Thanks to Jeff Jamawat and www.Planetizen.com
These demonstrated changes in how people live means a shift in social service demands and planning considerations.
"[A]ccording to census data, more households consist of the unmarried than the married," writes columnist N. R. Kleinfield in a supplementary article. He continues, "More people seem to be deciding that the contours of the traditional nuclear family do not work for them, spawning a profusion of cobbled-together networks in need of nomenclature." (Source)
Answer: A 'village' perhaps? Or simply 'family'?
I suppose Facebook's acceptance of open relationships, as they are a relationship status option, and the success of the tv show "Modern Family" are but two demonstrations of the proliferation of 'alternative' family and relationship structures in modern society and mainstream culture. I myself have ex-step parents and step-siblings as well as half-brothers. And in the last few years I have met a handful of friends with polyamourous family situations or other structures that vary from the norm of (divorced) mother, father and kids. I have also expanded my definition of my family to include those with whom I feel a closeness that my own biological family couldn't provide from thousands of miles away.
Kleinfield goes on to suggest that, "The double households began because of economics."
I'm interested to see how the current, and seemingly continuing, economic decline of the US affects social structures and dynamics at the micro level of the family. I'm already aware of an increase in domestic violence and it's severity but I hope to find some stories of radical community building and interdependence.
"[A]ccording to census data, more households consist of the unmarried than the married," writes columnist N. R. Kleinfield in a supplementary article. He continues, "More people seem to be deciding that the contours of the traditional nuclear family do not work for them, spawning a profusion of cobbled-together networks in need of nomenclature." (Source)
Answer: A 'village' perhaps? Or simply 'family'?
I suppose Facebook's acceptance of open relationships, as they are a relationship status option, and the success of the tv show "Modern Family" are but two demonstrations of the proliferation of 'alternative' family and relationship structures in modern society and mainstream culture. I myself have ex-step parents and step-siblings as well as half-brothers. And in the last few years I have met a handful of friends with polyamourous family situations or other structures that vary from the norm of (divorced) mother, father and kids. I have also expanded my definition of my family to include those with whom I feel a closeness that my own biological family couldn't provide from thousands of miles away.
Kleinfield goes on to suggest that, "The double households began because of economics."
I'm interested to see how the current, and seemingly continuing, economic decline of the US affects social structures and dynamics at the micro level of the family. I'm already aware of an increase in domestic violence and it's severity but I hope to find some stories of radical community building and interdependence.
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