Hungary. Apart from the period between 1990 and 2001, the proportion of three‐generation households declined in all periods among households with children. In the decade after 1990, the rate increased due to the post‐transition economic recession and the severe housing shortage. The factors predicting a higher risk of three‐generation households were fairly consistent across the period considered, and the direction of the effect remained stable. However, some of those factors became more relevant over time (e.g., the education level of parents and single parenthood) and some became less relevant (e.g., rural residence). Meanwhile, three‐generation living is increasingly linked to social disadvantage, which is also the leading cause of poverty. This living arrangement is strongly associated with a stage in life where young people start to have children. Using data from the Hungarian Generations and Gender Survey, we determine that three‐generation living affects a significant proportion of families with children at a particular, relatively brief stage in their lives.
PubDate: 2023-03-02
DOI: 10.17645/si.v11i1.5968
Issue No: Vol. 11, No. 1 (2023)
- Growing Pains: Can Family Policies Revert the Decline of Fertility in
Spain'
Authors: Begoña Elizalde-San Miguel, Vicente Díaz Gandasegui, María T. Sanz
Pages: 269 - 281
Abstract: This article aims to analyze the capability of family policies to reverse the sharp decline in fertility that has been observed in Spain in recent decades. The analysis was carried out by applying two mathematical techniques: the genetic algorithm and the strategic scenarios. Firstly, a mathematical model was designed and validated adjusting the combined performance of fertility and family policies during the 2008–2019 period. Subsequently, this model was applied to the future (2020–2060) to extrapolate the evolution of fertility considering different models of family policies. The results demonstrate that a model of family policies that is coherent with other socially desirable objectives, such as gender and social equality, will be insufficient to reverse the current downward trend in fertility. Therefore, these outcomes point to the need to articulate and harmonize diverse public policies considering the principles of equality and well‐being to modify the recent decline in fertility. An increase in fertility must therefore be identified as a socially desirable goal and public policies must be adapted to this objective, in the understanding that fertility not only requires family policies but also their coherence with the employment and educational policies and work–life balance mechanisms offered by public institutions.
PubDate: 2023-03-02
DOI: 10.17645/si.v11i1.6141
Issue No: Vol. 11, No. 1 (2023)
- Family Climate in Pandemic Times: Adolescents and Mothers
Authors: Thomas Eichhorn, Simone Schüller, Hannah Sinja Steinberg, Claudia Zerle-Elsäßer
Pages: 282 - 294
Abstract: In this article, we examine changes in family climate during the first Covid‐19‐related lockdown in Germany. We compare the perspectives of mothers and adolescents to explore whether the factors of perceived changes in family climate are systematically and significantly different between these groups. We measure family climate as positive emotional climate, a sub‐dimension of the family environment scale, to capture a feeling of cohesion and emotional openness within the family. Based on family system theory and the family stress model, we expect an overall deterioration in family climate due to increased environmental adaptation in the pandemic. Furthermore, we expect family climate to deteriorate less when families have economic and social resources available. On the other hand, we assume that being employed and/or primarily responsible for family care relates to a stronger decline in the family climate. We employ longitudinal survey data (AID:A) from around 300 German families with children aged nine to 17 and apply individual fixed effects models to investigate changes in family climate from 2019 to 2020. Almost half of our respondents report a decrease in family climate. For mothers, the share of unpaid care work at home is the only significant predictor: Mothers doing more than 80% of the chores and childcare feel a greater decrease in family climate. For adolescents, however, being at risk of poverty and having less frequent family activities are important predictors of stronger decreases in family climate. In summary, our results illustrate the relevance of distinguishing between the perspective of children and parents in family studies.
PubDate: 2023-03-02
DOI: 10.17645/si.v11i1.6007
Issue No: Vol. 11, No. 1 (2023)
- Reshaping Social Capital During the Pandemic Crisis: Age Group Differences
in Face‐to‐Face Contact Network Structures
Authors: Beáta Dávid, Boglárka Herke, Éva Huszti, Gergely Tóth, Emese Túry-Angyal, Fruzsina Albert
Pages: 295 - 309
Abstract: This article presents findings about the impact of the first Covid‐related lockdown on the face‐to‐face (FTF) interpersonal contact networks of the Hungarian adult population. Our primary objective is to understand how the size, composition, and quality of such networks have changed. We base our analysis on the contact‐diary method. Our data were collected from two representative surveys of the Hungarian adult population: one in 2015 (N = 372) and one in May 2020 (N = 1001) during the first wave of the Covid‐19 epidemic. No decline in the overall bonding social capital can be detected; however, social isolation has increased. A restructuring has occurred: a considerable increase manifests in the proportion of kin ties, especially children, and a decrease in the importance of non‐kin ties, with a particularly sharp decline in friendships. FTF contacts indicate an increased emotional intensity (except for non‐kin, non‐household members) and an increase in the length of conversations, but there is a decrease in the frequency of meeting alters. The changes wrought different effects on different age groups, with the restrictions most negatively affecting the size of FTF contact networks for respondents aged 60 years or older. Our findings point to the stability and resilience of close family relations, yet the doubling of social isolation as early as May 2020 underlines fears about the pandemic’s potentially detrimental effects on social connectedness. The decline in friendship ties (and most probably in other weak ties) may lead to a reduction not only in the amount and scope of accessible social capital but also to a weakening social integration.
PubDate: 2023-03-02
DOI: 10.17645/si.v11i1.6002
Issue No: Vol. 11, No. 1 (2023)
- Coping With Covid‐19: Older Europeans and the Challenges of
Connectedness and Loneliness
Authors: Ronny König, Bettina Isengard
Pages: 310 - 323
Abstract: Social networks are important for well‐being and healthy aging. However, older adults are more likely to have less social contact with others than their younger counterparts due to significant changes in their lives, such as retirement or age‐related losses, along with declining health and mobility. Consequently, with increasing age, a growing proportion of people experience feelings of loneliness. This becomes even more important during pandemics when social contact should be minimized. Therefore, this article examines the extent and patterns of loneliness before and during the first two years of the Covid‐19 pandemic and how social contact and the type of communication affected levels of loneliness during the pandemic. To investigate loneliness, social contact, and their association during the pandemic, this study uses representative data from 27 countries from SHARE (Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe). The analyses are based on a balanced panel covering three consecutive waves with 28,448 respondents aged 50 years or older. The results indicate that three out of ten Europeans face loneliness in later life. While loneliness has increased for a significant part of the elderly in the wake of the pandemic, there has also been a reverse trend in terms of a decrease in feelings of loneliness for an almost equal proportion of people. Additionally, multivariate analyses highlight that nonpersonal communication cannot substitute face‐to‐face interaction and can potentially increase feelings of loneliness.
PubDate: 2023-03-02
DOI: 10.17645/si.v11i1.6072
Issue No: Vol. 11, No. 1 (2023)
- Gender Differences in Epidemic Everyday Scenarios: An Exploratory Study of
Family Life in Slovenia
Authors: Alenka Švab, Tanja Oblak Črnič
Pages: 324 - 336
Abstract: The article focuses on the changed dynamics of family life due to the first wave of Covid-19—starting in the spring of 2020—and the consequent longstanding social lockdown in the fall of 2020. We employ the concept of “forced nuclearisation” to describe the process that required a rapid reorganisation of otherwise self-evident and established social patterns and relationships, above all new adjustments of care relations both inside and outside the private sphere. The focus is on new demands in the intertwined spheres of work, school, and family obligations, especially because the private sphere has been assigned several additional functions, otherwise carried out by educational and daycare institutions. Based on an extensive dataset from a quantitative exploratory online survey conducted in two time periods, first in April 2020 and then in October 2020, this article discusses, from a comparative perspective and with a focus on gender inequalities, the main changes in practices and everyday routines such as shopping, housework, childcare, work obligations, and caring for other family members. The research aimed to identify the most obvious distinctions in family scenarios and, in particular, to point to the main social inequalities and potentially vulnerable groups within the population, who faced the forced and unexpected nuclearisation of everyday life.
PubDate: 2023-03-02
DOI: 10.17645/si.v11i1.5953
Issue No: Vol. 11, No. 1 (2023)
|
Open Access journal
