Living your own life, together

This paper discusses the impact of modernization and individualization on family life. It does so by tracing changes in configurations of family life and social networks between 2003 and 2014, and by analyzing transformations of social practices of everyday life.

Initial findings from this study show that 81% of the respondents who lived with a partner in 2014 lived with the same partner in 2003. This paper analyzes this stability in couple relationship. The empirical focus is on social and emotional support, on the character of the social networks as well as gender equality among partners.

The paper discusses how emphasis on individualization can lead to new forms of we-ness and togetherness in everyday family life. The question is if data supports theories that claim that we are witnessing new configurations of familial relations and the we need to adjust our ways of thinking about the configuration of the individual/social relationship in everyday family life. The paper examines the concepts about the ‘post familial family’ as well as ‘the network family’ and their usefulness in the study of contemporary family practices.