Chapter 13 Globalization, Families and Social Change

1. Chapter 13 • Globalization, Families and Social Change

2. Presentationoutline • The sociology of the family • The transformation of intimacy • Family practices • Comparative family studies: the UK and Japan • Technology, intimacy and globalization • Globalization and new relationships • The commodification of intimacy

3. Introduction • To what extent are intimate and family relationships being transformed across the globe? • To what extent is globalization affecting families and intimate relationships?

4. The sociology of the family • Functionalist accounts of the family stressed the socializing and stabilizing role of the family (Parsons) • Second wave feminists drew attention to the family as a site of patriarchal power and saw the heterosexual institution of marriage as central for the reproduction of gender inequalities

5. The transformation of intimacy • Anthony Giddens (1992) • Optimistic account of how individualization is affecting family relationships • The ‘pure relationship’ demands high level of reflexivity & is based on trust, intimacy & egalitarianism rather than obligation & duty as previously • The democratization of intimate relationships is creating a more profound equality between men & women

6. The transformation of intimacy (cont.) • Lynn Jamieson Intimacy: Personal Relationships in Modern Societies (1998) • Criticized Giddens for presenting intimate relationships as free floating from social structures basing his argument on insufficient empirical evidence • Jamieson argues that we can have a sense of being equal and intimate despite inequalities

7. Family practices • Morgan (1996: 186) - ‘family represents a quality rather than a thing’ • This concept represents a move away from studying families based on households and blood ties and allows sociologists to focus on: • what family means to people • how they ‘do’ family in their everyday lives • acknowledging the diversity of families

8. Comparative family studies • Family structures across the globe fall along a continuum between traditional patriarchal structures and more democratic individualized structures (Roopnarine and Gielen, 2005) • Goran Therborn (2004) identifies seven family systems across the globe (see table)

9. Families in the UK • Despite declining rates of marriage and growing rates of long term cohabitation, the symbolic significance of marriage remains strong • The way resources are allocated in a household mirrors the unequal power relationships between men and women (Vogler, 2005) • A gap between a culture and conduct of involved fathering (Dermott, 2008)

10. Families in Japan • Rapid social transformations in family life • But Japanese families still appear more stable and cohesive than Euro-American ones • In Japan, as in the UK, attitudes towards fathering are changing faster than actual practices • Professional women’s postponement of marriage is an individual solution to structural problems of gender inequality (Nemoto, 2008)

11. Technology, intimacy and globalization • Each new type of technology (e.g. email) adds a layer of interaction, increasing the frequency of communication between families (Wilding, 2006) • Communication technology can facilitate increased closeness & intimacy, yet also become burdensome for transnational families (Horst, 2006) • Technologies simultaneously provide solutions for maintaining relationships & reinforce inequalities within families

12. Globalization and new relationships • The opportunity for forming new intimate/sexual relationships across borders • Post-soviet women migrants’ relationships with Turkish men (Bloch, 2010) • Relationships between sex tourists & workers in the Carribbean (Cabezas, 2004) • Are these blurring the distinction between love, obligation & transaction or are they marked by inequality and oppression?

13. Commodification and intimacy • Is intimacy becoming increasingly commodified? • Commodification: how goods, services & even relationships become commodities, to be bought or sold in the marketplace • Internet dating: romantic encounters become economic transactions (Illouz, 2007) • Migrant nannies’ love to western children: ‘global heart transplant’ (Hochschild, 2003)

14. Review • Globalization isn’t leading to weaker family ties • Unequal gender relations is a dominant pattern within families across the globe • Ethnographic research provides a more vivid picture of how social actors negotiate globalization in everyday life • Increased significance of the market in shaping intimate relationships everywhere