Międzypokoleniowe więzi w rodzinie : studium socjologiczne rodzin polskich i słowackich

Abstract

Since the second half of the 20th century we have been witnessing serious changes in the area of a Western family. These changes encompass all spheres of family life - demographic, cultural (axionormative) and economic - and in this way they contribute to the multiplication of family types. Thus, apart from marriages there appear non-marriage families, apart from complete families there are more and more half-families characterized by a specific kind of matriarchy due to the constant absence of the father. Moreover, apart from permanent families there are families reconstituted after a divorce; apart from families with only one child, and even those that from the very beginning of the relationship rule out the possibility of having children (single-parent families), we can find numerous families; apart from traditional big families extended horizontally, with numerous collateral relatives, territorially settled, there are more and more multigenerational families that are vertically extended, with relatives restricted to lineal blood relation, frequently geographically scattered; apart from families formed by indigenous inhabitants of the West, which is characterized by individualistic culture, more and more common are immigrant families, deriving from countries of familistic cultures, like Asia, Middle East, North Africa, Central and South America, which continue the tradition of intergenerational mutual support. [fragm. tekstu]