Review: The changing face of the modern family

Elisabetta Ruspini

Policy Press

ISBN 9781447300922

£22.99, 176 pages

This book provides an overview of recent changes in Western societies' views of what it means to be a family. Elisabetta Ruspini, who is associate professor in sociology in Milan-Biccoca University and has published widely on gender issues, says that it is an illusion that families are conservative institutions, resistant to social change. Research shows that families, far from being the "building blocks of societies" are products of social forces within societies.

The book is divided into chapters, each focusing on one particular post-modern family constellation. In each chapter Ruspini outlines research into contemporary prevalence and attitudes towards those who live, by choice or otherwise, without children; without sex; as a lone parent; together but in separate households; where the man is the stay-at-home partner; or where one or both of the parents is gay, lesbian, or transgender. She demonstrates how, in our post-modern society, "marriage and family relationships are formed and maintained in an environment of greater choice in how women and men can live their lives than has been possible for past generations".